Heathcote National Park Walk – 8 October 2020

In recent times, the wildflowers have been outstanding in Royal National Park. I was keen to see how good they would be in the neighbouring Heathcote National Park. Bob had never been walking in the park, so I suggested a walk from Waterfall to Heathcote. This would allow us to visit some nice places along the way.

We left Waterfall and soon found ourselves on the Bullawarring Track. This descends through beautiful forest to the creek and then along the creek to the Kingfisher Pool. Along the way, we spotted some nice orchids and other wildflowers.

Here are two of the first orchids we spotted –

Caladenia carnea

Caladenia catenata

There is also nice nice Baura ruboides in flower –

And the new found some Bearded Orchids. I think this one is Calochilus paludosus –

The Kingfisher Pool area is interesting with some rock formations in the creekbed.

Another of the Bearded Orchids, this one with a spider –

We continued along the track. Here is sone Grevillea diffusa –

Our next orchid. A rock orchid – Dendrobium linguiforme.

Further along we spotted a Flying Duck Orchid – Caleana major.

We had some light rain, but it soon stopped and turned sunny.

A lot of the Boronia was in flower –

We turned off and followed the Goanna Track to the pipeline access road. At the Pipeline Track, we turned south and followed it a short distance. We next planned to visit Kingdom Come on the Woronora River. All the way along, near the pipeline were more orchids. There were more Bearded Orchids –

And a huge abundance of these Donkey Orchids – Diuris sp.

And some Slender Onion Orchids – Microtis sp.

The Gymea Lillies were also amazing in their profusion.

Another Bearded Orchid. This one a different species. Perhaps Calochilus campestris.

We left the pipeline and followed the rough track to Kingdom Come.

At Kingdom Come, one of the old signs was still in place. It says “The Rucksack Club rebuilt this seat, thus we carry on C Smith’s tradition”. The name “C Smith” refers to Colin Smith, a friend of my parents, who also walked in the Rucksack Club.

Another party wa also visiting Kingdom Come. One of their members pointed out an old engraving on the creekbed –

It is hard to read but says “G Smith 1931”. This was done by Gordon Smith, a well known member of the Sydney Bushwalkers. He named the place Kingdom Come.

We then headed back to the pipeline access road. We walked back the way we had come, and then continued to Lake Eckersley for lunch.

Aft er lunch, we returned to the pipeline and followed the access road past The Battery and then walked to Heathcote via the Friendly Track. There were more orchids along the way.