An amble in August
The Friends of Freycinet met at Freycinet National Park 15-19 August for a 5-day working bee.
After a sodden weekend the weather cleared on the east coast to overcast days for our working bee. On arrival, and after catch-ups, we had an induction while we lunched on soup provided by Ranger Fee before sorting ourselves into weeding groups for the day. One group of weeders headed off to nearby Swanwick to remove Polygala (Polygala myrtifolia) and slender cotton thistles in the coastal reserve and the rest of us then set off for the search of sweet pittosporum (Pittosporum undulatum) behind Bradleys Drive fire trail. Two hours later 3000 seedlings (and some of larger proportions) had been removed along with about 20 bluebell creeper plants (Billardiera heterophylla). That warmed us up for the week!
“from little things, big things grow”
from seedling to sapling – removing sweet pittosporum
The next three days saw teams surveying the beaches from Chain of Lagoons to Friendly Beaches for sea spurge. This is a regular August task for the Friends and a great excuse to walk the beaches of the east coast, in all 500 sea spurge plants were pulled.
Those not ‘spurging’ headed to Friendly Beaches for the rest of the week. They preceded to clean, scrub, paint and tidy the toilet blocks, tame the vegetation of the campground, and finally install a renovated noticeboard at the grounds.
Friday saw us finishing up with a BBQ lunch at the PWS workshop beautifully cooked by Nick.
The ‘Friends’: Ros, John, Lorraine, Peter, Ian, Joan, Jenny, Ralph, Mal, Bronwyn, Chris and a passing local
Our objective: staying dry
Our achievements: weeds, weeds and more weeds and a bit of TLC for Friendly Beaches camping area.
Thanks to all PWS staff who worked alongside the Friends for the week and to all the Friends for your contribution.
Jenny Baulis
Co-ordinator Friends of Freycinet