It started with cakes and ended with a bbq…..
The August Working Bee 5-9 August 2019
After goodness knows what time in the morning we started from Launceston and Hobart, by 11.30am on Monday we were tucking into cakes and cream supplied by Fiona and Natasha from PWS at the Freycinet Field Centre. What were we doing after that? Oh yes, paperwork and preparation for our two high priority jobs, construction of the Friendly Beaches lookout and the eradication of sea spurge from the beaches in our bailiwick. With nine volunteers available we were able to split into two teams to tackle them.
The larger team was assigned to commence building the lookout. The Tasmanian Community Fund provided the main funds for this, and we topped this up with a small Wildcare Inc. grant.
So, over the next four days we carted materials and tools from the carpark to the site, dug over 30 holes in difficult ground, cemented posts in, placed treated sleepers in a hexagonal shape to best take in the view, erected rails and vertical balustrades with capping, filled the area with three truckloads of gravel carted to the site in power barrows with tentative drivers and ‘whackered’ down, and landscaped the old eroded sites with a load of pine bark. I think that covers the main jobs.
Dominic and Shannon from PWS provided the conceptual and technical skills necessary for the job and kept us ‘vollies’ heading in the right direction. Both things they were extremely good at!
We were all chuffed to achieve so much in the time and the job will be completed shortly by some really nice seating and a little more landscaping. And, the Friendly Beaches viewing facility is open now so come along and view it! Oh, and the beach is not too bad either!
The other team, the ‘Spurgettes’ spent several days checking beaches for sea spurge and also for caper spurge in the Saltwater Lagoon area. This is one of our most important annual jobs as we have a large coastline to cover and together with other groups we are committed to a spurge free East Coast. This team was supplemented by Visitor Services Officers who were happy to leave the counter, have a change of scenery and see what the ‘vollies’ get up to.
This is a further example of the great partnership existing between Wildcare and PWS.
When not spurging, this team helped out on the lookout job.
We finished the working bee on Friday with a barbeque lunch provided (and cooked) by PWS and not only that but we went to the pub one night and Shannon and Tash came as well, and what with cakes to start with, we all had a great time with our PWS family.
And that’s not all folks. We had time in the days before the start of the work bee to have an executive meeting with PWS to plan some large jobs that could be tackled in the next few years. We also painted a picnic table, helped to take some stuff to the waste station and cleared the foreshore along the Coles Bay Esplanade of Sweet Pittosporum. Although this area is the responsibility of the Glamorgan Spring Bay Council we like to help out as good neighbours always do.
Our next week long working bee is in October when there will be the usual gallimaufry of tasks to complete.
