The Big Day Out

Bush Care and the Echindna

On Tuesday morning last week Tom and I discovered an echidna that had been hit on the road. It was too late and the beautiful native animal had died. We stopped the cars in both directions on the Bulwark and moved the echidna to the footpath. Tom went back to tell Lorraine our neighbour, a fellow bushcarer and one of NSW first women Rangers working with NPWS.

By the time I had dropped Tom off at the bus stop. Lorraine was on the scene with the echidna. We carried it back to her table and I learnt that the only way to move an echidna is to carry it by it's right hind leg. The echidna weighed 6kg, and was a fully grown adult female. Apparently echidnas are believed to live for around 50 years. They are monotremes - or egg layers. However they feed the hatched young with a secreted milk until they can eat insects. The knowledge that their are echidnas living in our neighbourhood is very exciting.

Today the bush carers buried the echidna in the reserve at morning tea. Under a large sandstone boulder covered with the soil from the floor of the rainforest and topped with rocks, a new planted tree and some angophora seeds.

http://www.abc.net.au/schoolstv/animals/ECHIDNAS.htm

Tonight was Earth Hour

We went to a nearby oval and viewed a drumming performance with fire dancers. Afterward we took a little detour to star gaze at Tower Reserve. Planet Earth is trully awesome.

Tom Catches the Sunrise

Tom photographed the sun rising over Manly Beach on Saturday morning
Later he surfed at Freshwater Beach , where the waves are gentle and there's lots of room

Looking across Freshwater Beach to the cliff houses

Breakfast at the Honolulu Grill, Manly Beach

Tom

Old Friends

It's Chippendale - inner city Sydney, and a small terrace is now filled with six boys and four adults. There was a lot of light sabre battles on the back deck, while we cooked the lamb, drank some wine and had dinner. It was a great evening because we got to talk about the boy stuff - about the difficulty of starting High School and changing school systems. I seem to remember a lot of tears - Greg said, and we knew this to be true. However, their oldest son now working on his HSC year, was calm and together - just remember to have fun, he told Thomas.

Sydney Institute of Marine Science

We went to the SIMS open day on Sunday and attended a talk on wobbegong sharks by Dr Kate.
Wobbegong sharks are the most numerous species in Sydney coastal waters. They do not bite unless provoked. Every wobbegong has a unique patterning on its skin. Dr Kate gets paid to scuba dive with wobbegong sharks in Cabbage Tree Bay, Manly every day of the week. I knew I should have paid more attention in Science at High School.

Retreat Reserve Clean-up

Volunteering is a whole new way of getting out there and meeting people. Here we are on Clean Up Australia Day. This year it was high tide and we waded and swam our way around the coves picking up the plastic waste from the rocks and branches and in the sand. Next year we are going to organise some kayaks to go even further around the foreshore - maybe as far as Sugarloaf Bay.
The after even bbq on the deck was talkative and light. We have grown in number this year to 15. Thank you for participating.