Maxwells Flora Reserve revisited (and Eden)

I thought it might be interesting to revisit Maxwell's Flora Reserve (here is our first visit) on our way to Eden for some shopping. 

The first few kilometres of the drive along Maxwell's Rd were a little interesting as nice metal kilometre markers have appeared - in each case about 50m before the old numbers painted on a tree!  About the 11 km mark there was a sign burbling about needing hard hats etc etc  which we ignored.   That turned out to be because the horny sons of toil were bonsaiing the forest along the road.  Hopefully they will stay out of the rainforest.  It does suggest the road is going to be a more interesting drive in future with log trucks being evident!

Whatever: it is State Forest, and Japan needs toilet paper.

As we started the walk I got a little sentimental thinking about our previous walk and Tammy not dealing well with the difficult bits. Here, thanks to the eBird route tracker, is the path we followed- the rain forest can just be picked out.

As we set off we could hear the trees getting felled and Frances saw some descending but it didn't greatly inconvenience us.  Looking towards the sound Frances noticed this old stump.  At first glance the lump to the side looked like the remains of an old epiphitic fern.  I'm reasonably sure it was simply where a branch had fallen off.

 This just shows the lovely old trees on the hillside

 Once down in the bottom of the gully the tree ferns - mainly Cyathea australis - were all over us.

 A fallen log getting decomposed by tiny fungi. moss and ferns.

On our last visit there was a lot of large fungus visible.  This time there was hardly anything, with this earthstar - Geaster sp the only one I noticed.

Although the Pittosporum revolutum and Bolwara we noticed last time were not visible this time there were a few berries visible.  I am becoming familiar with the vine of Wombat Berry (Eustrephus latifolius)  - but the fruit were too far away to be snapped - and at one point in the gully there were a lot of Lilli pilli (Syzygium smithii) berries on the ground.   Both of them are quite common in the area but this Veined Mock Olive (Notelaea venosa) was an addition to my list.  (A bouquet to the Forest people for the sign board.)

 This was a vine with an interesting inflorescence: using iNaturalist got a suggestion of Smilax glauca and the images looked quite close.  However neither Plantnet nor Flora of Victoria had anything for that species.  This is not surprising as Dr Google suggests that species is native to the SE USA!  Going for the genus Plantnet had two species S. australis and S. glyciphylla while the Victorian site only had the former.  So that's what it is: good old lawyer vine, Smilax australis.

This is an image of a map on the notice board at the start of the walk.  We went out on the road with the red dots on it (Naghi Rd - or Nadgee Rd - both appeared on various signd).

We didn't spot any more marked 'tourist spots' but it was a pleasant drive with some nice views over towards the mountains.

On getting to Eden we first went to Mitre 10 looking for a replacement plastic fitting for a light in the garden.  Failed on that, but they did have a nice rotating compost bin which was acquired.  Next stop was the wharf for fish and chips.  While eating that we enjoyed the sight of an Egret balancing under the jetty.

A later close-up of the head shows the yellow skin diagnostic of a Great Egret.

Managing to avert our gaze from the white elephant cruise-liner jetty the breakwater appeared to slightly adapt the catchphrase from Field of Dreams: rather than "Build it and he will come", from a pelicans view this is more like "Build it and they will crap all over it".