Tuesday 19th August – Bungle Bungle Range - Fine Warm Sunny Clear skies 10c-30c

Our booking of 5 nights (4 days) is the right amount of time.  It gives us the chance to do walks every day and spare time.  You would get away with 3 days but would be very busy.  It appears that most people only camp one or two nights and just do a couple of the short walks.

Today we headed to the Bloodwoods car park to do the “lookout”, the escarpment trail and the Homestead Valley Gorge walk.  We walked around 7 kms in total.

This grevillea was so heavy in bloom, that the tree was bent in half because of the weight.  The leaves are a holly shape with a thorn in each point. 

Well hidden within the blooms was the tiniest birds nest.  Beautifully woven with fine grass and flower petals.  It was the size of an egg cup. This nest is in the first photo of the yellow blooms.

 You could think that it is just all the same, over and over but every walk we have been on has been different and we are still standing there saying “wow” would you look at that. The one thing that the photo’s can’t seem to capture is how high and large the rock face is.  It is like standing below sky scrapers.

 

 

The lookout overlooking the Bloodwood Car Park with our car parked in the distance. Again we have come across another singular plant that we have not seen anywhere else within the park.  You realize how fragile their existence is.

Here is my panorama from the look out at the Bloodwood Car Park.

 

This area had been burnt and the spinifex had regenerated and looked lovely being bright green and the tips so soft…….    I had a feel and got a bite for my trouble. There are several varieties including a soft one, but this one was not soft, just very sharp even with new growth.

 

 

 

 

 

I think this maybe a cotton flower, it looks very much like a hibiscus flower but no native hibiscus are listed in the plant species.  How gorgeous is this?  It has a lovely deep blush on one side of the petal.  The leaves are very sand paper like and it was growing in the bed of the rocky stream bed.

 

 

 

  Here is Glen in the stream bed on the walk up Homestead Gorge.  Most of the walking tracks follow the stream beds to preserve the surrounding areas.  You can see both types of palm trees growing.  Cabbage Palms and Livingstonia Palms.  We have spotted the Livingstonia Palms growing almost at the top of the range and in all of the crevices.

 

 

This is the view at the end of the track at the gorge.  One of the rules in the park is that there are penalties for leaving any pathway, so you cannot explore off the track.  The gorge went on for quite a way, but there is art work that is not for viewing.

 

If you look carefully on the top petal you will see a matching spider.  The spider was exactly the same colour as the flower.  Who would of thought a totally yellow spider.

 

 

 

Our new bird of the day – Northern Fantail.  This one has a beautiful melody of 6 notes and sits quietly and doesn’t bother with spreading the wings as a fan and dancing everywhere.  A lot easier to photograph than the one at home who doesn’t sit still for a moment.

Obviously more cultured up here.