Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. 29th June 2012



 Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park is part of the Guringai people Country.
Created in 1894 it is the second oldest national park in NSW and conserves some 15,000 hectares (37,066 acres) of sandstone bushland only 25 km from the centre of Sydney.
So it was on this fine winters day that I took the camera to 3 areas of the park, the Basin Trail (heath), West Head (forest) and the Waratah Trail (scruby heath, part of it had been burnt recently).

                                            Click here  for more habitat photos and videos.




Grevillea buxifolia  -  Grey Spider-flower

 


Hakea sp.



Xanthorrhoea sp  -  Grass Tree




Grevillea sericea  -  Pink Spider-flower



Banksia Spinulosa  -  Hairpin Banksia.
Profile and viewed from above.




Hibbertia bracteata  - Guinea Flower



(not sure)




Banksia ericifolia  -  Heath Banksia



Darwinia fascicularis ssp. fascicularis



Acacia sauveolens  -  Sweet Scented Wattle



(not sure, looks like Linum marginale)




Boronia sp.




Leptospermum sp.  (squarrosum?)  PinkTea Tree



Golden-tai​led Spiny Ant
feeding on nectar from  Hakea gibbosa.




Knotted branches of
 Angophora costata  -  Sydney Red Gum



Epacris longiflora  -  Native Fuchsia



Lives on after the fire,
 Xanthorrhoea sp  -  Grass Tree



Lobelia dentata  -  Angel Sword




Calytrix tetragona  -  Fringe-myrtle




Philotheca salsolifolia  -  Philotheca.

Rookwood Necropolis (Cemetery) Lidcombe. 22nd June 2012

Agave. Probably a good idea at the time.

 Rookwood Necropolis is one of Australia's oldest cemeteries, and, at 283 hectares (700 acres), is one of the largest burial grounds in the world. Over 800,000 people have been interred within it's grounds since it was established in 1886. The original 81 hectare (200 acres) is subject to a Permanent Conservation Order and represents the largest, and one of the finest, surviving examples of a Victorian public cemetery anywhere in the world.
So it was on a windy, cold and cloudy winters day that I went to find out what lives in the world of the dead.
Click here for more photos and habitat videos.



Vinca minor

All tied down.

Cheerful Jonquils

Beauty in a old rose garden.

I don't know what this is, looks like sugar popcorn
that's been cut open.

Bulbil Watsonia

Coreopsis

I don't know.

Lemon-scented Gum (Corymbia citriodora) blown to
the ground by the wind.

Acacia sp.

Mother-of-millions run wild.

Jonquil, happy faces in a sad place.

Real and not real.

Honey Suckle

Cotoneaster berries

Camelia

Hibiscus

Norfolk Island Pine

This plant, which had dark blue/black berries, was wide
spread through the grounds.

Cattai National Park (Mitchell Park) NSW 15th June 2012

35 minutes drive away is Mitchell Park, which is part of Cattai National Park.  A good spot for both birds and plants due to the various habitat types, rain forest, river,swamp and drier sandstone ridges. Today there weren't a lot flowers but the fungi and some fruiting plants, if only small, gave some colour along the somewhat damp tracks. Although I like to photograph fungi I have very little knowledge of which species they are.
Click here for more photos and habitat videos.

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Pittosporum revolutum - Yellow Pittosporum (fruit)

Not known

Rapanea sp.  -  Muttonwood

Grevillea mucronulata  -  Green Spider-flower

One of the 'bracket' type fungi

Persoonia linearis  -  Narrow-leaved Geebung

Acacia linifolia.  - Flax-leafed Wattle

Stylidium sp.  -  Trigger Plant

Pimelea linifolia ssp. linifolia  -  Slender Rice-flower

Not known

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Base of Scribbly Gum appears to melt over
underlying sandstone.



The yellow under-bark of a Corymbia eximia  -
Yellow Bloodwood contrasts with the red
of  Persoonia levis.