The House(s) of Fran_mart

 The shape of the beach accessed from the Bastion Point steps is very interesting, as it can change considerably due to conditions in the Inlet.  Those who have seen the film " Skippy and the Intruders " filmed in Mallacoota in 1969.  (Spoiler alert: Skippy is by far the best actor.)  In the shots of the divers' boats going out the mouth is right down by the steps, which I have been told was the historical position.  My informant - a long term resident - also explained that the position of the opening changed about 1km to the East following a period of closure when the dune was artificially cut at the point where the Inlet was closest to the ocean. Point 1 in the image below is the historical opening and point 2 was the short cut opening.  In the period since the short cut the position of the mouth, both 'natural' and forced, seems to have moved gradually westwards.  The Google Earth image on which that is based is dated 2022 and I suggest was taken at...

On 26 March 2022 Birdlife Australia (BLA) had a special event, in association with the   Glossy Black Conservancy,   of collecting data  on  Glossy Black-Cockatoos  (hereafter, Glossies) in Australia.   The Mallacoota area was important for this as our area is (or possibly was, after the Black Summer fires) a stronghold of the species.  The first map is snipped from the linked BLA page. In part this distribution is influenced by the relatively high presence of the Black She-oak ( Allocasuarina littoralis ) which is the main food source of the Glossies.  The second map comes from Flora of Victoria . The basic plan was to cover sites where Glossies were felt likely to be and spend an hour trying to find the birds, or at least trees in which they have been feeding.  Interested people had attended a workshop mounted by BLA two weeks ago to explain methods etc.  A key aspect of this was the system of grid cells forming the search areas a...

 This covers our days in the CBD and back to Mallacoota. Further proof of the Englishness of Melbourne,  A Q at the QVM!  Note English spellin g of the pastries in question! Our plan was to visit at least one major Gallery in Melbourne so we headed off down Swanston St.  I looked back at the indoor climbing wall, but it was only just getting going.  A climber in a red shirt is visible in the background. It being a Sunday morning churches were open for business.  I suspect this one was catering to a Chinese audience (potential members of which were very evident in the area).  We didn't sample their service(a) not wishing to find we suddenly had a lot of new friends. Hosier Lane was still colourful and well populated by tourists. Rutledge Lane, which runs off Hosier, was also well decorated.  Also well inhabited by rough sleepers. I was impressed with the underlying poster which seems to have been produced by CrankInstitute which seems to be the tra...