Praise where praise is due

Kay Mooney reports:

How lovely is the 'weather station' erected in Gilsen Reserve.  Have you seen it?  What a lovely, joyously imaginative, arty thing it is.  Well done someone.  The playground is pretty nice too.  I believe there is a planting of trees to come.  

We were over in Metung earlier in the week and they too have a wonderful public space come play area, see it if you get over there.

Abbey accommodation special

HALF PRICE DAYS at The Abbey
13 JULY – 31 JULY 2015

From 13 July – 31 July 2015 all accommodation and facilities at The Abbey

HALF PRICE!

Book early, don’t miss out!

Phone (03) 51566580

Email: info@theabbey.org.au

The Abbey is a great place to be in winter – warm rooms and cosy lounge, with sunny days - even better!

Late autumn sunset

Tom Ponting snapped this beautiful sunset while walking our dogs before dinner.

Don't forget to enter our winter competition: tells us why you love living on Raymond Island - the best entries each month will win a devonshire tea for two, courtesy of Captovation.

  

Coming to Paynesville Library

If you would like to book onto any of these events please either call 5153 9500 and ask for Paynesville or pop in and see us here! Bookings are essential.

Author Visit: Jacqueline Dinan

Date:  Thursday 4 June 2015
Time:  10.30  11.30 am
Description: Jacqueline Dinan is visiting to talk about her latest book Between the Dances. Her book is a collection of short stories about women’s lives during World War 2. Revealing poignant and personal conversations, photographs and letters from over 300 remarkable women, Between the Dances is a testament to real life during World War 2.

World Knit in Public Day

Date:  Friday 12 June 2015
Time: 10.00 am - 1.00 pm
Description: Bring your knitting along and join us here at the Paynesville Service Centre and enjoy the company of fellow knitters along with a cuppa (supplied).

Author Visit: Charles Hall

Date: Tuesday 23 June 2015
Time: 2.00 pm
Description: One short, beautiful summer of love, and then a tragedy – and the Vietnam War – will drive four friends apart.

Movie: My Old Lady

Date:  Friday 17 July 2015
Time: 2.30 - 4.30 pm
Description: A New Yorker (Kevin Kline) discovers that the vast Paris apartment he inherited from his estranged father is already occupied by a refined retiree (Maggie Smith) and her protective daughter (Kristin Scott-Thomas).

Landcare and autumn wonders

Kay Mooney reports...
Early on a bright and beautiful Sunday morning eight or nine members of the Raymond Island Land Care group, suitably clothed and sprayed against the mozzies, gathered to do some planting. This was the final planting at The Wedge. This time we were planting an assortment of gums, boobialla, lily’s and calistamons. It was a great morning and heartening to see that recent rains had made a real impact and most previous plantings were coming on nicely.

Your intrepid reporter spotted on Centre road a group of six or seven kangaroos grazing in the early light. (pic.) I was lost, again. I also saw a beautiful clump of big fungi (pic), Boletuses I think, and also took a slightly blurry picture of an early green hood orchid. While planting we were visited by two young, male, koalas, they were “arguing” about who saw the tree first.

At the recent Land Care meeting it was reported that there have been sightings of dolphin and seal in the straits, and the sharp-of-eye can see sea eagles, king parrots, currawongs and red robins which have returned. It was also reported that the very rare Swift parrots have been seen; also the Weebill and a wedge tail eagle. I have yet to see any of these, but I am looking.

Also spotted by some lucky people was a ghost fungus (Omphalotus Nidiformus), but sadly the fruiting body is short lived and is no longer there to see. It grows on dead wood and has a greenish glow at night, hence the name. There is an excellent article on this fungi in Monday 18 May Advertiser.




Editor's note: Andrew Bould was one of the lucky Islanders to see the ghost fungus. His photographs are featured in our new gallery.

Festival of Choirs

Kay Mooney reminds everyone that the Festival of Choirs will be held at the Uniting Church at Lucknow 1.30pm, Sunday 31 May. 

This is a festival of all the local choirs performing a very varied program of music in return for a gold coin donation.  

Coming up at the Forge Theatre

Koala count postponed

For curious Islanders wondering about last Thursday's planned koala count on the Island...

Due to the forecast extreme weather we have chosen to postpone the Raymond Island Koala Count that was scheduled for [last] Thursday. The key factors for the decision were the safety of students and other volunteers, and the accuracy of the count with Koalas being harder to find whilst sheltering from wild weather.

We hope to reschedule the count for September - enquiries can be directed to DELWP Bairnsdale on 5152 0400.

Simon Ruff | Southern Ark Project Field Officer |Environment & Natural Resources
Regional Services | Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning

World Knit in Public Day

Koala shelter report

The end of year report has been posted on the Shelter web site, along with a heartwarming success story of Barry's recovery after being attacked. 

Fun at the Shelter Fundraiser over Easter.

Shire Budget and ferry fees

An article from our roving reporter...

After chatting with a couple of Islanders on the ferry they had a couple of comments on the proposed Council budget. These are summed  up below.

The draft EGSC budget is available on the EGSC web site. Please take a look to ensure that nothing has been overlooked but a brief review indicates no great concerns for us with no extraordinary fee increases and provision made for maintenance and ultimate replacement of the ferry.  There appears to be only one exception being the cars, motorcycles single return trip fee proposed to increase from $11 to $12. As it was $10 in the last financial year, currently $11, a 20% increase over two years seems a bit steep. We believe the justification for $10 going to $11 was “rounding up” and presumably that is the case this time around. Alternatively it could be argued that the $10 increase which would nominally have been about $10.30 would this time around nominally be about $10.60, so it should be left to stand at $11. 

If any islanders feel strongly about this, they may want to communicate their feelings to the shire.

Upcoming business conference

Spring in Ireland

Ireland is a place you can visit where there are no language problems and it’s so small that a road trip is an easy way to see and do.  We organized all the essentials before leaving home with R.I. own tour advisor,  Tanja.   She worked out suitable flights, accommodation when we arrived in Dublin, and car hire; all the nitty gritty details, we would do the rest “on the fly”.  Ireland is a country in two bits, North (still British) and South (independent). 

We wanted to dabble in a little family history research while there, and Ireland is a place very geared to doing this, almost everywhere we went local history museums had a genealogist available to talk to, or contacts for you.  We spent the first day walking around Dublin viewing all the sights and soaking up the atmosphere.  A walk through the old Dublin area is a step back in time. We visited the Dubliner Museum which has four floors: Prehistoric, Viking (they founded Dublin), and Medieval.  The top floor was devoted to the methods and practices of archeology. 

 

Ireland maybe poor, but they know how to eat well; as we traveled we found the lovely pubs with their warm and welcoming atmosphere the best place for an evening meal.  Breakfasts, usually in the hotel or B&B of the night, were equally awesome.  I fell in love with the wonderful black bread served everywhere, with butter naturally, bad for the cholestoral and the waistline, but very satisfying.  I bought the recipe home as a souvenir.   Also impressive as we traveled the length of Ireland, was the cleanliness, and prettiness everywhere.  The Irish are obviously very house-proud.  There were civic flowers everywhere, but also every shop and business had hanging baskets, private homes put tubs of flowers out on the footpath, and they weren’t stolen!

Our drive took us in a huge circle.  Up through John’s ancestral area, where we combed records and cemeteries, into Northern Ireland.  No border control but different money, language, road signs and probably rules if we did but know. We reached the Giants Causeway,. The causeway is made up of many columns of basalt formed in hexagonal shaped blocks piled in columns, the result of slowly cooling lava flow.  We turned left towards the Atlantic.  (A wonderful overnight pub here “The Smugglers Rest”), and drove along the coast. This drive is all picturesque,  suffices to say we reached Derry,(still quite Partisan if you know what I mean) then turned south making our way down the west of Ireland viewing history in a parade of castles and stone circles, churches, battle sites, and fishing villages, stone crosses and stunning scenery all the way. I do mean stunning. We made our way around in a large circle to end as we had set out, in Dublin.    I must mention the National Irish Horse Stud at Kildare,  some of the world’s best are foaled here.  We saw Vintage Crop, among others.   This is worth a visit even if you aren’t into horse breeding.  There is a wonderful Japanese Garden, and a replica of a Monastic hermitage in the Irish garden. 

 

We also visited “Bru Na Boinne” which has a magnificent visitor center as prelude to visiting New Grange prehistoric burial mound (restored). This is a must see attraction, a huge burial mound with a very narrow entrance passage, into which, once a year, the sun shines down and into the chamber. This was thought to be a bone or ash depository, more for worship than burial.  In Kildare we based ourselves at the Trim Castle Hotel, the dining room looked straight out at the Castle. We added to our bulging luggage here with a few more souvenirs. We also recommend the Immigrant Museum in Ross, and the site of the Battle of the Boynne; don’ bother with the Whisky tour, or the Guinness Tour.  View the Book of Kells at Trinity College in Dublin but get there first  thing in the morning.

Ireland is just so beautiful, hospitable, historic, and welcoming.  It’s impossible to mention everything or even some of what we saw.  You just have to go, see for yourself.
John and Kay Mooney

Koala shelter website

The Raymond Island Koala and Wildlife Shelter web site and is the new place to go to find Shelter updates and reports. You can bookmark this site: www.koalashelter.org to go directly or follow the link from the Raymond Island Net koala pages.

If you wish to receive email notifications about Shelter updates, please email 

koalashelter@gmail.com

Fire reduction burn update

Susie Pulis has received a letter from the hon Lisa Neville (Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water) advising that the burn (2BBB0012) scheduled for Raymond Island in late autumn will not be ignited until consideration is given to the results of further consultation.

She's also been contacted by Brad Fisher (DELWP Regional Manager)  who has confirmed the burns are definitely cancelled this year.  There is going to be a community forum held very soon on Fire Operations plans for Raymond Island giving residents and the public the opportunity to voice their concerns and suggestions for the future. DELWP will advertise the meeting and also will be sending out letters shortly.  The meeting will be independently facilitated. 

Susie says "It's a great start for our precious island we so need an overhaul of the current plans as they are clearly decimating our islands habitat. It's really a great victory our voices have been heard the Minister acted and I'm so grateful to her for listening."

Half model boats on show

The folk at the Paynesville Maritime Museum continue to develop new displays in the Shed at Gilsenan Reserve, and to improve and update existing ones. On the next Open Day (10 May 8.30-12.30) they will unveil the new digital screen and will run speedboat pictures - mainly from the 1950s but also including a couple of pre-WW2 shots of some amazing craft.

Ivan Bubb’s display of ‘half models’ of the boats from the main builders of Paynesville fishing boats will also be on display. Visitors can compare the variations and marvel at the quality of the workmanship. Ivan also displays models at the Lions market and can make a specific models of boats to your request.

Half model boat display

Indian summer ends

Mark Pritchard reports...
Our year to date total is 255mm, only the second time in 10 years we have been above the average for the first quarter...I think summer has now passed. 
We only had 1 day greater than 30*C this month, on the 1 April when it was 31.3. For the whole of last summer we only had 24 days with a max over 30*C and NONE over 40. Over the last 3 years we have averaged 38 days over 30*C, and last year we had 5 days over 40. Our hottest day was 3 January at 38.9.  
Now we have to wait & see when the coldest day will be!