Mycena Species

Today was special. My good friend Dawn and I drove out to Pine Valley this morning. We had morning tea with the landowners at the end of the road and saw some wonderful images of an Emperor Moth that had hatched out in the living room of the farm house. V had a cocoon attached to a small branch. It sat dormant for months and then one day it hatched. They said it was amazing to see. These moths live on blue gum trees near the farm house.
We were taken on a tiki tour of the farm property. L drove us in his 4x4 truck. Dawn hung on for dear life on the deck. I sat in the cab with mud flying in through the open window and over me, praying quietly. The tracks leading to the high points were extremely steep and very very greasy after copious recent rains. it was a scary ride but worth it for the extensive views.
Around lunchtime Dawn and I drove up the road to the car-park and prepared to go on a fungi foray. Dawn has only recently started to learn computing and photography. She has taken to both like a duck to water and is quickly becoming addicted.
I got all my gear sorted, D600 with big macro lens, radio remote...all OK . Tripod out and ready to mount camera on ...but wait...no tripod plate on camera. Oh dear. The plate was home in Blenheim . Threw a bit of a hissy fit and then simmered down. Made do with my point and shoot Lumix ...the same as Dawn was using. Got better macro shots than I often do with a big heavy DSLR and macro lens. There is a lesson here.... somewhere.
Once we were walking in the bush and among fungi galore Dawn was like a little kid let loose in a candy store. She loved the photographic fungi foray. We are planning to return to Pine Valley early next week with the intention of spending a whole day exploring and capturing the magic of the fungi and forest.
The tiny Mycena species in today's blip was on an enormous old moss covered log. There were hundreds of these delicate little treasures on this log, in big clusters...just magical...like little pixies' parasols. We will return....we are hooked on fungi.