The bushwalking season in the Snowy Mountains ended this weekend (at least I am declaring it over anyway). Graham and I were intending to do the Roiund Mountain - Mount Jagungal loop with a side trip to Grey Mare Hut. The side trip was quite ambitious considering it would have meant walking about 25 km on the first day.

We made it to Derschkos Hut and then the weather began to close in. We stayed the night as the wind increased and the temperature dropped. The weather was too bad for camping and so we decided to return to the car. It was a four hour walk and so we only had until lunch time for the weather to clear, in order that we could make it back to the car before dark. The weather didn’t clear, and the snow began to fall.

We spent a second night in Derschkos Hut and managed to read every bit of paper in the place. The wind died down overnight, and the temperature dropped to -8C, but without the wind, it wasn’t that bad. The next morning the wind had gone, it was still -2C and very overcast.

We set out for the car, making a quick detour to Round Mountain Hut for lunch. The temperature stayed below zero for most of the walk, which was good, since the snow remained powdery and dry. The sun came out for a few minutes just before we got back to the car, but didn’t stay long. We drove home and it took a good 30km before all of the snow has blown off the roof.

A fun time was had by all.

Here are some more pics.

This is what our property looks like now, or at least in 2005 when Google took the photo. In total there are about four large trees, plus lots or blackberry and thistles. This weekend we started to redress the balance. Sue and myself planted 100 trees and bushes. They are all tube stock and although 100 was a very ambitious number, they do get quite cheap when you buy that many. Of course, by the end of the weekend every muscle in our bodies was hurting.

Many of the trees were fast growing Acacias. These are pioneer plants and in a natural forest environment they prepare the soil for the plants to come. We hope they will do the same here. We want to start a tradition where every visitor to the property has to bring a tree. That way, not only do we get lots of trees, but each time that person visits they can see how their tree is progressing. The trees should provide shelter from the winds and attract bird life which in turn will bring small amounts of natural fertiliser and help spread seeds. This is the start of a very long term project.
For the record, the plants were:

• Acacia buxifolia (10)
• Acacia decurrens (10)
• Acacia mearnsii (10)
• Acacia myrtifolia (10)
• Eucalyptus crebra (5)
• Eucalyptus fibrosa (5)
• Eucalyptus gummifera (10)
• Hakea salicifolia (10)
• Leptospermum scoparium roseum (10)
• Angophora floribunda (10)
• Kunzea ambigua (10)

As I sit in may inner city Sydney office, the overhanging concrete eaves outside my window are playing host to thousands of migratory creatures. The cool, dark, sheltered area is the closest thing to a cave you are likely to find around here and is the perfect resting place for the Bogong Moths before they continue their migration further south in the evening.

Some parts of buildings around Sydney like they have grown a furry brown skin, and every now and then something will disturb the moths and hundreds will take off at a time. Although small, they are very rich in protein and apparently have quite a nutty taste. I haven’t had one yet, but roasting them is the preferred method of cooking.

The moths will eventually make their way to the Australian Alps where they will stay for the summer, before heading north again for the winter. It is amazing that such a tiny creature can migrate so far. They will all be gone in a couple of weeks, but I expect them back the same time next year. Many people find them annoying, but I think it is a good way of being reminded that we are not the only creatures on the planet and we need to leave some room for all of the other inhabitants.

Last week as part of my Outward Bound course, we performed a community service job. The job in question was helping to clear Water Hyacinth off Toonumbar Dam near Kyogle. The job was supervised by Craig Gascoigne, a local asparagus farmer who loves kayaking on the dam.

When Craig saw the weed taking over the dam and clogging up his kayaking playground he figure something needed to be done. When he heard that a “Licence to Pollute” application had been lodged with DECC to permit aerial spraying on the dam with herbicide, he feared that the native plants would be killed as well. He then set about physically removing the plant himself.

Hundred of hours and tonnes of weed later, the job continues, although the scale of the problem has reduced dramatically. One of our party said of Craig, “You always say to yourself, ‘Someone ought to do something about that.’ Well, I’ve just met a someone.”

Craig is a typical Aussie larrikin and reminds me a bit of Steve Irwin, enough for me the christen him “The Hyacinth Hunter”. By co-incidence, Craig is also a bush poet and entertained us with a few yarns before we went on our way.

As a tribute to Craig I have come out of poetry retirement and penned The Hyacinth Hunter which I hope will inspire Craig to carry on his good work.

There is a lot of doom and gloom in environmental news right now. By all accounts the Earth is going to hell in a handcart and it is a highly charged topic that has great scientific, economic, political and of course environmental implications.
“An Inconvenient Truth” follows Al Gore as he gives his global warming slide show to hundreds of people around the world. The arguments presented in the documentary are compelling although there are a few cringe moments. Al gets a little self indulgent at times, particularly when talking about the events that led to his epiphany. The claim that there are no scientific papers in the last few years that oppose the theory of climate change needs to be double checked, particularly if the likes of Bjorn Lomberg and the people behind “The Great Global Warming Swindle” are to be believed. (Though I have neither read nor seen these two counter arguments).
Although informative and well presented, there was little in the show that was new to me and  so the forehead slapping shock value that accompanied the release of this film did not occur with me.
In the last year or so both the Australian and US governments have started to take climate change a bit more seriously and I am sure that Al Gore will take credit for som of this.
It seems that the independent documentary is playing an ever increasing role in a society where our news programs and newspapers are heavily compromised by the politics of the owners and the concerns of advertisers. Whether you believe the message of this film its influence is likely to be up there with SuperSize Me and some of Michael Moore’s work.
I’d give it 3.5 out of 5.

The plane stopped off in Guayaquil which I think is the other big city in Ecuador. After landing in Baltra we took a squashed standing room only bus to a small ferry followed by a not quite so crowded bus to Puerto Ayora, the main settlement on Santa Cruz.

We dropped our gear on the boat (via a Zodiac IRB transfer), then back on land for a walk around the Charles Darwin Research Station. Here we saw some of the 13 species of tortoise that inhabit these islands, including “Lonesome George” the last male of a particular species of tortoise, who refuses to do the manly thing with either of the two remaining females. With such a small gene pool the species is probably doomed anyway, but it is both eerie and disturbing to look upon the last example of a living creature.

We returned to the boat for a lovely meal before a briefing on tomorrow’s activities and an early night.

Our cabin is below deck and the sound of the engine is a constant companion. Our twin bunk cabin with private bathroom is about the size of our walk-in wardrobe at home. My bunk is so close to the roof, I am afraid that if I get an erection during the night I will be pinned to my bed.

We “sail” (an unusual term to use for a stink boat) at midnight, so if I do get used to the engine enough to get to sleep, it will probably wake me them. We shall see.

Save Botany Beach is calling on you to really show your support with attending a public meeting at Botany Beach, Foreshore Road at 2 p.m. on this Saturday, March 3, 2007. We are expecting numerous community organisations representatives to also be present.

Please see the attached flyer for more details. We would appreciate it if you would distribute it to your family, friends, neighbours, colleagues and associates and encourage them to attend the meeting. We encourage as many people as possible to attend - there is power in numbers!

Beach Protest Flyer

When Sydney Water first released details of the desalination plant, it had a short list of three sites; Port Kembla, Kurnell and Malabar.
Port Kembla was then dismissed as being limited to a 125ML/day plant.
Miraculously, the costs for the remaining two sites were estimated to be exactly the same. The prime reason that Kurnell was chosen was that the land at Malabar had unknown levels of contamination and the strict timeline for building the plant meant the “greenfield” site at Kurnell had the advantage.
By the time the plan was put on hold, (after the sudden discovery of huge amounts of water within the vast cavern between Morris Iemma’s ears), the site at Kurnell had been purchased.
Now it is revealed (Sunday Telegraph, 11 February) that the site is actually contaminated with 100,000 tonnes of material containing asbestos.
Perhaps it is time for the government to reconsider the siting of the plant, for if it must be built, it is better built on a site closer to where the water will be used, and avoid the need for a massive water pipe under Botany Bay.

Read the rest of this entry »

Advertising agencies recently had a competition to come up with ways of selling recycled water.

One of the better entries appears below. The tagline? It’s your mind that’s dirty.

Perhaps I am just getting more cynical in my old age, but I am still not sure what to think of the Community Calendar that landed in my letterbox just before Christmas. The calendar is put out by Orica, a chemical company whose main work in Botany seems to be cleaning up the environmental mess it has made over the last 50 years.

The calendar was full of pictures of smiling children benefitting from the operations of the chemical company, and April features a map of the Groundwater Exclusion Zone, where the use of bore water is prohibited due to Orica’s pollution.

My favourite picture however is May, which shows Tom Carpenter and his wife, smiling happily as their bore water is sampled. Although Orica says there is no need for alarm, take a look at what the company rep is wearing. She has rubber gloves and safety goggles!

It also fails to mention that the bore being sampled also has among the highest concentrations of pollutants in the area. Although the calendar says the residents living in the area can have their bores tested, it fails to mention that the offer doesn’t apply to those who take up the rainwater tank rebate.

Keep smiling Tom, and lets hope Orica is not going to be the next James Hardie.