UnSquare Rock

We were thinking where to take our overseas guests for an experience of the granite landscape in the higher part of the ACT and decided that the Square Rock Track in Namadgi National Park gave a fair walk through nice bush with a good view at the end.  The weather was cool so, borrowing from '60s slang (and Dave Brubeck) the trip was not 'square'.

The good stuff started with a view of 2 emus in a paddock.  While probably originally from the captive population at Tidbinbilla (several kilometres away) I rated these as a self established population.

Once we started walking there was much bird vocalisation coming from the bush but nothing of great curiosity.  As the area had been burnt out in the 2003 bush fires the shrub layer was dominated by Daviesia mimosoides but there was a lot of other interesting plant and animal life around.  Herewith some images: I have not had time to identify everything yet so this will happen in the near future, and in the interim you can enjoy the pictures.

There were many Rock Lilies (Bulbine glauca)  growing along the track.

 Clematis was a common sight twining up the other shrubs.

 The next image shows two species of Daviesia.  The yellower sample with longer leaves is the very common D. mimosoides while the darker one (with small leaves) is D. ulicifolia.

 A member of Epacris.

 Glycine was very common twining up shrubs.

 Violets of many hues were common in the ground layer. This was a particularly colourful specimen.

 We only saw two species of orchid during the day (shime, shime were we not paying attention?).  This first I have identified - mainly from the yellow calli (lumps on the labellum) as Stegostyla alpina.

 The second I have decided is S. cuculata.

 Now we have a few insect images, and a lot of work to do in the identification department.

 This was an ex-moth (the second of this species we saw, both deceased, passed over, gone ahead ...) but I thought the colour pattern very striking.

 This one was alive!

 Shifting up a tad in the animal kingdom there was an awful lot of rustling in the undergrowth.  As far as I could determine it was all caused by the myriads of skinks rushing about their business.

 We finally get to the rocks.  Due to the large cracks in those at the end of the walk some interestng shapes appeared.

This final image shows that the weather was very hazy but gives an idea of the many dead trees resulting from the bushfires and the regeneration happening lower in the vegetation.

To complete a very pleasant walk the only precipitation occurred just as got back to the cars!