Ok.
Linguiforme should be abundant in your area. You will need to get away from centres of population, however, as they are often stolen from the wild so none left in readily accessible places. The place to look is sandstone outcrops in dry to medium-dry sclerophyll forests. Generally any low outcrop of rocks, in around the crevices and the shadier spots is worth checking out. Growing on the rocks among the lichen.
You know the Hawkesbury sandstone around Sydney, Blue Mountains and Central Coast ? You know that it usually outcrops around the top of a ridge, or forms little escarpments at the top of hills? That’s where they are common. Growing alongside should be Dendrobium speciousum and Liparis reflexa.
These species will all be growing on rock, never on trees. Gum trees shed their bark too often.
Cymbidium suave is also very common. It grows in trees as it’s a saprophytic - so it needs to get its roots into rotten wood. They grow in diverse habitats, basically anywhere it can find a tree with a bit of rot - they are hard to recognise at first as they just look like a epiphytic reed.
Striolata is much less common. I think you are too far north for it.
There should be some D. Teretifolia around you too. They are found in pure stands of casuarina, beside waterways. I expect you can find them on the western shore of Lake Macquarie. Just look for patches of casuarina beside the lake, then look at the trunks from say 2 to 4 metres up.
There are plenty of other epiphytic and lithophytic orchids in your area - the Hunter Valley is the southern boundary for a lot of species.
Most of the other local species are more common in rainforest, or very wet sclerophyll. Usually the remnant rainforest along creek gullies will turn up a few, usually Plectorrhyza, Papillilabium, Bulbophyllums etc. These will be on tree trunks, not on the rocks. I just follow the creek line looking at the lower trunk of the trees - smooth-barked rainforest trees like coachwood or sassafras, not gums. You need high humidity from a water source, but you need light and air movement so you won’t find them in the deepest gullies, more the medium ones. You also seem to need a fairly big patch of rainforest with other patches around - I think it’s a critical mass thing. And again, go where the pilferers don’t go.
If you want to go direct to a spot, I did two posts below on orchid hunting. The second of those posts mentions a dam area where almost every tree has orchids growing on its trunk. That is Boarding House Dam in the Watagans. You may need a 4WD if the road hasn’t been graded, check first.
Good luck. Looking for orchids in the wild is a strange thing. It can take ages to recognise the first one, then you see them everywhere.
Cheers
Arron
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