ANPS eventually gets to Monga SCA

Several - my goodness it is close to 25! - years ago when I worked in the Public Service I hired a guy who had retired from the army after 25 years of service.  One day he said to me "In the military we'd call you a born leader.  The troops will follow you anywhere, out of pure curiosity to see where you are going."

As he spake so it was today.  My excuses for missing the gate on the first attempt are:
  • that I thought the sign for the State Conservation area was on the gate off Northangera Rd, not 300m inside;
  • I didn't remember the mailbox on the gate; and
  • when I came out of the gate last time I had just walked 6km along a rather scenic track carrynig a pack, so my brain was not working that well!
Whatever, thanks to all for not dealing out the comments that were merited by my driving straight past.

Fortunately it was an otherwise good outing.  After a foggy start in Bungendore the sun came out and the temperature was great in the mid 20s.  The images to follow are largely in the order of taking.

Patersonia sericea: the rosettes were common at the first site with a good number of flowers.
Epacris microphylla
  Leucopogon fraseri
Leucopogon lanceolatus
 Acacia brownii: note the bright yellow colour and the finer shape of the leave cf A. gunnii
 A couple of images of Mirbelia platyloboides.

 A very pale version of Acacia melanoxylon.
 Rhytidosporum procumbens
 Banksia spinulosa and Hardenbergia violaceae.
 Petalochilus fuscata: 
 Bark colour of Persoonia sp.
 Habitat on the ridge.
 Tetratheca bauerifolia
Daviesia ulicifolia
Note the gorse like leaves: Ulex is the genus name for that plant.  Ilex is the genus of holly so next we have Podolobium ilicifolium with leaves like holly.
 Habitat in Lomandra gully
 Bracken (Pteridium sp.) frond.
 Leucopogon lanceolatus: one of many larges bushes on the fnal hillside.  As Ros has noted the honeyed scent of this species dominated much of the area.
The next two images are of a greenhood: Bunochilus umbrinus  (Initially I thought it was too large for this species, but all else fits!)  I had hoped, based on what Denis Wilson has been finding in the Southern Highlands that we'd have got  better crop of greenhoods.

 Dianella caerulea groing up under the bark of a eucalypt!
 In the final swampy looking, but not wet, area was some Gahnia with this colourful seed.
 Right at the gate I finally got a snap of Acacia trachyphloia
These two insects were obviously members of the Star Alliance: or at least they believed in flying united.  (The image isn't good because they were very skittish.)
 A more cooperative spider!
Ros mentioned a few leech issues.  We were quite blase about this until we got home and took our jeans off.  At the risk of exciting (or possibly nauseating) folk here is an image including my ankle.

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