On the way to lunch at Cape Wickham, a halt was 
made to admire the rare but locally numerous 
leafy greenhoods growing in grass under Coast 
Teatree. King Island Naturalists have a 
revegetation project near the lighthouse, a lovely 
picnic spot. 
A longish drive to the southern end of the island 
followed, destination the Calcified Forest. 
Calcareous pipes have formed around roots, 
which have then been exposed . By the sandy 
track, a round morel fungus was found. We 
enjoyed a blustery but scenic walk to Seal Rocks, 
Swainsonia and tall coast daisy being some of the 
floral highlights. 
Our dinner that night at Grassy again showcased 
local beef, seafood and dairy products, 
entertainment being a slide-show of Kl Nats. 
Next morning we met at Naracoopa, in slightly 
moderated weather. A short drive to an 
unremarkable fire break trail revealed more pink 
fairies, then a fire orchid, purple beard orchid and 
a small group of twisted sun orchids. None was 
fully open, due to the cool cloudy wet weather. 
At Sea Elephant River estuary, PWS Ranger 
Shelley gave us a talk about the Lavinia Nature 
Reserve, where orange bellied parrots stop during 
migration, and southern hairy red snails, green 
and gold frogs, orchids, mammals and reptiles are 
found despite the eight fires in 80 years. 
Lunch at Pegarah Forest was interrupted by the 
finding of mayfly orchids. Then we were guided to 
a stand of graceful, small, understory trees, 
bootlace bushes, and shown the nest of a sea 
eagle with the owner watching from a nearby 
eucalypt. A green bird orchid grew riskily in the 
middle of the track. 
Last but not least, we were shown along an old 
road where blackstripe and nodding greenhoods, 
and maroonhoods grew thick and tall, and a 
vegetable caterpillar fungus was spotted. 
Many thanks go to our hosts, who gave us a good 
glimpse of the unusual ecology, special 
community and local delicacies, especially 
Carmen Holloway and James who kept us to 
schedule and brought along Evan and Gypsy. 
This place punches well above its weight! 
Pterostylis melegramma 
Beard orchid 
Pterostylis cucullata 
A Trip to Cape Surville—9 October 2010 
Lucy Rutherford 
n Sunday the 10th of October a group of 
both young and old field naturalists 
journeyed to the Tasman Peninsula, to enjoy what 
would be a day of walking up hills and cliffs. 
The day started with a small but willing group 
meeting at the museum at 9 am-ish, where we 
were rewarded with the first animal sighting of 
the day, a canary. 
We car pooled all the way to the peninsula, where 
we met up with more happy campers. 
Tasmanian Field Naturalists Club 
We then had the essential photo and headed on 
up the track. It turned out to be a very long walk 
to the start of the track but nearly everybody got 
to the start without a little detour. Once on our 
way, everyone was content doing what field 
naturalists do best. 
Shortly afterwards, we stopped for a rest and 
were rewarded with a spectacular view of the 
peninsula, with the amazing rocks taking the 
fancy of quite a few budding naturalists. 
BULLETIN 341 January 2011 p5 
