Ulladulla Wildflower Reserve

I have lived in the area now for over 30 years and never been to the Ulladulla Wildflower Reserve.

It lies to the west of the town on the edge of ever increasing spread of suburbia.

The co driver thought it would be good for a walk there.

There are a number of walking tracks so we took the longest loop.

Being early spring that season’s wildflowers were just starting to appear.

Luckily there were some prime examples of the Waratah, a brilliant red cone shaped bloom which is the state flower and also the name and emblem of our hapless state rugby team.

It was a beautiful warm windless morning.

The path was well signed and easy to follow. 

Occasionally there was a comfortable bench to take a break.

A short video of our walk can be seen on this YouTube link.

Unfortunately we didn’t see much wild life apart from some crimson rosellas but did hear some scurrying as we approached. 

Goannas? 

And there was plenty of bird song.

Unfortunately the reserve was a victim of the 2019/20 bushfires but regrowth, particularly the understorey has been substantial over the last two and half years. Only evidence left of the fires are the blackened trunks of the trees, some of which are quite large and obviously very old.

A highly recommended easy walk in the area.

It took us an hour to do the loop before we headed back into town for our morning coffee at Craft.

Australia / Very Hot Dry Summer Predicted

Climate experts are predicting a long and hot Australian summer with increased risk of drought and heatwaves despite the lack of an El Nino declaration from the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM)
The prediction follows record-breaking 2023 winter weather, during which the national mean temperature was 1.53 degrees above the average temperature from 1961 to 1996.

The BoM has only issued an El Nino alert, indicating a 70 per cent chance the weather system will form, but is waiting to see if the right atmospheric conditions eventuate before formally declaring the event is under way.
The bureau has become an outlier among global weather agencies by declining to declare an El Nino event.
The other agencies made their El Nino declarations based on the unusually high sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, which drive hotter weather on land.
The northern hemisphere sweltered through record-breaking heatwaves this year and there were severe bushfires in Europe and North America.
The World Meteorological Organisation declared July the hottest month on record globally, driven by soaring temperatures in the water between Japan and Canada in the North Pacific, as well as the North Atlantic.
Bushfire danger area predictions for Australia are immense and concerning.

We are not on this map due to being burnt out in 2019/20 but substantial rain in 2022 has caused considerable regrowth in our surrounding forests, particularly the under storey.
We are certainly not complacent and will have our evacuation plan and kits ready.