Sugar Gums of Honour in McLeod
Trees 269 - 318
Another 100 trees including an Alphington Red Gum and Yallambie Hoop Pine 154/16,000 trees
Blog Post – Tree Walks 2 and 3 - Alphington and Yallambie
The Project has Launched! Day One.
I am excited to report that this week I launched the project, a bit ahead of time, and had my first two hour walk in which I met a total of sixty-three trees. My definition of meeting the trees, includes taking the time to notice them, to take a photo, to occasionally take some samples to help me identify them later, and to list the trees I have met. So, I can proudly say that I have met 63/16,000 trees.
A little walk at Westerfolds Park
After a day of rearranging furniture yesterday, I knew I needed to go outside and make the most of the fresh air, so I headed to Westerfolds Park. This is a terrific park, set on the banks of the Yarra Birrarung. The Parks Victoria website describes it as: 'over 120 hectares of recreational and environmental parkland, perfect for picnicking, cycling, jogging and walking.' I have, in fact, done all of those activities there, and today added birdwatching, another of their suggestions. Westerfolds Park
Frankston Banksias, Sorrento Writing Festival and a rainy stop at the Briars in Mt Martha
Gee, how time flies, especially when you're having fun visiting trees and going to writing festivals, and generally fitting in as much as possible in the days.
The Loss of Trees Still goes on - and on - and on...
Whilst reading 'The Untrained Environmentalist', by John Fenton (Allen & Unwin: 2010), I came across this line, on page 201. He was writing about the formation of 'the Department of the Environment, Aborigines and the Arts', in 1971, which later became 'the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.' (I believe it is currently the 'Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water - DCCEEW' -(Oh, how the government loves acronyms, the gas lighters of modern language... sorry, I do digress).
Exploring the Langwarrin Flora and Fauna Reserve
On Thursday night, I travelled to Seaford, Victoria (a suburb of Frankston), to house and dog-sit for my eldest daughter. Of course, I thought, what a great opportunity to start doing some early exploring of the local nature reserves and keep building on my knowledge of the trees in the area. So, Friday morning, I packed my binoculars and camera and headed to this great little reserve in Langwarrin. As I used to live near this reserve, I knew it fairly well, but more as somewhere to ride my bike. This time, I was looking at it with new eyes - and in fact, I made a conscious decision to keep my sunglasses off for most of it.
Preparing for the Project - Diamond Creek Trail and Cranbourne Gardens
I'm still working full-time for the next couple of weeks, and then we are heading off on a holiday. But I'm using every spare minute to start my preparations for when the project kicks off. One of the first things I needed to do was to get a compact camera that I can take with me on my daily tree-meeting endeavors. I needed something simple to use and light, as I don't want to spend hours recording the pictures, but I do need to take a good log of the trees I'm meeting. In the end, I settled on an Olympus OM System waterproof camera. I've been reading the manual and trying out all the settings, I think I'm starting to get the hang of it today. I've ordered a simple tripod to take some pictures of the fruits, leaves and intricate little bits and bobs that trees like to produce and drop.
Impact Report - A Poem
Why Sixteen Thousand Trees?
The story - my last two years.