​The location is 19kms from Narrogin on the Tarwonga Road. Driving south, soon after passing the Highbury West Road intersection, the next uncleared land is Highbury B block. Look for the Telstra sign and turn left onto a track on the top of a rise. The trail leads further into a Telstra tower (note, it is easy to get lost if you try to follow any side trails.)
Stop by the large granite rock on the right (‘Telstra spot’). 

​The landscape and soils at the Telstra spot are unusual in having varying depths of grey gritty sand over grey clay with granite outcrops. The gnarled jarrah trees near shallow clay and rock are very unusual and there is a lovely range of shrubs around the rock including August flowering blue hakea (Hakea lehmanniana).
​The slope on the north side of the track has an attractive range of vegetation ranging from winter-wet low kwongan scrub on shallow sand over grey clay with larger plants and sheoak woodland where the sand is deeper. Good orchid country. Dotted in amongst this are lichen-rich low granite outcrops with rock pools and a beautiful but tiny red bladderwort (redcaps Utricularia menziesii) that I haven’t seen elsewhere in the Narrogin district

The slope on the north side of the track has an attractive range of vegetation ranging from winter-wet low kwongan scrub on shallow sand over grey clay with larger plants and sheoak woodland where the sand is deeper. Good orchid country. Dotted in amongst this are lichen-rich low granite outcrops with rock pools and a beautiful but tiny red bladderwort (redcoats Utricularia menziesii) that I haven’t seen elsewhere in the Narrogin district.
There is an illegal trail bike track provided for you to walk on. Be sure to smile for Parks and Wildlife hidden cameras that may be installed to catch trail bikers and illegal woodcutters

​To get to the ‘Forestry Road spot’ drive further down Tarwonga Road on the southern edge of the reserve and turn into Forestry Road. The Forestry road turnoff is easy to miss as it looks more like a fire access track. Park near the corner as there can be deep and boggy pools further down.
This is a water gaining spot with a wonderful show of orchids and other wildflowers in October. Of note is the tall late October flowering heart leaf poison Gastrolobium bilobum. This is the only spot in the district that I have found this poison, but it was more common in early settlement days because it was common in granite soil country that was favoured grazing country for early settlers. The lovely Pustkuchen ruin near here was abandoned because there was  such a huge germination of this poison after a wildfire on the land that the owners abandoned the farm.
Look carefully on the eastern edge of the poison to find silky blue orchids, Cyanicula sericea, purple pansy orchids Diuris longifolia, and a few little kangaroo paws Anigozanthus bicolour.
The mixed display of everlastings and other spring flowers is delightful
 
For more images click individual images in this Google photos album

Adult spittlebugs are called froghoppers and are a subgroup with other hoppers because the winged adults are very aerodynamically shaped and jump with the fastest jumping speed in the insect world (too fast for most predators).
Incidentally hoppers in turn are grouped with cicadas into suborder Auchenorrhyncha (because adults have hard forewings which held roof-like over the membranous hind wings on the back.
And all of these are grouped with aphids, scales and true bug because they all have piercing sucking mouthparts and go through 5 nymphal stages to the winged adults (Order Hemiptera).

Plants have two fluid conducting systems in their trunk and stems (a bit like our arteries and veins). Shallow phloem channels carrying sugars down from the leaves to provide energy for plant cells are targeted by aphids and scales, which they in turn secrete from their bum as a sugary treat  for ants.
Spittlebugs also tap into the deeper xylem channels that transport water and minerals up from plant roots and provides them with more liquid to make their spit.
 
There are two groups of spittlebugs.
Family Clastopteridae: Machaerotinae - Tube Spittlebugs (above). Their nymphs build and live in tubes.
Family Aphrophoridae  Spittlebugs. Nymphs produce bubbly 'spittle' on the stems of shrubs or small trees to protect them. Check for them before cursing those uncouth bogans who expectorate on our plants