I have struggled with emotional turmoil recenty, and a walk in Werakata National Park yesterday proved to be excellent therapy.
There's something about a blue-sky sunny day that lifts my spirits, and there's something about being in Nature's company that is soothing and healing to my soul. And so there I was, under a blue sky, with the early morning sunshine touching me, sitting on the dewy ground amongst natural shrubbery, chatting to a cute little frog, with the comical bearded faces of tall dignified orchids looking on.
If there had been passersby, it is likely they might have avoided eye-contact, presuming I was a little off the planet. A sense that I was indeed still coasting along my chosen life path with a measure of control and purpose, overtook me; relief flooded in, and the crisis was over. My spark had been reignited, and this little tree frog was the first to see the smile on my face and the first to hear the cheerfulness in my voice.
He looked rather glum, as frogs do. With his chubby forearm tucked under his chest like a boxing glove, he glanced sideways with a ho-hum expression as if I was boring the daylights out of him. I laughed out loud, with the melaleuca and leptospermum saplings dangling over my head.
The humdrum expression of the Eastern Dwarf Tree Frog
[Litoria fallax] nestled in a low fork of a sapling
As we approached Werakata National Park near Cessnock in the lower Hunter Valley, I hoped the power-line easement had not been slashed. My face lit up as I saw the bushy growth alive as I had not seen it before. I was anxious to get amongst it.
I had previously not seen Beard Orchids in the national park, so I was overjoyed to spot the distinctive burgundy heads standing tall and straight as soon as I wandered into the narrow strip of regenerating scrub.
Not concerned about getting grubby, I sat amongst the vegetation and inspected the fringed beards. I am not familiar enough with orchids to identify most orchids without reference material, and I was unsure if these beauties were the Red, Copper or Purple Beard Orchids. Of course, I photographed them. Their intricate detail is fascinating.
It was while I was inspecting the orchids that I noticed the green blob that was recognisable as a frog. As I sat close by and chatted away, the frog remained motionless - a defense strategy, no doubt. What a delightful and uplifting experience!
Purple Beard Orchid [Calochilus robertsonii]
It was hard to leave the frog; but off I wandered. The glistening of dragonfly and damselfly wings caught my eye as these delicate jewels darted from plant to plant. One damselfly was the most brilliant of peacock-blues with invisible wings; and one dull brown dragonfly showed off the most stunning of sparkling gold wings.
Ants were busy; wasps and bees were zooming through the air attracted to various flowers; and the colour of the flowers was lovely.
Pultenaea cunninghamii with its bright pea flowers
and attractive spiky leaves
Tiny plants underfoot are always particularly interesting. There were mosses covered in dew; lichens producing minute, but spectacular, spore packages; and fungi - most notable of the fungi were clusters of orange and yellow Omphalina on the damp earth.
And the Sundews were shining in the sun, their pale pink flowers opening as the sun warmed them. The Droseras are one of my favourites of the ground dwellers.
Pale Sundew [Drosera peltata]
Amongst all this life was the sound of birds, and watching a pair of Yellow-faced honeyeaters tending their two fledgelings was a real thrill. A sense of contentment overcomes me, amid the excitement, being witness to new life.
I snapped the following picture with my little 3.2 megapixel camera - I know it is not technically excellent, but I was over the moon with the results.
A Yellow-faced Honeyeater with a snack for its youngster
. . . . . and one of the chicks
[My husband, Grahame, captured this image]
It was altogether a marvellous outing; an outing amongst Nature's plants and creatures that restored balance and perspective to my faultering sense of journeying through life - I am smiling.
Melaleuca (possibly M. capitata) is a major component
of the regenerating flora in the power easement.
With a bit of good luck (I believe, unfortunately, it is rarely good planning), the abundantly blooming flora will have time and opportunity to drop seeds before the powers that be come in to slash, allowing future generations of native plants to emerge and reproduce again.
