Great Ocean Road 2004Page 2 - Brisbane Ranges - Switch Back Road |
We continued down Switch Back Road and stopped at a water point half way down.
This is where we saw our first koala - lying lazily in a gum tree as they do most of the time.
It was also the first time the holiday took a turn for the worse. After photographing the koala I tripped and bashed my camera on the ground, damaging the lens mechanism. It ground away a few times but I was lucky that eventually it got back to semi-working condition but I was living on borrowed time for the rest of the holiday. Every time I switched in on or off it would grind around a little before finding its windings. 
There were a few orchids here but damaging my camera took the shine off things.
After that we went down to Anakie Gorge and Lower Stony Creek Reservoir. Here we a colony of Nodding Greenhood Orchids, that had mostly finished flowering, and right next to it the largest colony of Maroonhood Orchids (Pterostylis pedunculata) that I had ever seen (not that I've seen many large colonies of them). Being a wetter, sheltered area there was not a profussion of orchids but there was considerable bird life. We saw several species of honey eaters including one bird we hadn't seen before that landed on a branch half a metre in front of my mother's face. Nobody had a camera ready and these things are usually only captured and treasured in your memories. 
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