A spring bush walk

It was an overcast, mild and rain-free day last Thursday when we decided to visit the Mount Billy Conservation Area and do the Mount Billy hike. It's an easy, pleasant walk through scrubby woodland trees, some of it along a fire track so the walking is easy. An incentive was the sentence on the Walking SA website that said 'In spring watch out for wildflowers, especially orchids'. With this in mind we set off.   

The Hindmarsh Tiers form a wonderful backdrop of rolling hills and wooded slopes.

After our recent rains the forest looked refreshed and quite lush.

Of course I was keen to be the first one to spot an orchid  - and indeed I did! 

However my photograph attempts were a failure.

They all were either slightly blurry or completely out of focus.

I'll now show you Steve's photo as it is (of course) a much better image - and the lengths he went to get it.

On we strolled. That's the thing about wildflower spotting - you can't walk briskly. I was peering intently at the litter layer looking for more orchids which I have to say were rather scarce. After our first encounter I didn't see another one until the end of the walk. But what a variety of colour and style the other wildflowers presented. Some were very tiny.

 Some were very colourful.

Some were more delicate.

It was such a pleasant walk in the fresh air.

I'll finish with a couple of Steve's photos which perfectly capture the beauty, elegance and unique quality of our wildflowers.