Mount Black - Graytown
1 November 1998
Mt Black?? - until Jones'es slide show last meeting I'd never heard of it! - where is it? Surely we don't have Grass Trees that size round here - the Flinders Ranges hasn't even got any that big. But there it is in the Club calendar - a day walk with Kerrie.
Come Sunday morning - a beautiful day - this will be a popular walk. But no - just Kerrie, Anne B, Elizabeth and yours truly turn up - everyone else must have done it before or be away for the Cup weekend. But that's to our advantage - with a small group and Anne's expertise we should get a good look at a few birds.
Arriving at the starting point we head up Melville's Look-out (I wonder if it's the "caves" bloke) for a warm up. The birds are everywhere - Crimson Rosellas, Musk and Little Lorikeets in droves among the blossom along with the sounds of Orioles nearby. These and about 30 other species Anne noted during the day kept our binoculars busy.
Then it was back down and up the other side of the valley to the top of Mt Black. On the way we had numerous close encounters with the promised ancient Grass Trees - they were real after all and huge and came in all shapes and arrangements.
After a leisurely lunch spent contemplating the possibility of a future excursion through the box/ironbark forest below us stretching away to Rushworth, we continued our circuit down through the remains of what would have recently been a wonderful display of wildflowers and back to the start.
Thanks Kerrie for allowing us to share this great spot with you.
Max Stevens