The 2011 Xmas Letter of Brett and Karen

Merry Xmas from Brett and Karen,

2011 was a milestone year for Karen - she turned the huge 50 in September - but it did not stop her (or her even more ancient husband) from going about their usual outdoor activities of outback trips, kayaking, bushwalking and birdwatching. Karen also realised that she had been with Brett for 25 years - half of her life!

Just after Xmas last year, Kas and I drove to South Australia via Wagga, Deniliquin and Paringa (near Renmark). Our destination was Buckaringa, a property managed by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC), about 35 kilometres (as the crow flies) north of Quorn in the Flinders Rangers. Our job was to look after the property for the two weeks from New Year's Day, relieving Adam and Anna who had been in charge of the place for three months. Buckaringa is a refuge for the Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby. The temperature when we arrived late in the afternoon was 45 degrees Celsius ...

Our chores included keeping the Rock Wallaby watering station operational, cutting the grass around all buildings and machinery in case of fire, finding and recording the location (for later eradication) of invasive weed species like wheel cactus (and deflowering them if flowers were present), checking and maintaining fences, reporting feral animals like goats, foxes and cats, and ensuring the water tank was full for defence against bushfires. We also had to become familiar with the operation of the solar generator that pumped water to the tank, and with the pump and fire hoses used to fight fires. We had a great time!

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Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby Kas deflowering wheel cactus Collared Sparrowhawk
The Buckaringa Kitchen Buckaringa Homestead Collecting river rocks to fix holes in the property roads Maintaining the fire perimeter around assets
View from the back door Brett clearing dead bees from the Rock Wallaby watering station Karen overlooking the property (the homestead is in the centre

Our annual kayaking trip this year was in late February - to Tasmania. We drove to Melbourne and caught the Spirit of Tasmania across Bass Strait during the day - to see if we could spot any albatrosses. The next three weeks were spent either kayaking or hiking in the mountains. Paddling highlights included the Tamar River near Launceston, Coles Bay with the Hazards of Freycinet Peninsula as a backdrop, paddling into Port Arthur, a long trip down the Derwent through Hobart, under the Tasman Bridge, into Constitution Dock and down past the Casino, and a paddle over to Bruny Island.

Walking highlights included Mt Roland, Ben Lomond, Mt Amos, Mt Wellington, Cape Raoul, Fluted Cape, Mt Mangana (the highest point on Bruny Island - and it has a trig!), getting snowed on in the Hartz Mountains, and the wonderful Black Bluff.

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Kas, car and kayak in the Spirit of Tasmania Kas on top of Mt Roland Brett and Karen in the Bay of Fires Kas climbing Mt Amos
Kas posing above Wineglass Bay Kayaking at Port Arthur Kayaking down the Derwent Kas and the Mt Wellington trig
Kas overlooking Hobart Brett and Karen about to paddle over to Bruny Island Kas and the Black Bluff trig with Cradle Mountain in the background

At Easter Karen led a car camp for the Shoalhaven Bushwalkers in Namadgi National Park in the ACT, based at the Mt Clear campground. The highlight of the long weekend was the climb of Mt Clear itself - and the trig on top.

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Brett posing against boulder near the Orroral Geodetic Observatory Kas and three friends on the Mt Clear trig Kas and three friends on boulder near the Orroral Geodetic Observatory Kas and three friends

In June we stayed with a friend in Bellingen, doing a lot of birdwatching and meeting most of the people we would be traveling with on a trip later in the year - more about that later. In late August we celebrated both of our birthdays with a half day birdwatching boat trip which went about 15km out from Wollongong harbour before returning via a couple of the Five Islands. The boat was built for fishing, not the comfort of its passengers, and it was pretty rocky, but we had great bird sightings, as well as whales, dolphins and seals.

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Brett and Karen at a lookout over the Bellinger Valley The route of our pelagic trip The boat we did our pelagic trip in A Yellow Nosed Albatross

Karen's 50th birthday celebrations went on for about a month! We spent a weekend at Moruya with six of our bushwalking friends, one of whom was also celebrating her 50th birthday, doing a few bike rides north and south of the town (despite wet weather). This was followed by a weekend with our field naturalist friends at the Tombarra Holiday Cabins just south of Mongarlowe (east of Braidwood - which is east of Canberra). We climbed Mt Budawang, the highest mountain in the Shoalhaven, but the highlight of the weekend was being able to walk down to the river and see platypus!

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Louise and Karen cutting their birthday cake On the fire tower on top of Mt Budawang Descending Mt Budawang with Mt Currockbilly and Mt Roberts in the background

In October we spent an extended long weekend in Merimbula with the Shoalhaven Birdwatchers, initially camping at Gillards Beach before moving on to the Big 4 in town. Our camp site at the caravan park was spectacular, high on a cliff overlooking the ocean, with whales passing constantly. The birding was excellent, especially at the Panboola Wetlands. Another highlight was a trip inland to Wolumla Mountain - great views and a trig (of course).

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Kas whalewatching at Merimbula Shoalhaven Birdwatchers on the Merimbula board walk The Wolumla Trig and fire tower

Karen and I were again heavily involved with the Shoalhaven Bushwalkers. We are both on the committee, Karen as Weekend Walks Coordinator and me as the Webmaster. We walk most weeks, and lead walks regularly. In our 12 years with the club, Karen has led over 150 walks and I have led 82. One walk this year was particularly notable, a two day full pack hike that included climbs of Mt Donjon, Mt Owen and Mt Nibelung.

Mt Donjon is the most difficult mountain we have ever climbed, with four sections where the leader (not us) climbed up and dropped a rope down. Each of us then tied the rope around our bodies and were virtually hauled up the mountain! On top of the mountain there is a log book that was placed there in 1981. There have been so few groups to reach the summit in the past 30 years that the original book is still being used!

Reaching the top of Donjon and Nibelung was part of my ongoing quest to climb all of the mountains in the Shoalhaven that are higher than 800 metres. There are 17 of them, and I have two left to climb - Mt Tarn and Mt Mooryan. Maybe next year ...

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Kas being assisted up Donjon Kas climbing up the chimney section of the Donjon climb Cliff (our leader), Brett, Karen and Kynie on top of Mt Donjon

During 2011 Karen and I saw 13 bird species we had never seen before - a big year! We saw four on our Tasmanian trip - Black-browed Albatross, Grey-headed Albatross, Scrubtit, Tasmanian Scrubwren - two in the Flinders Ranges - Short-tailed Grasswren, Redthroat - four on the pelagic trip out of Wollongong - Yellow-nosed Albatross, Brown Skua, Shy Albatross, White-fronted Tern - and three during our Bellingen trip - Rufous Scrub-bird (definitely the birding highlight of the year), Paradise Riflebird, Russet-tailed Thrush.

We also joined the Shorebird 2020 recovery program, monitoring endangered Pied Oystercatchers and Hooded Plovers along Bherwerre Beach in Booderee National Park and on islands in St Georges Basin.

Two good friends died this year. One was in her eighties and had led a full and interesting life, but the other was only Karen's age, a reminder that life is short and that we may not have the time to do all the things we have planned. Partially because of the loss of our friends, Karen is in the process of discussing various work options with her boss - to either get more time off or perhaps even to retire permanently.

In summary, 2011 was another year of birds, mountains, waterfalls and trigs. Karen also attended a couple of film festivals at the historic Huskisson Cinema, and I continued to be actively involved with the Bay and Basin Camera Club as Vice President and Webmaster. One photo I took this year for the set subject of "Our Feathered Friends" was the image shown below. I really liked it initially, but now it haunts me ...

Evil Eye

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

And the trip that I mentioned earlier? On Boxing Day, Karen and I will be going to Uganda for three weeks of birdwatching, wildlife viewing (including mountain gorillas) and photography. If you don't hear from us next year, please send search parties ...

We wish everyone a happy Xmas and a wonderful 2012 ...

Cheers,
Brett and Karen Davis

P.S. As usual, our previous Xmas letters can be viewed by clicking the following links - 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.