Bega Valley Natural Learners Group: Merimbula Boardwalk

It’s always a lovely day when we venture out along the boardwalk at Merimbula. Today was no exception. A beautiful autumn day, meandering along the boardwalk, stopping to check out the marine life and chatting with friends and kidlets along the way – couldn’t be a better way to spend the day.

The kids checking out a large filleted fish. Tuna we think???

One of the many soldier crabs we saw in the mangroves and on the beachy bits.The littlies

Luca stopping for a closer look at the hoards of soldier crabs.

A sea cucumber thingy.

A crab Lewi and the others found.

It was also extra lovely to meet a new home schooling family today, a mum  and her 4 year old daughter. What a year of newbies we are having. Home schooling in these parts is really taking off.

What did you get up to today?

I’m Grateful For…

 

Woah! It’s that time of the week already? This week has surely flown by but here we are, weekend again, and time to join in with Maxabella's Grateful For fun linky. Multiple Mum over at And Then There Were Four {who is the lovely Maxabella/Bron’s sister} is hosting the link this weekend.

The rain seems to have stopped in Floodville, I mean Bega. It has certainly been a wet, wet week. Mud is everywhere. Debris is everywhere. Water is still everywhere.

So I should be grateful, this week, for the sun, shouldn’t I? But, I can’t bring myself to that. I’m so addicted to cloudy, grey days that sun gratefulness I am not ready for. It’s an illness, I’m sure.

What I am grateful for though is the NSW SES {and local SES}. They have been such a fantastic help to those in trouble during the flood time. They have even called us all, individually, {the whole,Bega Valley Shire} to check that we are OK, to take our details and to ask whether we need any assistance.

I must say I was surprised. I’ve never been in a situation like this before…a natural disaster. It’s so nice to know that help really is just around the corner.

The SES has worked tirelessly serving this community, so too have many other organisations and services. I don’t think I’ve truly appreciated services like this enough in my life and the hours they work to help people in need. I’ve been  a take-them-for-granted sort of person. Guilt! Shame! No more, I say!

Thank you so much, SES, I no longer take you for granted. I am so very grateful.

What are you grateful for this week?

Water, Water Everywhere: The Aftermath Part 2

 

March 23rd, 2011

After our walk we popped in the car and went for a drive to view the other flood hit areas of the town and outskirts. Water has substantially subsided, though the main road into town is still covered in water and so too is the road around the race course and river. Tarraganda is now water free but residents are still not able to drive on the roads due to severe road damage between the two bridges. Trucks were busily trying to rectify this issue as there are people out there, people I know, friends, who need toilet paper and milk!!!! {I wrote this earlier today. Tarraganda people are now able to use the bridge. YAH for them. Look out Coles, toilet paper aisle!

Here’s what we saw on our car journey…

Tarraganda Bridge, now free of water but not free from cracks and road damage.

Road still closed near the old racecourse.

Parrabel Street.

I was in shock. I couldn’t believe the amount of debris that lay like a wooden fence all along the edges of the road at Springvale. Whole trees, big poplar trees and gum trees uprooted and horizontal on the ground. Piles and piles of debris still in the river, looking like it was actually blocking the river in part. It looked like a beaver haven, but in a scary kind of way.

Much of the debris was obviously the trees and shrubs that no longer stand along the river’s edge. The whole place is now so open and barren looking. It’s surreal.

 

I guess the flood post won’t be giving a very accurate reading now?

The road sign.

The entry to Springvale Close. Not good.

This is where we swam all summer. It looks so very different now.

A dead fish that Lewi found in a pot hole on the road.

The sky today was blue with clouds appearing then disappearing. Right now there’s a little rain. I don’t think it’s re-flooding rain. Who knows.

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I hope I didn’t bore you with all of those floody photos. It’s pretty much on our minds a lot at the moment, us Begarians, so we’ll be talking about water and stuff for quite awhile. Sorry.

While driving around the streets today we were also made aware of the terrible loss that some locals have had to go through during this flood. There were quite a few people piling sodden, almost unrecognisable possessions onto the median strip ready to have it taken to the tip. They were big piles. Huge.

The look on the faces of these poor, poor people was sobering. They didn’t appear to be forlorn as I imagined they might. Many of them were smiling and chatting and helping one another just get on with it. Is this the country spirit? The Aussie way? I think so. Ashamedly I don’t think that would’ve been my reaction.

No, it was no Brisbane or Ipswich catastrophe but it certainly has been a natural disaster of sorts and an occasion where our community really needs to and will, band together.

 

Water, Water Everywhere: The Aftermath Part 1

Today is a totally different day to yesterday’s flood panic/hype. Today the mood is less dramatic. Less excitement. Less shock. It’s more real. People are trying to move on and do what they have to do, if they are not still cut off from the world, that is. Council workers are working around the clock to clean the place up. I’m so impressed with how much they have already achieved. I know councils, particularly our own local one, gets a bit of a brow beating in the media and from the mouths of unhappy tax payers, but I have to say, they have come to the aid of the towns people in an incredibly enthusiastic and diligent way today.

Trucks were out and about everywhere, washing down the mud and silt coated streets. Diggers and earth moving equipment have obviously been working over time, removing all of the debris and rubbish from the roads so people can get back to their lives as quickly and conveniently as possible.  Damaged roads {and there are many of those around} were being mended. Danger zones were closed off. Stop and go workers were guiding traffic. Detour and flood signs are clear and everywhere.

Lewi and I went for a walk/ride earlier this morning to have a look around our neighbourhood.

This is what we saw…

Sandbags in the front yard of a house who obviously needed help yesterday.

Debris everywhere.

Trucks cleaning up the streets.

Upturned bins and rubbish.

Mud everywhere!

This was a frightening scene. This truck and car are obviously stuck in the flood waters. I don’t know anything about what happened here. I can only imagine they thought the waters were much shallower than reality proved or they were driving in the dark, prior to flood signs being put up and didn’t see the flood waters at all.

Debris, yet nothing compared to what we saw on our drive a little later.

More road closes

and sand bags.

Someone’s door.

To be continued…