It’s wet here in the Wimmera. Although we don’t get exact data from the Bureau of Meteorology for Natimuk, 13 millimetres of rain fell in Horsham yesterday. It hasn’t yet rained this morning but the Bureau is is calling for “rain at times”, and my Weatherzone Plus app says it is 90% likely - with between 10 and 20 mm of wetness supposed to drop from the sky.
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| Don't you just love technology? |
An aside before going further. In an earlier post I forgot earlier to include a photo from when we did our bike ride in Moruya. On the way to Congo we noted a whimsy of locals: nailing teddy bears to trees. Here’s an example:
We don’t plan to climb today. And we may be looking for alternatives the next few days as well if the BOM has their modelling right:
Not to worry. There's plenty of time left to get on those climbs we want to do before leaving. One of the good things about being retired and on the road is that you don’t have to fit in your fun around work and “Home Duties”. If something - like the weather - gets in the way of immediate plans, you just wait a while.
Something that we find so remarkable about being in this part of the country is the way grass sprouts so quickly when rain comes, and the way the some of the eucalypts burst so suddenly into flower. It can be quite a transformation over just a few days.
And, as if by magic, the bird life changes accordingly. Already there are more rosellas around camp than when we arrived five days ago. Di is sure the lorikeets will also arrive in numbers over the next few days, when those eucalypts come out in flower. Going by past experience she’s probably right. Incidentally, as I sit composing this, the Long-billed Corellas are swarming around the camp with their charming sociability, and the rain has just started to fall again. Maybe that is what is making the corellas so talkative.
The other day Di took a stroll down by the lake and took a few photos. Here’s one of the corollas:
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| Crimes Against Teddy Bears |
Not to worry. There's plenty of time left to get on those climbs we want to do before leaving. One of the good things about being retired and on the road is that you don’t have to fit in your fun around work and “Home Duties”. If something - like the weather - gets in the way of immediate plans, you just wait a while.
The other day Di took a stroll down by the lake and took a few photos. Here’s one of the corollas:
Not the best photo, but I wanted to show the long, curved beak.
And here is a pair hanging out amongst their mates ...
The last time we were here there were plenty of Black Swans swimming in the lake. They’re still here but now their standing their ground ...
That photo makes it look like there's still quite a lot of water in the lake. The panorama that Di took testifies otherwise ...
That panorama covers quite a distance and when I looked closer I could see some folks out on the lake bed, a photo in a photo so to speak ...
For those of you who are interested, that's Mount Arapiles in the background. Di took these photos the day before yesterday and we haven't seen "The Mount" since.
Unfortunately the rain is unlikely to be enough to restore the lake level to what it was in 2011-12, when there were people wind-surfing, water-skiing, fishing and even sailing. It probably needs to get back up over the 2 metre level mark on this gauge for that to happen ...
This old behemoth of a tree stump ...
...was mostly submerged when we were here after the big wet in 2011. A year later it was still in the water but by autumn of last year it was just at the water's edge. Now the water is probably 100 metres away. What's that white stuff draped over the right end? Well, it's actually wool, and strewn across this part of the dry lake bottom there are large patches of wool laid down perhaps 10 - 20 mm thick. This is the lee shore of the lake and it appears that the wool has been blown here across the lake and collected. Yes, there are a lot of sheep around this area, although the Wimmera is mostly known for the growing of wheat.
On previous trips we haven't noticed Royal Spoonbills here before, but there are plenty of them scouring the lake as well. So far Di hasn’t managed to get a close enough photo to include; hopefully we’ll be able to post one before we leave here. We also hope to make some photos of Freckled Ducks, which are currently populating the lake. Phil at the Arapiles Mountain Shop tells us that the lake is closed to shooting because of the presence of those ducks, which are protected due to their endangered state. Although it's a worry that the Freckled Duck is endangered, we are very pleased that there is no shooting here this year. We found it quite confronting last year, especially with the number of guns that were still going off when it was almost pitch dark.
Just after I started typing this, Di came back from visiting Justin, Stu, Bob and John - friends from Hobart - who are staying in one of the cabins here at the lake. They have a limited time so they thought they’d head over to The Mount to see if they could get a climb in. Sure enough, as if just on schedule, the rain started to fall almost immediately after they left. And it’s still falling. Which reminds me. We are very fortunate with the quality and quanitity of information produced by our national Bureau of Meteorology. Recently Evan, our son-in-law in Cairns, alerted me to their latest annual report on the state of Australia’s climate. Pretty technical, but some of the graphs are very interesting. Highly recommended.
Speaking of climate reporting, I was gobsmacked to read in the Mercury online yesterday an opinion piece bagging our current government’s head-in-the-sand stance on climate change. It wasn’t so much the facts themselves - everyone who pays much attention knows that Abbott and co don’t want to know - but the fact that The Mercury would print such a piece at all, let alone so prominently. Our little Hobart paper hasn’t been know to expose the weaknesses of Australia’s right when it comes to issues of social justice and environment in particular. I wonder if there is a new editorial policy in place.
It’s about time for me to wrap this up. We’ll head out for a walk in the rain and see what the birds are doing, then come back and have some lunch. It would be fun to potter around on the bikes too, but that isn’t going to happen today. The reason: I didn’t think to cover the saddle of my bike with a plastic bag before the rain started falling yesterday morning and we headed off to town.
A little while later ...
We had our walk. The lads returned from The Mount without getting in a climb and decided to use their time in some rescue review ...
It's after lunch now and Di is having her "Nana Nap". I'm dreaming of climbing other places - like Red Rocks in Nevada. We did a great route there in 2005 called Dream of Wild Turkeys (via a 2 pitch variant called Yellow Brick Road) on the Black Velvet Wall. Di took this photo of me about 2/3rds of the way up...
What brings this fabulous place to mind is that our friends HJ and Tammy were just there, and did another wonderful route called Crimson Chrysalis on Tammy's 44th birthday. (What a great way to celebrate a birthday, eh!) It's said that it "could quite easily be the best 5.8 in all of Red Rocks". HJ sent a few photos, including this beauty ...
That's about it for this post. Hopefully we'll have done some climbing locally rather than just in our imaginations the next time ....
That photo makes it look like there's still quite a lot of water in the lake. The panorama that Di took testifies otherwise ...
That panorama covers quite a distance and when I looked closer I could see some folks out on the lake bed, a photo in a photo so to speak ...
For those of you who are interested, that's Mount Arapiles in the background. Di took these photos the day before yesterday and we haven't seen "The Mount" since.
Unfortunately the rain is unlikely to be enough to restore the lake level to what it was in 2011-12, when there were people wind-surfing, water-skiing, fishing and even sailing. It probably needs to get back up over the 2 metre level mark on this gauge for that to happen ...
This old behemoth of a tree stump ...
...was mostly submerged when we were here after the big wet in 2011. A year later it was still in the water but by autumn of last year it was just at the water's edge. Now the water is probably 100 metres away. What's that white stuff draped over the right end? Well, it's actually wool, and strewn across this part of the dry lake bottom there are large patches of wool laid down perhaps 10 - 20 mm thick. This is the lee shore of the lake and it appears that the wool has been blown here across the lake and collected. Yes, there are a lot of sheep around this area, although the Wimmera is mostly known for the growing of wheat.
On previous trips we haven't noticed Royal Spoonbills here before, but there are plenty of them scouring the lake as well. So far Di hasn’t managed to get a close enough photo to include; hopefully we’ll be able to post one before we leave here. We also hope to make some photos of Freckled Ducks, which are currently populating the lake. Phil at the Arapiles Mountain Shop tells us that the lake is closed to shooting because of the presence of those ducks, which are protected due to their endangered state. Although it's a worry that the Freckled Duck is endangered, we are very pleased that there is no shooting here this year. We found it quite confronting last year, especially with the number of guns that were still going off when it was almost pitch dark.
In camp itself, along with the Long-billed Corellas there are Willy Wagtails, Superb Wrens and Crested Pigeons in abundance.
Here's a photo of a Crested Pigeon (not one of the best due to low light levels, but taken just beside the camper):
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| Crested Pigeon |
A little while later ...
We had our walk. The lads returned from The Mount without getting in a climb and decided to use their time in some rescue review ...
It's after lunch now and Di is having her "Nana Nap". I'm dreaming of climbing other places - like Red Rocks in Nevada. We did a great route there in 2005 called Dream of Wild Turkeys (via a 2 pitch variant called Yellow Brick Road) on the Black Velvet Wall. Di took this photo of me about 2/3rds of the way up...
What brings this fabulous place to mind is that our friends HJ and Tammy were just there, and did another wonderful route called Crimson Chrysalis on Tammy's 44th birthday. (What a great way to celebrate a birthday, eh!) It's said that it "could quite easily be the best 5.8 in all of Red Rocks". HJ sent a few photos, including this beauty ...
That's about it for this post. Hopefully we'll have done some climbing locally rather than just in our imaginations the next time ....
