SERIES 31 | Episode 28
Costa heads up to the Blue Mountains, on Dharug and Gundungurra Country, to meet a family of mad-keen orchid hunters.
The ranges are huge but if you look down on the ground you’ll find a whole new, tiny world - the world of Australia’s native orchids.
Sabine Hanisch partner Ben Jasiak and their daughter Arabella are all keen bushwalkers who love exploring the region and hunting for orchids.
They started trying to identify them but there wasn’t a book on the orchids of the area - so they ended up writing one themselves. “There are 130 different orchid species in the Blue Mountains so that’s 130 different orchid habitats.”
Each orchid can be found in slightly different terrain, habitat and aspect, so you just have to keep your eyes peeled the whole time - and be careful not to step on them. They’re hard to sport at first but, once you get your eyes in, Costa discovers you start seeing them everywhere.
Many orchids flower especially well after a bushfire.
Arabella is so good at spotting orchids that she recently found a rare Dark Midge Orchid (Corunastylis reflexa) that hasn’t been seen for 145 years and was presumed extinct!
It is illegal to pick or dig up native orchids, however they are sometimes available to buy through local branches of the Australian Native Orchid Society.
Featured Plants | |
|---|---|
| Spotted sun-orchid | Thelymitra ixioides |
| White gnome orchid | Adenochilus nortonii |
| Blue fingers | Caladenia caerulea |
| Pink fingers | Caladenia carnea |
| Leafy greenhood | Pterostylis longifolia |
| Dark Midge Orchid | Corunastylis reflexa |
| Nodding greenhood | Pterostylis nutans |
Filmed on Dharug and Gundungurra Country