Tozers Bush Camp is a wonderful little patch of bush, surrounded by farmland, on the road to Bremer Bay. We were drawn to visit the place because of their now-famous orchid tours including the highly sought-after Queen of Sheba, Thelymitra speciosa, which we saw. But the place is so much more than a couple of admittedly spectacular orchids. We were so taken by the place that I've dedicated a whole blog post to highlight some of the wonderful flowers that we saw when were there in late August this year.
Tozers Bush Camp is a small patch of bush, privately owned by Robert Tozer. I'm not sure exactly how big it is, but is a rectangle perhaps roughly 2.5km by 1km in size, or thereabouts. There are numerous unpowered camping sites radiating out from a wonderful communal camp kitchen. They have all the essentials like toilets, showers, power in the camp kitchen, a TV, stoves for cooking. During the spring wildflower season they have daily tours run by a resident botanist for those interested in orchids and wildflowers. The tours start at 10 am in a mini bus and go for as long as people want (longer if there are photographers on board...guilty!). Of course, you can also just strike off on one of the many trails around the property and find your own treasures.
One of the most fascinating plants in my opinion were the corky honey myrtle, or Melaleuca suberosa. They are so weird, I loved them! They are a small shrub, not much taller than half a metre, but with a profusion of bright pink flowers...coming straight out of the corky, woody branches! They do have leaves, but they are towards the tips of the branches.
From a distance it looks like they have bright pink arms, and up close its fascinating to see how the buds burst from within the wood. Apparently the species is common in heathy habitats in the Albany to Esperance areas of Western Australia. Certainly, there were lots of them in full flower at Tozers Bush Camp when we were there.
Of course, they have lots of orchids as well. On the day that we did the orchid tour we saw a full 22 species of orchid, including the Queen of Sheba. It was almost an orchid overload...almost. I've included a select few that we saw, minus the Queen of Sheba which is the subject of a previous post.
In summary, if you ever find yourself in the vicinity of Bremer Bay, Fitzgerald River National Park, or even Albany, you must take a short detour and visit this wonderful place...