Mt Samaria

Although this is a blog about our bit of bush just out of Melbourne, I couldn't help posting these photos from Mt Samaria. We went up there recently (I was researching for a kid's book I'm writing) and I was struck by the different vegetation that grew at the top of the mountain. Not to mention some of the other "growths" such as this huge termite mound. It was about 1.8 metres high (6 feet). Mt Samaria is actually a state park, and the top of the mountain is 953 metres above sea level, hence the dampness and cold.
Whereas I won't see any fungi at Lancefield for a while yet, unless it rains a lot more, these were happily growing near where we parked our car, just off the road.

Higher up, many of the rocks had lichen and moss on them, and there were plants obviously thriving in the cold, wet climate up there. We walked down one track towards Wild Dog Creek, and I tried another towards the summit. Lots of gum trees but a fair range of other kinds of trees as well, which made a nice change!
Down below, the vegetation was similar to Lancefield with mostly gums, some bracken and a lot of plants that looked like kangaroo paw, or something similar. It was a very interesting afternoon, which also included vast amounts of wombat poo and scratchings, but I never got to see a wombat. They must know I'm around!