Walpole Pemberton area

The lady at the Information Centre told us to drive pass the stern " Private Property" sign on Tinglewood Road to get the parking bay at the suspension bridge for this hike, shaving about 5km off the hike. So this hike from the suspension bridge to Alridge Cove was to be 17km, following the Bibbulman track for some of the way.

The heavy rains last night was evident in the much wetter ground than yesterday's. The sun was actually out as we entered the forest, and Grace confidently stowed away rain jacket and umbrella in her pack. After about 1.5 km in, Grace spotted a cowslip orchid. Then another, and another. Excitement mounted up, and burst forth with the first discovery of what looked like a clown orchid, but a web search upon return to the accommodation says it is a king spider orchid. Adult Pokemon Orchid Hunt Fever now took full grip on us as we scoured the forest floor for more sightings. Collecting photos like Pokemon card collection. Disregarding the common cowslips whilst the hunt was for ones we have not yet seen and collected. Enamel orchids quickly became common as saw more and more of them. Time just passed as we realised that we were 1.5 hours onto the hike but covered less than 2km. Orchid Fever!

Orchids are very area specific, and just a few metres on from a prolific show, there will be no more. Zero. Zilch. Orchid fever died a quick death. We were walking into a transitional vegetation from the smaller karri and tingle trees to scrub like coastal vegetation. The colours of pink and white flowers with some yellow in amongst them made for very pretty walk. Shortly after the orchids, the rain started. Raincoats on, umbrellas up. The pace quickened as there were no more orchids, and the periodic rain slowly got heavier with each session. We came across a rather large pond of water right in the middle of our track, and had to do some bush bashing to get round it. There were lots of frog noises around, but it stopped as soon as we got close only to pipe up again as we passed.

After a long heavy downpour of almost an hour, when my pants below my raincoat was soaked and I could not feel my legs from the cold, and the vegetation of coastal scrub was getting monotonous (no more tall trees) I asked Grace if we should turn back. She agreed all too quickly. Honestly, the very moment we decided to turn around, the rain stopped. Too late. Once laziness of turning around set in, it was impossible to muster up the legs to keep going. My legs were so numb from the cold, it could be amputated without anaesthesia. We decided to make hay whilst the sun shone, or in our case, eat lunch whilst there's no rain. We ate standing as there was nothing to sit on but wet sand and prickly coastal vegetation. Once my legs started to thaw, I felt the itchys that those prickly scrub rubbing against my legs caused.

The skies stayed dry through our walk back. I wonder if my friend Murphy would have caused it to rain all the way, with winds, if we decided to continue to Alridge Cove. Turning back early, and with no rain, we slowed our pace again. Grace decided to collect photos of the different stylidiums (Trigger plants), and we spotted more enamel orchids and cowslips. These must be very hardy orchids as they seem to grow in sand, from a mossy log, and under bushes. Major find on the return journey was the pink hybrid cowslip and a different donkey orchid.

We ended with having done 12.5km today, and it did rain as we drove back to the accommodation.Read more