Keith had organised this walk for Chris and myself. Also on the walk was Keith’s wife Rose. We all used to regularly walk together back in the 1970’s and we had shared many great adventures in the bush.
We made our way up to the Central Coast and to Bouddi National Park. The car was parked at the end of Grahame Drive and we started walking first down to Little Beach. This was an attractive spot with a nice camping area and a sheltered cove.
Flying Duck Orchids
We backtracked back up the track a bit and then turned off on a wide track across the coastal heath. Along the way we spotted a lot of Flying Duck Orchids. At one point, we turned off down a track to Third Head and after admiring the views we returned to the main track and continued on to Caves Bay.
More attractive coastal scenery followed with good views to the south to Lion Island and Barrenjoey. Just before Boudi Point, we found a shady spot just off the track and stopped for a break.
From there it was not far around the top of the point and down to the sands of the beach at Maitland Bay. Now we were looking for another shady spot for lunch. We continued right along the beach and had to climb up the Maitland Bay Track a bit to find somewhere out of the sun.
After lunch, we continued up the track, and just before it reached the road, we turned off along a fire road that led back towards the car. On this road we spotted a nice group of Bonnet Orchids.
Bonnet Orchids
This fire road joins the main road to McMasters Beach at the Mount Bouddi Road. From there we had to walk along the main road for the last kilometre or so to Grahame Drive. You have to be careful here as there was no footpath, but the road was not too busy and we managed to spot more orchids – Large Tongue Orchids and then later some Hyacinth Orchids.
Large Tongue Orchid
This was a great day in the bush with good company. Thanks to Keith for the organisation. More photos are on my website here.
Hyacinth Orchid