Let's Go Bushwalking

No, this isn't a bushwalk with a large pack, a couple of gallons of water, energy bars, blisters and you thinking "Why am I out here?  Didn't I do enough of this in the Marines?"  It's a bushwalk with a small shoulder bag and a couple of bottles of water, a tin or two of herring or salmon, crackers, chocolate, some garlic-stuffed olives, and mandarin oranges.  And some black licorice.  This is more like bush-strolling, by my standards.

The Canberra Nature Park (remember, "Canberra's boring, there's NOTHING to do here...") is actually several parks and nature reserves scattered all over the ACT and designed to meet tastes of all kinds.  And I do mean tastes of all kinds - such as the only nudist beach in the ACT - see below.  Yup, nothing here to do or see.

http://www.tams.act.gov.au/play/pcl/parks_reserves_and_open_places/canberra_nature_park

Anyway, it's really easy to wake up on a weekend and think "Geez, it's still dark outside, what am I doing up?"  And then remember that a hungry cat is as good as an alarm clock (those who know my cats know what I mean) and this one is standing on my chest, crying.  By the time they're fed, then you think it might be fun to get out there and see some nature and within about 90 minutes, you can actually be standing beside the Murrumbidgee River and thinking "Now where's that nudist beach...".  Anyway, that happened yesterday morning, and Debbie and I needed some exercise (and it's FREE), so after some prep, off we went to Kambah Pool, which is in a suburb SW of Canberra (20 minutes) on the Murrumbidgee River.  There are several walking tracks that link various parks along the Murrumbidgee River Corridor.  There are some very nice camping and swimming areas along the corridor that are a great example of how well-managed the ACT parks system really is.  There are parks and tracks for any level of taste, fitness, or activity with or without facilities.  For someone who thought someday he might be a park ranger (I did get a degree in Natural Resources Management, after all) it's really interesting to see how they are trying to meet all needs without destroying the very things people come to see in the first place (that's why they call it "management," I guess).  And - keep the local wildlife happy and thriving (let's just not talk about the ongoing kangaroo cull and wabbit gassing...even if they are necessary).

Here's where we went - notice how close Kambah is to central Canberra - it's the red area; the lake in the center is Lake Burley-Griffin in Canberra:

 Courtesy of Wikipedia

And here's the brochure on the area:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/33605796/Pages-From-WEB-MRC-Brochure


And finally, where we did our bushwalk (it's a page from the above brochure):

Here's the Red Rocks Gorge on the Murrimbidgee -
which we reached only about 1.5 KM or 30 minutes from the parking lot.

And as always, the Lovely Debbie with said gorge.

This, for the uninitiated, is wombat poo.  For some reason the little fellas like to go on the top of rocks, logs, etc.  It's everywhere.  See the "Critters" page for a wombat - both "sleeping" and alive.  These guys get pretty big (guessing from some of the poo) and they dig these great big holes and in some cases it looks like a condo community.

Well, we eventually found the Nude Bathing Area. The first guy we ran into was a fully clothed fisherman not having much luck in the Rock Pool below the rapids.  I enlarged this so you could see the little icon up in the corner of the sign, which apparently is courtesy of the ANF - which all of you will know is ...The Australian Nudist Federation.  For those if you wanting to know more about the ANF, here's the link to their website as well...where you will learn that "Naturism is not just a healthy Lifestyle but has many more beneficial qualities not widely known."  .

http://www.aus-nude.org.au/index.php?option=com_k2&view=itemlist&layout=category&task=category&id=2&Itemid=102

Let us know how that works out for you.

We stopped for lunch (crackers and tinned herring) at the Rock Pool below the rapids of Kambah Pool.  Naturalist Debbie, her "Field Guide to the Birds of Australia", and a Pacific Black Duck were all in attendance.  Since she's on the page on Ravens and Crows, there was a slight delay in identification.

Here's the book:

Sensing Debbie's embarrassment, this guy showed up...

And paused for identification.  That's an Australian Raven.

These are the rapids above the Rock Pool.

This is not a rare anemone attached to one of the rocks.
This is the common Photographicus Idioticus in its natural habitat
attempting to get his camera ready.

I caught Debbie carefully placing plastic trash in the bush.
Actually, she asked me to document our picking UP trash
some local idiots continually leave in their own parks (my main complaint - who are these morons who hike into the middle of nowhere with a bottle of beer - haven't they ever heard of wineskins?).

We're hoping this will help qualify Debbie for an award of
the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in next year's Queen's Birthday Honors.

Here's the medal:

Those are Wattle Flowers on the ribbon.  Since my friend
Dr. Danielle Roosa (nee Malek) Esquire also has among her
many academic accomplishments a degree in
horticulture, she can tell you all about the native wattle.

Here's the wattle flower in a photograph:

And from the Australian National Botanic Garden website:

"The genus Acacia belongs to the family Mimosaceae. There are some 1350 species of Acacia found throughout the world and close to 1000 of these are to be found in Australia. Commonly known as Wattle, Acacia is the largest genus of vascular plants in Australia. Australia's national floral emblem is Acacia pycnantha, the Golden Wattle. Wattle Day is celebrated on the 1st of September each year."



Back to the bushwalk.

These are not cardboard cutouts of kangaroos, although for some reason they look like it.
Momma and joey.

The next wildlife encounter was strange.  We had gotten back to the car and were driving through the Pine Island parking lot, when out of nowhere this bird starts attacking the car, particularly the windshield wipers.  I could do an entire post on this one bird (he did have a less persistent partner), but I'll limit this to the highlights:

My favorite photo.

I mean, this bird didn't even like himself. He would fly from
side to side of the car, see himself in the side-view mirror
(at least the birds here seem to know what a side-view mirror is,
I'm still searching for evidence that Australian drivers do) and then go on the attack.

We discovered from a passing Australian
(you can see her car moving slowly towards us in the video) that
this is a "Noisy Miner."  I'd say more like "Really Angry Miner."  Territorial little cuss,
but you have to admire his guts.  I even went back a second time to see if he would repeat
and there he was, diving in on us like a Messerschmidt.



Noisy Miner from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.




Noisy Miner II from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.


Noisy Miner III from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.


Then we discovered the motherlode of kangaroo mobs.
There must have been at least a hundred of 'em.
Apparently they had not read this sign below.

I understand increased kangaroo literacy will be a major goal
of the new Gillard Labor Government.

By the way, the wildlife reserve is on the OTHER side of the fence.

I was trying to figure out how they worked that gate.

Now Australians constantly tell me how stupid kangaroos are.
I'm not so sure...
Take a look at the bottom of the fence below.
And aaaaaalllllll those kangaroos in the background.
In the grazing land.
Away from the wildlife reserve and people like me.

Think they're stupid now?

I have seen these "mobs" line up and go through one of these holes one by one.
They're more polite - and patient - than people getting on and off the cars on
the Metro in DC and VA.

Kangaroos on the horizon at the end of a long kangaroo day from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

And so, our day's bushwalking done, both kangaroos and Debbie and Chuck drive - or hop - off into the sunset and a well-earned beer at the end of the day (since kangaroos don't have opposable thumbs and can't unscrew the tops, they have to drink it on draught...)