Rose hyacinth loop ride to Seven Mile Beach NP : November 8 2025

Forecast is a bit iffy with big storms forecast. Decided to do a longer bike ride with one orchid target. Chose to ride the route in opposite direction to normal

Halloween decoration with the Mountain Ridge Vineyard homestead up above

Coolangatta Mountain provides the ridge

One small climb on a quiet road - only traffic goes to the Berry recycling centre

Part one of the mission - budding hyacinth orchid in front of the biodiversity site next to the recycling centre - a known spot

A little further developed

Did find two plants flowering - did crop the photos a bit. There is something in focus but not what I was aiming at

Close up is not quite in focus but enough to see the multi-coloured spider

Step back photo. Always nice to fund a new season orchid - rose hyacinth orchid - dipodium roseum

Normally ride this route in the opposite direction. Bonus time is finding a few rose hyacinth orchid sites on the way down the hill. Nice backdrop of Woodhill Mountain

That find got me riding a little slower down the hills. A mishmash photo shows the key ID elements - a bit of ruffling on the labellum, even sized spots, petals turn back a little

Find the bug

Stopped back photo witha tree as background - helps with focus

An against the light photo - the deeper colour on a short spike got me to stop

One more. In all I counted 6 new locations all on the north side of the road. Have always cycled the other way and only found one spot about half way along

Getting closer to the Gerroa Road junction found this orchid budding. The colour of the spike suggests it is dipodium variegatum and not roseum. The spots confirms that. Have seen both here

This is roseum in the same area - all purple spike

Did a side visit to check on known hyacinth spots - a native violet for my granddaughter Violette

Did find two hyacinth orchids budding - variegatum

And roseum

And the highlight is a yellow-anthered rock lily - supposedly quite rare and only found in a tight zone. Flower is tiny and hard to photograph

Got a good ride in before the storm. The storm was a nothing burger - a few hailstones and not enough rain to wet the ground

Put a few bets on the horses - a break even day. Missed a bunch of races on the trip into town for some shopping

Cooked dinner for friends - simple BBQ stuff ona fab evening for sitting outdoors

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Cycling, Daily Activity, House Chores, Shopping

Height 183.0 cm		Weight 90.0 kg		Body Fat %
Waist cm		Thighs cm		Chest cm