Coral Broom

My son took me up to Porters Pass to look at the coral broom, Carmichaelia crassicaulis. I usually go up too late to see the flowers. They are not very remarkable. I suspect they can have good seasons when the flowers are larger. The bushes have thick flat branches with no leaves. The flowers are pea-like with purplish blotches. See the first extra shot.

I had hoped to see the golden haired colletid bee, but the ones on show were more plain. They collect pollen on their hairy legs. See second extra. I also saw their nest holes in the shaly clay.

The beautiful mountain daisies, Celmisia spectabilis, were just starting to flower. See third extra.

My son found a worm, which was rather spectacular. It was the native worm, Octochaetus multiporus, which I measured at 23cms! See fourth extra.

At home there was heavy low cloud, but up there it was perfect- almost calm and thin sunshine. Two hours went by quickly and I hardly noticed the traffic on the highway below. It can be seen as a grey line from the lower left in the main shot.