Night photography!
That night, still about 150 km from Harvey, we were outside of Duranillin when
Phill decided--what the
hell--to show us the Drosera barbigera using the headlights of his car! So at a nondescript point that seemed
to have no identifying markers, Phill muttered "This is it" and pulled over, angling
his car so the headlights played across the gravel into the bush. We got out and,
sure enough, swimming in the darkness were tiny clusters of
D. barbigera!
It takes a certain kind of person to be able to find pygmy sundews by headlight on a moonless Australian night, and that guy is
Phill!
Beth made the brilliant yet obvious suggestion we use our flash gear to photograph these. More an experiment than anything else, I
composed this view and, diffusing my off-camera flash with a plastic sheet, got surprisingly good results. Sure, nothing I'd want
to see published, but it recorded the moment!
And with this, somewhat absurd photograph, I finish this trip report. Total trip tallies for southwestern Australia? Carnivorous plant
species: 39; orchids & Stylidium species: 13!
I have but one more report from our Australia expeditions. It
describes our last few sites with Phill, and then a very interesting day spent with Allen Lowrie.
