A very pleasant day walking around the tracks of Oatley Park and Lime Kiln Bay. I was joined by Valerie, Sue B and Sue W. Showers had been forecast, but none fell while we were walking or having lunch.
We met at the carpark at the sporting field and started off on the track that descended to Jew Fish Bay. We then walked around past the shark nest and followed the track around the point. Then we walked down the road to Lime Kiln Bay, crossed the wooden bridge, and followed the track around the west side of Lime Kiln Bay Wetlands before walking back up to the carpark. Then it was lunch at the nearby picnic table, before heading to Oatley for coffee.
What was amazing about this visit to Oatley Park was the super abundance of orchids. Here are a few –
Caldenia picta
Acianthus fornicatus
Pterostylis longifolia
Pterostylis nutans
Pterostylis concinna
Here is Jew Fish Bay –
Russula rosea
Oatley Castle
White-faced Heron
One of a pair of Tawny Frogmouths we saw –
Grey Butcherbird
Thanks to Valerie, Sue and Sue for great company during the day, and also to Greg Steenbeeke for checking and correcting my orchid id’s.
Gorgeous orchids! You can extend this walk by continuing after the wooden bridge round the edges of Peakhurst Heights (one short street section but straight back down at View St), then Boggywell Creek and around the east side of Lugarno (exit at Bayside Drive and find buses on Forest Rd if you don’t want to retrace). Really nice bush (except for a short section closer to houses on Peakhurst Heights) and wildlife. Combined with the Miles Dunphy Reserve on the other side of Oatley Park you get a delightful amount of time in the actual bush, and mostly on very quiet tracks with utterly charming views.
Thanks for that advice – will try it next time. There was a fair bit that we did not do this walk also in Oatley Park – like the Lookouts and the track from Frog Hollow that goes back to the top carpark.