Glasshouse Mountains

On June 20 a group of us visited the Glasshouse Mountains north of Brisbane in the area of the Sunshine Coast, and hiked to the top of Mount Ngun Ngun.  The Glasshouse Mountains are old volcanic plugs and were named by Captain Cook who fancied a resemblance to the glass furnaces he had known in England.  These mountains are visible from a long ways away and are, most of them, now national parks.  There are eleven of them and the tallest is Mount Beerwah at 556 meters.

On the hike we saw our first Australian native orchid in bloom, a tiny terrestrial "Helmet Orchid," Corybas barbarae and we saw our first Banksia in bloom, the Hairpin Banksia with its distinctive golden-orange bottlebrush flowers.  The weather was beautiful, warm and sunny, the company was great, friends and family, and we would love to go back and do more hiking among these wonderful and delightful peaks.

trailhead

unidentified mushroom

 Mount Tibrogargan

 Hairpin Banksia

 young Grass-tree

Grass-tree flowers

 unidentified tree

 Mount Tibrogargan

 Mount Tunbubudia (?)

Mount Coonowrin and Mount Beerwah

 Wall Skink (?)

 Mount Coonowrin and Mount Beerwah

Eucalyptus

 Helmet Orchid

 wife

Mount Tibrogargan at sunset

Australian Orchids

 

 

 When we were in Australia for our youngest son's wedding, we kept an eye out for orchids.  We found several but only one in bloom since it was winter there.  This is the one we found in bloom in the Glasshouse Mountains north of Brisbane, Barbara's Corybas.

Corybas barbarae

The next five photos are of what I believe to be Bulbophyllums, the first photographed in Mossman Gorge and the rest in the Daintree Rainforest.

Unidentified Bulbophyllums

This photo is, I believe of Cymbidium dayanum, photographed along the Manjal Jimalji trail in the Daintree Rainforest.

Cymbidium dayanum

The following two photos are of Dockrillia teretifollia, the first photo taken along the esplanade in Cairns and the second in the Daintree Rainforest area.

Dockrillia teretifolia

This last photo was taken in the Mossman Gorge and is possibly a Sarcochilus, but since I am not at all sure of the ID I've posted it as an unidentified orchid.

Unidentified Orchid