A visiting expert on the study of Bolete Fungi, Roy Haling, was in Australia on a trip from New York. I had the pleasure of accompanying him and some other members of the Sydney Fungal Studies Group Inc on two field trips in the Blue Mountains.
On the first day, we visited Wilsons Glen at Woodford. In the party as well as Roy, there was Gemma, the organiser, Pam, Liz and myself. We wandered down the track from Woodford Station and soon descended into a nice patch of rainforest.
There was not a huge abundance of fungi. It was early in the fungi season. Boletes usually appear early in the season but it had been quite dry and very hot. In the end I think we only found a couple of boletes and some other fungi.
The next day, we resumed our search. This time at Sassafras Gully at Springwood. The party was Roy, Gemma, Anna and myself. The dry conditions continued but the search area was a lot bigger and we did find a fair bit more fungi, including a lot more boletes.
It was interesting to meet someone as expert at Roy, who was very will to share his knowledge and enthusiasm.
More photos from the days are online – Wilsons Glen here, and Sassafras Gully here.
