Tuesday 23 July 2024 Wapengo / Bithry Inlet

 Today's plan had to undergo a quick rethink when we met up with R at the Murrah Bridge to find a long haul of the boats would be required to reach paddlable water. With little down river flow the 1.4m high tide (at the entrance) was making little impression up at the bridge.

After a quick review of our choices we jumped back in the cars and headed further south to the Wapengo Oyster sheds.

Upon our arrival we discovered the sheds to be a hive of activity. We parked in the last spots available in the car park and unloaded the boats amidst oyster harvesting in full swing.

They were a cheerful group and seemed happy to work around us as we loaded our boats and launched 

onto the placid waters of the lake at 9.20am. 

Paddling slowly against the still incoming tide we made our way down to Bithry Inlet. Paddling over school after school of fish we often found ourselves drifting back upstream as we stopped to watch the schools swim by.

L, at least managed to look up long enough to spot a Sea Eagle perched high in a tree.

Eventually we neared the mouth and for a change paddled across to the southern side of the inlet in order to take advantage of a calm backwater and to make the most of the sun.

Having landed at 10.30 R suggested it was too early for lunch so we should restrict ourselves to   morning tea and stop on the way back for lunch. And what a am tea it was - our individual Honor Bread favourites. Thank you R.

Morning tea turned into a rather lengthy affair as L took the opportunity to fly the drone for longer than usual as R and I chattered away and basked in the sun.  At 11.25am we took to the water to begin our return journey.

Having made our way back across the inlet we poddled upstream fish gazing as we went.  Lunch time arrived sooner than expected when, at 11.50am, this sandy beach and handy log was too good to pass up.  L got a little damp when exiting his boat and as you will see in the video, played the sympathy card, thinking he was in with a chance for a cushion. 

Our neighbours for lunch were an adult and two sub adult White Bellied Sea Eagles perched in a tree on the water's edge to our right. As we nattered amongst ourselves, they too intermittently had they own conversation - a mixture of chortles and quiet caws.  I didn't bother trying for a pic as it would have been into the sun.

At 12.45 we resumed our paddle and more fish gazing as we paddled slowly against the outgoing tide.

Returning to the boat ramp about 1.20pm, our exceedingly enjoyable and relaxing 6km paddle sadly over, we found the activity winding down and people starting to leave. In their place were piles of large bags of oysters awaiting pick up.

Here is the video

Trip Notes:

High tide at entrance: 9.52am 1.4ms

Trail Camera: 22 May to 4 July 2024

 There have been a few highlights not caught on camera during this period: For 5 nights when the 'Bogong' type moths were at their peak, a Southern Boobook came to feast. From its perch on a verandah post or the top of the BBQ it would swoop down,  pluck moths fluttering on the window and return to its perch to eat. It would do this 4 or 5 times then seem to have a snooze for 10 to 20mins and then start over again. Fascinating stuff. It didn't seem to be bothered by my presence on the other side of the glass.

Then, early one morning and not quite awake I heard slow footsteps along the verandah in front of the bedroom. "That's a heavy footed Wonga Pigeon" I sleepily thought. A minute later came an ear-piercing crescendo of birdsong. Louder than any alarm clock it brought us instantly upright. There was a male lyre-bird, singing its head off, under the open window, less than 3 metres away. When he finished his song he casually saunted, with the same slow footsteps, to the end of the verandah and walked back down the stairs and disappeared into the garden.

And lastly a pair of Bassian Thrushes (aka Australian Ground Thrush or White's Thrush) have taken up residence in the garden. We haven't seen any in the garden for a number of years. It is lovely to have them back.

Ok here is some pics and footage from the trail camera:

First off. Can anyone identify this bird from the grainy pic? I've hmm'd, maybeed and possiblyeed through numerous bird books before giving up.

White Eared Honeyeater

A young kanga

takes the jump!

Next up, some vid of a group of Brown Headed Honeyeaters, a Willy Wagtail and joining at the end, a White Throated Tree Creeper

Male King Parrot

Golden Whistler

The f.....ing rat - Again

Oh No - there's two of the little f....ers

To make up for it, there's still two Bandicoots :)  (and no fox caught on camera for several weeks).

Crimson Rosellas

First glimpse this year of a baby Eastern Grey Kangaroo

A small gang of immature Crimson Rosellas

Hooray - a Swamp Wallaby eating Farmer's Friend (aka Cobbler's Peg). This weed appeared after the 2019/2020 Bushfire and very quickly became unstoppable. It is exciting to see an animal giving it a try.

Eastern Spinebill - always about the garden but rarely seen at the pond.

First glimpse this year of a Swamp Wallaby baby

  Lastly, a male Superb Lyrebird. As they are territorial its probably the same one that saunted along the verandah.

Friday 12 July 2024 Cuttagee

Jamming a paddle in between the chill of the morning and the forecast wind rise in the early afternoon we met down at the lake at 10 to 10 to find the water level had risen another few inches.  L didn't join us as the insurance contractor was scheduled to arrive to rectify some of the shoddy repair work on the shed.

Far from being overcast as was forecast it was gloriously sunny and having decided upon an edge paddle we set off about 10.10

There was lots of bird life today. A pair of large birds of prey, smaller than Sea Eagles, circled low overhead. Indeed one of them accompanied us on most of the trip. We saw Pelicans, and sadly a dead one, Swans, Herons, ducks, Grebe, Cormorants and far off, the resident Sea Eagles. 

I think it was the middle of March that R was last able to join us so there was a lot of catching up to do as we paddled along.

As we stopped for lunch at 12.00 the cold breeze that had sprung up vanished and we basked in the sun as we prattled on and partook of lunch. And hour later, just as we took to the water the cold breeze swept back in and now head on. V had called for lunch at just the right time and had picked the perfect spot.

Hugging the shoreline we were mainly sheltered from the breeze and enjoyed the return paddle just as much as the outward journey and ended our outing at 1.40pm.

Only a short record of our outing - too much talking and bird watching

Lake closed

9.75kms

Thursday 20 June 2024 Cuttagee

 Cuttagee's entranced closed earlier in the week and filled during the next couple of high tides

Feeling stretched, supple and soothed after a yoga session, S gets ready to paddle.

Around 11.10am the last of us launched and we headed off upon glassy water, soaking in the sun and watching the bird life go by.

The resident Sea Eagles were also basking in the sun.

The silt jetties at the entrance to Cuttagee Creek took a hammering in the Coolagolite Bushfire on 3rd October last year.  Very little has regrown.

We stopped for lunch at the sunny end of the pebble beach up the creek. After which, with the occasional scraping and backtracking

we paddled up the creek until we ran out of water. 

Being chilly in the shade we did not linger and headed back down to sunlit water, espying a bit of puzzle in a dead tree on the silt jetty.  It seemed too small for a young Sea Eagle so could it be an Eastern Osprey?

A rare occurrence - glassy water paddling back down the lake. We were very happy :)

Another rare occurrence - two Greater Egrets and a third a little way back.

 

We ended the paddle about 3.20pm which allowed enough time to get home, get the fire lit and do the outside afternoon chores before the evening chill descended.

Trip Notes: See earlier entries.

Trail Camera 3 May - 22 May 2024

 After the last download I whippersnippered (strimming for the UK folks) around the pond as the waving fronds of all the weed growth triggered the camera more often than did the little critters. 

Woops, the perching pole I put up while whippersnipping might be in the wrong place. 

The wretched rat is still around, however this the only appearance it made.

Another feral and unlike the rat it was a regular visitor throughout this period.

Pied Currawong

Willy Wagtail and a Grey Shrike Thrush

The Bandicoot

The Bandicoot again, this time sharing the stage with an Eastern Grey Kangaroo

The fox again

Morning visit from two Swamp Wallabies

Golden Whistler having a chin rub

More LBBs: I think a Jackie Winter and either a Brown or Striated Thornbill

The bandicoot again

A Jackie Winter? and a soggy Yellow Faced Honeyeater

The Silver Eyes are back for winter

Yellow Robin

Swamp Wallaby food sampling

Golden Whistler, a couple of Red Browed Finches and two Superb Blue Wrens visit together

And lastly, the reason Swamp Wallabies are the bane of the serious gardener - they will try anything. During the last drought Old Wal reduced a large patch of Pelargonium Citrosum, previously untouched, to small naked stumps.

Wednesday 29 May 2024 Brou Lake

 With another sunny and windless day forecast - perfect conditions for a lake paddle, Brou Lake was our chosen destination.

Upon reaching the launch we found the water level to be higher than on previous paddles which boded well for our forthcoming exploration.

Launching at 11.05am and paddling along the shoreline we headed for the closed entrance.

Here we discovered more of those LBB's which are so hard to identify without the aid of binoculars (even with them as the lbb's scuttle about so fast).

Having edged in as close as possible we sat still and waited until some of them came closer.

Is the one on the right an immature or a different LLB to the two on the right? So hard to tell from this distance.

Oh, okay - this one must be a Red Capped Plover

We continued mooching along the shoreline until we reached the north eastern lagoon and here we found, at its eastern most tip a lovely landing spot at which to lunch.

 Whilst munching our sangas we watched, high over the lagoon, a long aerial battle  - two adult Sea Eagles trying to see off, either two young sea eagles or a pair of Wedge Tail Eagles. It was impossible to tell as they looked very dark against the sunlight.

After lunch as we continued our circumnavigation of the lagoon we spotted one of the darker Eagles perching in a dead tree. Too far away to tell for certain, we think it might be an immature Sea Eagle.

Maybe the two darker birds were last year's offspring and, as Sea Eagle breeding season is starting it is time for the young birds to depart the home territory?

Having indulged in lots of bird watching - pelicans, crested terns, ducks, swans, egrets, herons, pied cormorants, grebe etc,  upon returning to the main lake and finding it like a mill pond, L suggested we take advantage of such perfect conditions and straight back across the lake.

Here is the GoPro and Drone edit

6.3kms

Lake closed

Friday 24 May 2024 Wallagoot Lake and Moncks Creek

 Once again we decided to visit Wallagoot Lake to take advantage of the high water, this to paddle the Western end of the lake and explore Moncks Creek and environs.

It was a latish start (more of that at end of the blog) however with a perfect kaying forecast all day it didn't matter.

Launching at 11.10am

The start was delayed somewhat when I launched backward. Pushing off the boat ramp into deeper water as I gracefully lowered the derriere into the boat I suddenly found my self sitting on the folded down backrest. So still stradling the boat and half akimber it was a wobbly and tippy paddle back to the ramp until I could stand enough to flip the seat back up. I pushed off to repeat the process, this time to find as I plunked down into the seat the cushion horribly askew so it was back to the boat ramp once more - this time at least I was in the boat.

By the time I was sorted the rest of the gang, unlike me, we a little chilly as it was nippy in the shade so we set off up the lake at a steady pace to warm up and take in the sights.

After we explored Moncks Creek and it various leads we headed down the lake to Scotts Bay Picnic Area where we sat for over an hour at a picnic table, basking in the sun like lizards, eating our lunch and chewing the fat. Having availed ourselves of the very clean loos (thanks National Parks) we headed back to the boats and launched at 2.15pm.

After a bit of discussion it was decided to paddle to the next headland and then go straight across the lake to the boat club.  However, as you can see from the map and video, the water was so glassy and enticing and the paddling so easy we just continued on, shore creeping around the lake.

Back at the boat ramp about 3.10pm, another salubrious and most pleasant paddle over we packed up and headed home. Last look at the lake as we depart. 

To top off a perfect day when we got home we found that Karen had posted a great blog about their new adventure in life. Two loves in our lives catered for in one day - kayaking and narrowboating.  Happy Happy.

Now a quick explanation of the late start.  It all goes back to the bushfire in October last year. Asbestos was discovered during the first attempt at clean up (by subcontractors no.3) of one of the destroyed sheds.  This led to a long delay for testing and a report. Finally subcontractors no.4 were appointed to remove the asbestos, the shed in question and its slab. They arrived from Canberra at 3.30pm on the 23rd and started work around 4.00pm. They being 1 truck and large excavator, another truck with a huge skip towing a dog with a smaller skip and two utes with more men. They worked until dark and then returned at 7.00am this morning and by 10.00am the men and machinery were disappearing up our track, job done.  It is just a pity they weren't contracted to clean up the second smaller shed and slab as it would taken them only an hour. Instead we have to wait for the return of subcontractors no.3 who use hand held concrete cutter to cut up the slab - a long, tedious and undoubtedly more expensive process.

An observation: In our case. The insurance company appointed an assessing company, the assessor appointed a building company to quote and do the necessary removal, rebuilds and repairs. The building company then appointed a subcontractor to carry out the works. Then when asbestos was found a 4th subcontractor was appointed.  That is 4 different companies (so far) making a profit from the Insurance Company. Besides the profit the upside for them is that when something goes wrong/is not done - its one of the other business' fault!

Trip Notes:

Put In/Take Out: Wallagoot Boat Ramp

11kms

Lake closed