Naturalish observations while exercising.

This morning I set off with Frances for her run along Whiskers Creek Road to the high point in Widgiewa Road.  My attention was suddenly caught by a flower of Kangaroo Grass (Themeda australis).  If something this colourful and intricate had a flashier name - "Red-hot bird of paradise grass" might do the trick - I am sure garden centres would sell the stuff for $5.00 a plant.

A little later in the day I had an hour or so to fill in while Pats Tyres and More did a few things to parts of my car.  So I went for a run from Queanbeyan East to Oaks Estate and back down the riverside bike path.

A first thing to catch my eye was where the Molonglo tide-mark was showing relative to the Oaks Estate Crossing.  Although the valley is much wider here here than at the Queanbeyan Cemetery the water must have been at least 4m deep during the flood.

As I got back to the Cemetery I found that it was being used as a tree cemetery as well as it's more traditional function.

Some headstones are just visible to the right of the log-grabber.  Obviously this is where the City is dumping all the driftwood they are removing from various spots around the place.  As I continued down the bike path it was evident they still have quite a bit more wood they could remove if they wished.  There is unlikely to be a wood-chip shortage in Queanbeyan for a while.

Now, paraphrasing Mick Dundee,  that is what I call a wood-chipper!

A week or so later while coming home I noticed that the guys from the City were clearing up in the park by the low level bridge.  Some were putting topsoil back where it had been scoured out and others cleaning up the bike path.

Apparently they are getting in a grabber and the monster chipper to clean out the river which looks as though it has played host to a beaver convention.  The guy I was speaking to commented that they cleaned out under the bridge with a grab operating 'blind': the driver poked the grab under the bridge and fished around until he got hold of something.  That would have been fun to watch!

The grabber was back in action as 2011 progressed,  picking driftwood out of the river.  On 4 February I snapped it action at the mouth (it is actually a pipe) of Marco Polo Creek.

Note the metal rail in the foreground.  That is the side of the bike path I had hoped to run along before the deluge of 3 February!  I'd suggest getting to the Black Wallaby track at Googong could be a bit difficult now!

Here is another shot of the guys at work.  It is really great being able to take such snaps with my phone which weighs about 1/10 of my camera.