The 2010 Xmas Letter of Brett and Karen

Merry Xmas from Brett and Karen,

Another year has come and gone, and we filled it with our usual activities - kayak trips, a rogaine, bushwalks, an outback trip, birdwatching and cycling. As usual, previous Xmas letters from recent years can be found at 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Our annual kayaking trip in early March this year was to the far South Coast of NSW - a week of paddling on the rivers, bays, estuaries and lakes between Narooma and the Victorian border. In addition, we did two weeks of paddling on Moreton Bay in Queensland in May, traveling north from the Gold Coast up the west sides of South Stradbroke and North Stradbroke Islands before crossing to the mainland, and then kayaking the Pumicestone Passage on the west side of Bribie Island. We finished the fortnight with a couple of days on the Noosa River.

(Click the thumbnails below to view larger images
and hover cursor over thumbnail for description)

In late April Karen and I competed in a 12 hour rogaine at Joadja (11am to 11pm) - not far from Mittagong in NSW. We navigated fairly well and chose a good course, finishing 13th team out of 60 teams in the Open event (everybody - male, female, young and old), 4th out of 31 in the Mixed event (males and females), 4th out of 19 in the Veterans (everybody over the age of 40) and 2nd out of 11 in the Mixed Veterans (old men and women like us).

The main focus of our bushwalking this year was a project to walk the entire coast of the Shoalhaven. We completed the 280 kilometres in a series of Wednesdays walks with the Shoalhaven Bushwalkers, spread throughout the year from February to December. 14 club members completed every section.

In addition, I did a special 5 day walk in the Budawangs with a golfing mate (Bill) and his friend from Sydney (Rob) - an excellent walk through amazing country.

In mid June, Karen and I flew to Darwin, caught a bus to Katherine, and were picked up by a 4WD that transported us to the north-eastern corner of the Northern Territory, adjacent to the Queensland border and the Gulf of Carpentaria, to a property called Pungalina, which is managed by the AWC (Australian Wildlife Conservancy). For two weeks we helped in a wildlife survey at various sites on the property, primarily looking for mammals (rock rats, bandicoots, antechinus, micro-bats) but also other incidental fauna such as birds, snakes, lizards and turtles.

Karen continued her life-long fitness regime with regular bike rides, swims, walks and weights sessions, while I concentrated more on artistic endeavours - bushwalking articles and photography with the Bay and Basin Camera Club.

You can view a whole lot more images at our Picasa Web Albums site, my Camera Club site and the Bushwalkers Images site - most of the albums shown there are mine.

In January 2011 we are booked to look after an AWC property called Buckaringa in the southern Flinders Ranges in South Australia for a couple of weeks, and later we plan to do some kayaking in Tasmania for two weeks, followed by a week of day walks.

We wish everyone a happy and prosperous year ahead,
Brett and Karen Davis