Another (longer) Trip to Wollongong

Finally the non stop rain abated a little at home on the Sunday and we decided to make an early afternoon dash, 2-3 hours up the highway to Wollongong in preparation for removing a skin cancer on my nose by a Mohs specialist surgeon.
Forty five minutes into the trip, down came the rain again.
It was torrential in parts with the windscreen wipers at full blast hardly making a difference.
But we finally made it into the city and checked into the Adina Apartment Hotel.
We had booked a studio room that had everything we needed for a three day stay.
There were lots of restaurants close by. We decided on Greek at Litani’s for dinner and the meal was excellent.

Up early next morning and the co driver dropped me off at the day surgery hospital.
Comprehensive check in system, much of it, of course, COVID related.

Then I got all gowned up and after some preliminary tests, it was up on the table, injected with a local anaesthetic and the first excision of the cancer made.
Then back to the waiting room while they ‘looked’ microscopically at the bit they had taken.
Good news...they got it all with the first cut.

So back on the table and the wound was sewn up and the area repaired.
The co driver picked me up and we headed off for lunch. 

We found a great spot, Lee and Me in the main street. The BBQ pulled pork burger was excellent as was the atmosphere of the cafe.

However the afternoon wasn’t too pleasant for me. The area was quite painful as the anaesthetic wore off, but some analgesics soon deaden the pain.
In the evening we headed across the road to a Lebanese manoosh pizza cafe, the Zaatar Hut.

They use flat bread as a base and had the choice of Lebanese or more traditional Italian toppings.
We selected the latter.

It was pouring rain on Tuesday morning so we went under the hotel to the Nutrition Station cafe for brekky. 

Again an excellent meal, really friendly staff and great coffee.

The co-driver’s corn and zucchini fritters with beetroot hummus and cherry tomatoes was delicious.

I stuck with the bacon, egg and spinach breakfast burger.

The rest of the day was spent in the room reading and interneting.
Dinner was across the road at Samaras Lebanese restaurant where we chose the mixed platter for two to experience a cross section of the cuisine. We liked everything apart from the falafel. The pink pickles were also a bit strange. It’s BYO so we got to drink one of our own wines for minimum corkage. Then we indulged in too much ice cream in a small specialist store, which seemed to have 100 flavours, just down the road

It finally stopped raining that evening.
Next morning arrived with blue skies and sun.
After breakfast at the Coffee Club Cafe and it was down the road a bit to Kiama via the 'scenic route' past industrial Port Kembla to get the dressing taken off at the doctor’s surgery.

We were early for the appointment so swung by the blowhole again. A huge was surf running and the blowhole was performing. There’s a nice lighthouse on the point too.
The nose looked a bit of a mess but staff were happy with the result and say it will settle down in time and with a little daily home treatment. Stitches come out next week.
Then it was homeward bound.

There was no obvious flood damage at home, the creek was back within its banks and all cows accounted for.
Good to be back home..

The Bushfire Season Over / Updated 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd & 24th March

 

The heavy rains forecast statewide this weekend will bring an end to what was already the least active bush fire season in a decade. 

NSW has recorded fires in just one per cent of the area burnt in the record 2019-20 season, the Rural Fire Service said. 

Severe weather and flood warnings have been issued for parts of New South Wales. 

Our area is likely to receive 100-200 millimetres between today and the weekend, with the heaviest falls likely on Saturday. 

The burst of autumn rain comes as the La Nina weather pattern in the Pacific “is on its last legs”.

Sea-surface temperatures are back in a neutral range but the atmosphere is still in a mode favouring wetter-than-average conditions for eastern NSW into April. 

The soaking rains mean that the fire season will officially come to an end on 31st March. 

It’s the first time for a long time, there has been no extensions of fire restrictions anywhere in NSW.

It’s the quietest fire season since 2010-11. 

Figures compiled by the Rural Fire Service show that, between July 1 and the end of February, the area burnt in the state was 57,138 hectares, or just 1 per cent of the 5,490,504 hectares burnt during the comparable period in the previous year. 

There were 5132 fires or fewer than half the tally of 11,482 a year earlier. 

In the 2020-21 fire season to date, there have been no Class 3, or Section 44 bush fires that 

trigger a so-called bushfire emergency. 

That’s also the first time a decade without one. 

Good news!

Update: 20th March

Towns along the NSW North Coast, including Port Macquarie and Taree were inundated by floodwaters today as rivers broke their banks.
Huge amounts of rain fell in the region between 9am on Friday and 5am on Saturday, including 373mm at Delward, 343mm at Redoak (Stewarts River), 320mm at Logans Crossing, 280mm at Kindee Bridge, and 264mm at Wauchope. (250mm = 10 inches)

So far in our area we are experiencing fairly strong winds but have only received 40mm rain.
However the system is moving south and we could see substantial falls overnight.
Wet weather is expected to continue battering the state until mid-next week.

Update: 21st March

The deluge continues. 

We have had another 40mm. 

However things are much worse to our north.

Western suburbs of Sydney are being evacuated as the city’s main water supply dam overflows. This is now considered a 1 in 50 year event.

Virtually the whole of New South Wales is being affected by this system. No relief from the rain is expected until Wednesday.

Update: 22nd March

The Bureau of Meteorology has updated its severe weather warning, with heavy rainfall stretching from the Northern Rivers to the South Coast tomorrow.

Heavy rainfall will then extend to areas of the ACT, South Coast, Snowy Mountains and Northern Tablelands during Tuesday. There is an enhanced risk with any thunderstorm activity.

That’s us in the south.

Update: 23rd March

The rain has finally stopped.

We had just over 50mm today making a total of 200mm (8 inches) over 4 days. 

We got off pretty lightly compared to others.

Our creek is up and flooding and we’ll have some fencing damage but it will be minor.

This was a huge weather system covering an area the size of Alaska. 

For some it was a 1 in 100 year event.

Update: 24th March
There are sunny blue skies today but the flood waters out west and along the mid-north coast have not yet receded.

Fifteen thousand people remain on alert to evacuate and 18,000 people have already evacuated.

As of this morning more than 950 people have been rescued from flood waters by the State Emergency Service, which has received more than 11,000 calls for help. Some 280 schools remain closed and 9,500 claims have been lodged with insurance companies.
So we will finalise this post here unless something drastic happens in the meantime.

Watch Out Wascally Wabbits

On Christmas day 1859 Thomas Austin, a self-made wealthy settler, released 13 European wild rabbits on his estate, Winchelsea, Barwon Park, Victoria. They had been specially collected and sent to him by a relative in England.
By the late 1940s the rabbit population had rapidly increased to 600 million.
Initial tests on myxomatosis, a rabbit-specific virus, that took place in 1943 had been inconclusive.
However trials restarted in 1950.

Initially the new trials looked to be a failure but rains in December 1950 produced more mosquitoes, the vector that spread the virus and the disease spread at an incredible rate.

An animal that had thrived better than any other introduced mammal in the world was now dying out at record speed.
However, rabbits began developing a resistance to myxomatosis and something new was needed.

The deadly calicivirus was released in 1995/96

Here, South East Local Land Services with the support of local land managers and local councils, will release the Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus known as RHDV1-K5 (RHDV), the Korean variant of the existing virus already widespread in Australia, throughout our area this month.
It will be the fifth release of RHDV nationally since 2017, and the third here on the South Coast.
Since then there has been an estimated 42 per cent reduction in the feral rabbit population in NSW.
We have not seen rabbits on our place for years. When I first moved here they were everywhere. We would surface bait, fumigate burrows with phosphine or as a last resort shoot to keep them under control.
Myxo and calici were a godsend.

But the word is they are slowly becoming immune to the calicivirus.

Pet rabbit owners on the South Coast are being urged to vaccinate their pets before the latest control program rolls out.
The effect of rabbits on the environment has been catastrophic. They can survive on almost any plant matter: shoots, herbs, grasses, grains, leaf buds.
The long-term result of rapidly reproducing rabbits is overgrazing by an extremely large population, which can lead to a collapse of indigenous plants and the native animal species that eat them.
Excessive grazing also leads to soil erosion, which affects pasture yields and water quality.
It is estimated that rabbits cost the Australian economy more than $200 million per year. 

Yet Another New Weed

In past posts I have mentioned how the 19/20 bush fires had caused a whole raft of new species of weed growth in the burnt areas.
We had got rid of those with herbicide treatment and with substantial rain and even flooding had expected the pasture to reclaim the affected areas.
But no!
Another plant unknown to us began to take over those bare areas and was especially thick along the riparian zone.
So once again we "attacked" with herbicide over a number of weeks with almost total success.
But what was this plant?
Internet searches failed to find it so I emailed a picture to our local land services department and got an answer back the next day.

Turns out to be a native plant commonly known as Indian Weed with the scientific name, Sigesbeckia australiensis.

According to habitat data, it grows in moist and shady places, particularly on creek and river banks. That's us!

It is also prevalent in eucalypt woodland, vine forest and the margins of rain forest, on a range of soils and at altitudes from sea level to at least 1050m. 

It is considered a minor weed of disturbed ground and agricultural systems.

So what is a weed?

A weed is any plant which has a negative impact and requires human action to control it. The negative effects of weeds can be on the environment, economy, human health, or the amenity of gardens and landscaping. 

Weeds can also be a native or introduced species.

Native plants are usually considered weeds when they move from their natural habitat to a new area and begin to take over. Again that was us.

COVID-19 /Australia / 4th March Update

Figures are looking good.

New South Wales has now gone 45 days without any local transmissions.

Other states, even Victoria (6 days), have things under control as well.

While social distancing rules are still in place, it’s pretty much business as usual out in the community.

The first phase of the vaccination program has started with essential workers and the elderly first in line.

I expect to get my first shot sometime in March.

There are no internal border restrictions but international border is still closed. No firm date for a reopening.

However in an act of faith we have both renewed our passports.

This may be my last COVID update for a while but I have said that a couple of times before.

Fingers crossed.

Autumn Is Here

Today is the first day of autumn, our favourite time of the year.
Summer was mild this year, compared to the blistering heat of ‘19/‘20 and we only had to run the air a few days.
The BOM reports March to May rainfall is likely to be higher than average for large parts of eastern Australia.

Day temperatures are likely to be cooler than average for our state.

Minimum temperatures are likely to be warmer than average for most of Australia, except for parts of the south and west.

The current La Niña is forecast to end during autumn. La Niña typically increases the likelihood of above average rainfall across eastern Australia during early autumn.

This means we shouldn’t have to worry about house tank and stock dam levels as well as a premature end to seasonal pasture growth.

So all in all, much to look forward to climate wise.