Friends of Freycinet March Muster
The weather forecast for the week ahead didn’t look all that promising – showers and rain most days – but undeterred a group of keen volunteers assembled at Freycinet on the Monday morning. Unfortunately, Ranger Fee was away sick all week, however Rangers Nick and Steve W filled in capably and kept us all on track (so to speak).
Due to the forecasted weather conditions there was a change to the original jobs list, but we still managed to find plenty to do. The first couple of days were spent weeding sweet pittosporum, boneseed, giant mullein and sea spurge at various points around Bicheno, along with other environmental weeds which constantly escape from bordering properties.
Rain started falling late Tuesday and continued throughout Wednesday – 105ml was recorded at nearby Friendly Beaches. There was no sensible option other than to be inside in such weather, but we managed to fill the day productively in the Parks workshop.
A wet Wednesday in the workshop
The rain had cleared away by Thursday morning and work was undertaken on the shared-use track to Wineglass Bay car-park and the Wineglass Bay/Hazards Beach circuit track; cleaning blocked drains, pruning overhanging vegetation and checking for any rain damage.
removing passion-fruit vine
and the end result
Friday was fine, clear and warm. A particularly vigorous patch of passion fruit vine at the back of Muirs Beach was weeded by half the group, while the other half replaced washed out gravel on the shared-use track. A BBQ lunch finished off a very enjoyable and productive week for FOF.
our March Musterers