Xanthorrhoea Walk

It's been about fifteen years since we walked up to Gibraltar Rocks. I'm not sure I'll tackle that again. It was a long uphill slog with what I recall was a slippery gravelly discouraging downhill dip near the top. But going just as far as the xanthorroeas seemed a reasonable plan for a shortish afternoon walk. I don't know if my memory let me down or if the track has been realigned, but I spent a fair bit of time muttering I don't remember it being so far and I don't remember it being so steep. I'm glad we did the walk though, it turned out to be a good amount of exercise on what was a spectacularly beautiful winter day. My only regret was not starting out a little sooner as the mountains to the west mean you lose good light for photography very early.

Xanthorrhoeas, also known as grass trees, are native to Australia. They were valuable to the Aborigines, parts are edible, the resin was used for glue, and the flower spikes were used as spear shafts. They are very slow growing, it can take ten or more years for a trunk to start forming. It is illegal to remove them from the wild but nurseries sell ones that have been salvaged by authorised specialists from sites undergoing redevelopment. They are quite expensive, a local nursery has 300mm ones (about a foot high) listed for $265. Although they are very hardy and can even regenerate after bushfires, they don't like root disturbance so establishing them in a garden can be difficult.