The Illawarra Fly Treetop Walk, Knights Hill

Yesterday evening the manager of the Illawarra Fly held a special briefing for members of the National Parks Association. I did not get any photos of the structure itself, as the time and the weather were against me. However, their website has pictures and gives the following introduction:

• The Illawarra Fly is a 500 metre long, 25 metre high elevated tree top walk ascending at a gentle grade and suitable for visitors of all mobilities. Nestled amongst the temperate rainforest of the Southern Highlands the treetop walk takes you along the picturesque Illawarra escarpment and offers inspiring views from Shellharbour to Bass Point, Lake Illawarra and the South Pacific Ocean.

• For the thrill seeker a 45 metre high lookout is ascended via a spiral stairway offering panoramic views, combined with the beauty of the rainforest. View the Blackwoods, Gully Gums and Sassafras from a vantage point generally reserved for our flying friends.

Even in the dull, misty light the views along the Escarpment, towards Wollongong were breathtaking, and on a clear day it would provide an unsurpassed view of the Illawarra Region. You look out over Bass Point, and Shellharbour, Albion Park, Lake Illawarra and Port Kembla (and the Steel Works), and on to Wollongong itself. And of course the jagged skyline provided by the local landmarks of Mt Keira and Mt Kembla.

From the Naturalist's point of view the walk starts in regrowth Cool Temperate Rainforest, with Brown Barrel Eucalypts, with true rainforest plants at the lower level of the canopy. They are all growing on rich red basalt soil. You walk in and start down the slope then go onto the metal pathways, which gently rise over the next band of forest, which is mostly Gully Gums (Eucalyptus smithii,) and Silver-top Ash (E. seiberii), with a rainforest understory, of Blackwoods, Sassafras, Scentless Rosewood and of course, Tree Ferns (of both the Dicksonia and the Cyathea genera), and occasional Cabbage Tree Palms. There are numerous vines visible climbing through the tall trees. This "Gully Gum Forest" forms a narrow strip, just about 100 metres wide, as it sits immediately above the exposed edge of the Illawarra Escarpment. The Escarpment Cliffline is visible from the Illawarra Fly in several places, and of course, it has exposed Sandstone rock faces. So one is reminded that the red soil (on the walks in and out from the Illawarra Fly) indicates that, geologically, this mountain top is a basalt cap overlying the Sandstone structure. It is a "volcanic intrusion".

Here is one of the tall Tree Fern as viewed from above, from one of the metal walkways, some 30 metres off the ground.
From my point of view, it was great to see how this enormous structure has been fitted into the forest with barely a tree dislodged. It was built in pre-fabricated modules, then moved in. The tower was craned into place, a fair effort as it reaches 45 metres high.

And this is a Giant Earthworm, some 50cm long (about 18 inches). It was the largest one I have yet seen. They are recorded to grow even longer. They love this red basalt soil, and the high level of organic matter found on the forest floor in places such as this. This fellow had been disturbed when a trench had been dug, but it was in the process of recovering, and making its way out of the 600mm deep (2 feet) trench.The operators of the Illawarra Fly have a policy of employing local staff, and local suppliers of goods, as far as possible. This is an excellent policy as far as the local Chamber of Commerce is concerned.

Bush walking over Bells Hill

Today I was fortunate to join Ian Archer, with Jim, Celeste and Rose in a truly delightful stroll up and over the hills between Yeola Road (off Belmore Falls Road) and the Robertson Cemetery.

Ian had sought the appropriate permissions from the local landholders. We set out climbing the steep hills behind Ian's property. There is a great rainforest gullythere, which I found surprisingly steep and very wet. The springs on this hill were working overtime. There was one particular Wombat burrow which had been freshly worked, and the amount of mud around the entrance was quite amazing.

For me the surprise find of the day was a clump of the Ghost Fungus, (Omphalotus nidiformis) (photo at left)

Apparently this is one of the famous luminous fungi. I did not know that when we found it, out in the bush, growing under a huge old Brown Barrel tree (Eucalyptus fastigata). The specific name refers to the deeply cupped "nest like" shape of the caps.

In fact how people ever discover these kinds of things about fungi remains a bit of a mystery to me. In the bright daylight, it looked a perfectly nice, interesting fungus. Who would have guessed it has the power of luminescence?

We also found some stunning, tall, white "toadstoods" growing in the grass, in open farmland. These seem to be the Macrolepiota dolichaula , and are known as "parasols' for their perfectly formed caps, over tall stems.

Because of the long grass on this paddock, this photo does not show the length of the stem, which was quite impressive. It might have been nearly 200mm long (longer by far than the width of the cap, which was about 150mm wide).

The distinguishing characteristics were the white gills, and the membrane, or ring (annulus) on the stem of this toadstool, which was free to be moved up and down the stem.

We then circled around the edge of Bells Hill, where we were in some classic cool temperate rainforest, with tree ferns, Sassafras (Doryphora sassafras), Lillypilly (Acmena smithii) and Possumwood (Quintinia sieberi).

Out in the Eucalypt forest, we heard many birds, including both the Fantailed Cuckoo and the Brush Cuckoo calling from the dense undergrowth. Rosellas and Rufous Fantails were seen frequently.

A great walk in the early Autumn weather of Robertson.

Big brown buzzing beetles

A month ago I wrote of small brown beetles swarming in the early evening sky.

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Tonight, as the sun set, big brown buzzing beetles were swarming around the remains of my flowering plants. I have a particularly tall Lilium with pink trumpet flowers, with a nice perfume. The beetles were going nuts, around it.

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I must be failing as a Naturalist. I did not go out and catch any of these big brown buzzing beetles. Frankly, they were a bit scary, with their loud buzzing noises. They were flying very actively, and were not offering themselves to be caught easily by hand.

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From what I could see and hear, they did not appear to be the bronze-sheened Christmas Beetles (Anoplognathus sp.) with which I am familiar from Canberra. Hardly surprising as those Beetles live exclusively on Eucalypt leaves. There are few Eucalypts around Missingham Parade. There are a few mature Brown Barrels (Eucalyptus fastigata) growing near the corner of Belmore Falls Rd and South Street. Apart from that, the local area is virtually free of Eucalypts ( a few have been planted by some landholders, but they are still quite small)

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Many animals, (including Beetles) are highly specific in their feeding habits. So maybe the local Beetles eat Sassafras or Blackwood leaves. Makes sense to me. Unfortunately, the study of beetles is something which I have not had a chance to get serious about. (So many beetles, so little time!)