"Not long after we were married [1950] we went down to the Pallinup and I can remember the large flock of birds taking off and re-settling again, they were everywhere, they were just wonderful to see. They were mostly swans I would think, a lot of ducks and probably coots and grebes and all those sorts of things, but I can remember the swans were just fantastic.

We were asked if we would check for the RAOU, as it was called in those days, and it must have been either the late 70s or early 80s. We had to fill in a form and send it back to Rodney Vervest and it was a count of ducks, swans and coots. So we did the Pallinup. When I say we, a friend of mine Viv McCormick who was in the RAOU, would come out sometimes and help me with the count. We would do the Pallinup through Chillinup and then we would do the Corackerup and we'd do the bottom section where it joins the Pallinup. Then we would call in at the Monjebup creek, just opposite Chillinup, virtually and there would always be some there. We also did chestnut teal counts, they were very interested in those, and there always seemed to be a pair just above the Chillinup crossing."
Ruth Moir

"We did a lot of walking around in the bush, not a vast area, but the bloom of spider orchids and so on was just unbelievable. It is a very, very important spider orchid area.

On that I was up at the Kings Park Wildflower Show two years ago and talking to Kingsley Dixon, the flower person. He happened to ask me where I came from and I said down Bremer Bay way he said is that anywhere near the Pallinup River and Boxwood Hill and I said that is exactly right where I come from. He said, well it's the spider orchid capital of Western Australia, in his book. So that was something a lot of people wouldn't really know, that it is a very unique spider orchid area. Even some of the swamps that we have retained on this farm have got some magnificent spider orchids in them. We've got one swamp, the closest one to the reserve; it has got a lot of different coloured spider orchids in it. I go to another swamp and it seems to be all white spider orchids. I've got another one that's enamel orchids, so they all seem to have their own little habitat. Then I've got another one that's got a real mixture of spider orchids, donkey orchids, the whole box and caboodle."
Charlie Hick