Coba Ridge Walk – 29 August 2024

Bob and myself headed up to Fiddletown to walk along Coba Ridge in Marramarra National Park.  We had pleasant weather on our walk – where we were mainly looking for Aboriginal art sites.

We found a number of pretty good Aboriginal art sites – some rock engraving sites, and an art cave, but we also experienced an amazing display of wildflowers.

I had been to this area many years ago, when I mountain biked out along the ridge.

Grevillea sp.

This is thought to be an Aboriginal scar tree –

Here is the art cave we visited, a short way from the fire road –

The iDStretch app on my mobile phone was good for revealing a lot of hand stencils not visible to the human eye.

And along the fire road we also saw a number of orchids.

Spotted Sun Orchid – Thelymitra ixioides

Boronia sp.

Spotted Sun Orchid – Thelymitra ixioides

All along this ridge, the wildflowers were stunning.

Glossodia minor – Small Wax-lip Orchid

Glossodia minor – Small Wax-lip Orchid

This rock engraving site was on a side ridge –

This kangaroo engraving is easily visible –

There is another engraving here –

Splashing water on the engraving reveals some detail. It is a human figure –

We walked further along the ridge for some views –

Spotted Sun Orchid – Thelymitra ixioides

On the walk back, the Sun was in a different position, so I splashed more water on the engraving –

And there was also second, smaller kangaroo engraving –

Some more views of the figure engraving –

Eastern Bearded Dragon

Spotted Sun Orchid – Thelymitra ixioides

Boronia sp.

We then visited another engraving site.

Aboriginal well –

There was an engraving here, but it was very hard to discern in the light we had. And there was no pool of water nearby to splash over it.

I did splash a bit of water over this one to reveal, perhaps, part of a bird –

Glossodia minor – Small Wax-lip Orchid

This was the last engraving site we visited. It features four kangaroo engravings.

One of the kangaroo engravings was very hard to discern – here it is (upside down – the head is towards the bottom of the photo) –

This was a very interesting and enjoyable walk, in unfamiliar country.