2/5/19 Lake Unicup to somewhere with frogs.

We had trouble with the track instructions from AT 3- AT5 as we left the campsite.

(the track logs didn’t match the blue line)

We stopped in at the Lake Muir observatory (trying to see birds) but the lake was flat and dry. Very few birds.

Jan bird spotting at the dry lake Muir

A little later in the day we noticed a red painted pipe on the side of a forestry boundary.  We stopped to have a look and opened the top of the pipe up.

Unscrewing the cap, we found maps laminated of the fire plan, and forestry tree farm map.

We stopped for morning tea along a forestry track just past AT16 and spotted these unusual plants for the first time of many.The flowers appear to turn brown when they dry off. Leaves are stacked on top of each other along the stalk!!

looking down on undried flower of same plant. 

one of the lovely portions of track. How lucky were we??

This lovely bottlebrush (Beaufortia Sparsa) was along some of the lower lying sandy tracks and gave us a real burst of cheer each time we saw the amazing bright orange/red flowers.  Sometimes it was like driving through a garden.

I stole this pic from the web to show what it looked like sometimes - just stunning.

We did the Mt Frankland walks. (one was flat to the side of a rock and the other to the peak of the Mt where the spotting tower is) .  Trev picked out a green striped hooded orchid.

large covered shelter area - beautiful stonework.

huge expanses of bare rock.

orchid - pterostylis vittata (green banded greenhood) 

the hut where the fire spotters used to sleep/ stay when not running up and down the mountain. Now a very nice picnic area.

flowering kangaroo paw - lots of these were dried off. so we were lucky to see this one.

steps to the summit of Mt Frankland

more steps - this time a ladder

amazing bright orange growth on the rock.

We deviated to one ford of the Franklin river, but did not cross.  


Then a little later we did need to cross on an old hefty log bridge at AT30. 

Once again the track notes didn’t match up with the map at AT31.  The notes said go to AT31A and map shows going to AT32, AT33 etc, We stopped at the side of a track near AT47 to camp at about 1630  

Trev and I were both feeling unwell with sore throats, coughs and runny noses.   

We had a short walk down the road after dark to try to find the little creatures making a racket – once again they sounded like formula one cars from a distance! – Ross guessed that it might be frogs and sure enough, as we got closer we could tell that was what it was.  We never did see them though so no idea what sort they would be.

P.S. Having had a bit of a look at frogs in the area we now think these were moaning frogs.
http://museum.wa.gov.au/explore/frogwatch/frogs/moaning-frog to read more and hear the noise.