Cape Fear adventures

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olsnappa
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Location: Melbourne, Australia

Cape Fear adventures

Post by olsnappa »

.....Well not so much an adventure as a relaxing drift down part of Melbourne’s Yarra River.
These photos were taken in an area of parkland just out of Melbourne. The city centre is about four and a half miles away as the crow flies.
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Ready to launch from one of the canoe ramps dotted along the river.

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In the upper centre of this photo you can just see, suspended in the trees, some of the thousands of native Fruit Bats that have formed a colony along a 500 metre section of the river.
A few years ago they began settling in the nearby Royal Botanic Gardens, causing devastating damage to the magnificent collection of exotic trees. The staff at the gardens began a campaign of scaring them away at dawn when they would settle in to roost for the day. The very “high tech” method was to walk around the gardens banging metal trash can lids with lumps of wood, making such a noise that the bats moved on.
I work at another historical garden in the same area and some of the bats headed there instead so we had to begin the same process.
Over the next few weeks, if you took an early morning walk in any of the major parks and gardens in and around Melbourne, you would see gardens staff charging around banging anything that made sufficient noise to scare the bats away…….quite a bizarre situation.
Eventually the bats were “trained” to set up their colonies in a couple of designated areas, this being one of them.
John.
1 Cape Fear Sit In....a couple more planned
2 Laker 14's
1 Paddle board

"People who don't make mistakes don't make anything"
hairymick
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Re: Cape Fear adventures

Post by hairymick »

G'day John,

Magnificent piece of river mate. I have heard some very good things about your Yarra but only ever seen the city reaches. (my loss)

Re the bloody bats, There are millions of em here too. I call them flying rats. Between them and the mad parrots, I got very few mangos this year. :evil: I only wish we could shoot them.
Regards,
Mick

JEMWATERCRAFT Swampgirl; Wadefish;Touring Pirogue;South Wind; P5 ;
Laker X 2, Sasquatch 16.5 T-V 15 Okwata 15:
Cobia 15 (under construction)
olsnappa
Posts: 300
Joined: Mon Dec 17, 2007 7:03 am
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Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Cape Fear adventures

Post by olsnappa »

G'day Mick.
Yeah, I saw the photos of your mangos.......such a waste!! :cry:
I love a good mango and would love to grow them down here. I've got some plum and apricot trees and have to chase the rainbow lorikeets away.......they just laugh at me
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One of my dogs actually climbs the tree to get to some of the fruit too so between her and the birds I don't get much.
The dogs used to chase the birds out of the tree but this year they developed a system. The dogs sit quietly at the foot of the tree and the lorikeets throw down the occasional plum or apricot for them....and everybody wins....except me!
I'll be exploring quite a few parts of the yarra over time so will post a few pics here for you.
John.
1 Cape Fear Sit In....a couple more planned
2 Laker 14's
1 Paddle board

"People who don't make mistakes don't make anything"
OnkaBob
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Re: Cape Fear adventures

Post by OnkaBob »

Some nice snaps there Snaps :D .
Wonderful that you can find such a picturesque spot so close to the city.

This is becoming something of a nature education site for me - I didn't know fruit bats came that far south as I've only ever seen them in northern NSW and Qld. I also didn't know there were crocs in the USA until reading it here a few days ago.
Cheers, Bob

Laker 13 - christened and slimed (just).
Laker accessories underway.
craiggamesh
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Re: Cape Fear adventures

Post by craiggamesh »

Beautiful photos. Thanks for sharing.
Regards,

Craig
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If I had more clamps, I could build more boats.
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_AL_
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Re: Cape Fear adventures

Post by _AL_ »

Love the 2nd pic mate.
Very nice

Al
olsnappa
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Re: Cape Fear adventures

Post by olsnappa »

I got away to the north of Victoria this week... Had a good look around as I hadn't been up there for some time. Of course I took the cf with me because fishing two of the lakes up there was on the agenda. Lake William Hovel is used to irrigate the vineyards and other crops grown in the King River Valley. And Lake Buffalo is for irrigating the Buffalo River valley.
I stayed in Whitfield, about 15 minutes drive from William Hovel and about 30 minute drives from Lake Buffalo.
There are a number of really nice rivers in and around the area so it was a good combination of kayak fishing and bank fishing. I fished from about 5am - 10am and about 5pm - 9pm each day. A lot of enjoyable paddling and walking between times......and fell into the cot exhausted but happy each night. :D
It was fairly hot and the fishing was a bit quiet but I ended up with some nice Redfin (English Perch)
Although the bushfires of the previous weeks was much further south, there was a pawl of smoke haze blanketing the region for the whole time I was there.
Here are some shots.....and if you like, you can check out a few more at :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ol_snappa/.....click on the thumbs to see 'em bigger.
Lake William Hovel
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Lake Buffalo
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John.
1 Cape Fear Sit In....a couple more planned
2 Laker 14's
1 Paddle board

"People who don't make mistakes don't make anything"
hairymick
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Re: Cape Fear adventures

Post by hairymick »

Geez John,

I have just taken the liberty of briefly perusing your flickr album.

As if the piccies you posted are not stunning enough, your album is magnificent mate. If you are not doing it allready, you should be doing this for a living..

I have also taen the liberty of bookmarking your album and will be returning to it often.
Regards,
Mick

JEMWATERCRAFT Swampgirl; Wadefish;Touring Pirogue;South Wind; P5 ;
Laker X 2, Sasquatch 16.5 T-V 15 Okwata 15:
Cobia 15 (under construction)
olsnappa
Posts: 300
Joined: Mon Dec 17, 2007 7:03 am
Type of boat I like: <-- Please read instructions to the left and delete this text. Then, tell us what type boat you like! :-)
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Cape Fear adventures

Post by olsnappa »

Well thankya' Mick..... I'm a bit spasmodic with flickr these days.......I upload in fits and starts.
I seem to have become preoccupied with building boats....or thinking about building them......or paddling them....or thinking about paddling them....... :D
I'm sure you know what I mean...... :lol:
John.
1 Cape Fear Sit In....a couple more planned
2 Laker 14's
1 Paddle board

"People who don't make mistakes don't make anything"
olsnappa
Posts: 300
Joined: Mon Dec 17, 2007 7:03 am
Type of boat I like: <-- Please read instructions to the left and delete this text. Then, tell us what type boat you like! :-)
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Cape Fear adventures

Post by olsnappa »

I found this video from about a year ago.....having completely forgotten about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbyDIs0iJWw
Nothing sensational....just about 4 minutes from a quiet morning paddle on Lysterfield Lake which is about 20 kms from where I live.
Thought I might as well put it up here
John.
1 Cape Fear Sit In....a couple more planned
2 Laker 14's
1 Paddle board

"People who don't make mistakes don't make anything"
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