Karen Graham
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The Great Ocean Road is one of Australia’s premier attractions, but for me it’s also a place of great childhood memories as I grew up in western Victoria and most of our family holidays were at the beach, or exploring the rocky coastline, or hiking to the numerous waterfalls in the rainforest of the Otway National Park. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the times when my Dad, who passed away in 2007, took the whole family on excursions to Pebble Point (a place that most people don’t know about). From memory it was a quite an ordeal to get there, including one time when I sat down on the path not wanting to go on, only to realise I’d sat on a nest of bull-ants. That certainly got me moving again. Once we got to Pebble Point we would spend the day collecting beautiful stones, which was rather like a treasure hunt. Then, when we got home, Dad would polish the stones and make them into jewellery for us, which was truly remarkable. For some reason, I haven’t been back to Pebble Point as an adult, but I've certainly spent plenty of time enjoying various other parts of the Great Ocean Road, including last month when I did a Naturewise trip with Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA). This was a wonderful way to give back something to a place that holds a special place in my heart.
CVA’s Naturewise trips typically combine hands-on conservation work with a unique travel experience and I’m fortunate to have been on two of their trips – the Great Ocean Road in Victoria and Montague Island in southern NSW. Here’s a brief summary of both experiences.
For its Great Ocean Road trip, CVA has teamed up with another eco-certified operator, bothfeet, who lead guided hikes on the Great Ocean Walk. This hiking trail meanders 100km from Apollo Bay to the famous Twelve Apostles rock formations. We got to hike two short sections through beautiful rainforest, along spectacular cliff tops, and over windswept beaches.
Afterwards we enjoyed luxury eco-style accommodation at bothfeet walking lodge, where we were truly pampered – foot spas, chef prepared meals, locally produced wine, and a comfy bed; all the while surrounded by beautiful rainforest.
And of course, we did a couple of sessions of voluntary work. On our first afternoon we collected seeds from flowering native plants in the heart of the rainforest, which will be used in the future for re-generative projects.
The next day we removed weeds from the Apollo Bay foreshore, which was particularly invigorating in torrential rainfall.
The culmination of the trip was visiting the spectacular Twelve Apostles, just as the clouds lifted to reveal brilliant blue skies and bright sunshine. All in all, this was a wonderful long weekend.
Montague Island in NSW is another truly remarkable place. Although I’ve only visited the island once, it also holds a special place in my heart. Situated off the coast of Narooma in NSW, the island is a nature lover’s paradise. More than 90 bird species visit or breed on the island, including Little Penguins, Crested Terns, silver gulls and shearwaters. During spring, hundreds of seals perch on the rocks, while in the surrounding waters whales breach and perform acrobatics on their annual migration. Montague Island is also the largest haul-out spot for Australian and New Zealand Fur Seals, and one of the highlights of the trip is watching the seals lolling on the rocks or splashing in the water.
Accommodation on the island is in the restored lighthouse station, which has been in operation since the late 1800s. In the early days, lighthouse keepers introduced non-native plants to feed cows and goats, as well as Kikuyu grass to stabilise erosion around the buildings. Feral goats kept these weeds in check until 1986 when the NSW Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) removed the goats. Since then, Kikuyu has spread rapidly across the island, strangling native plants and displacing traditional breeding grounds of the seabirds.
Without preventative measures Kikuyu would cover Montague Island in less than ten years. The solution is spraying and controlled burning, followed by replacement with native species, which is where the volunteers help. Our first afternoon was spent in the greenhouse re-potting native seedlings, while the following day we actually got to plant some trees. In the evenings, there was opportunity to watch the beautiful penguin parade.
Each year, approximately three percent of the island’s Little Penguin population are victims of Kikuyu, strangled or ensnared as they try to reach their burrows. Much of the work volunteers do directly helps the penguins, including clearing weeds around their nests and painting lids for artificial penguin boxes.
During my final night on the island I decided to go outside at 4am to observe the night sky. The entire galaxy seemed to be on display, but this was not the astonishing part. There was a cacophony of squawking and squealing. Every gull and every penguin on the island must have been part of the symphony; it was so loud and incredibly uplifting. I stood entranced, watching the beam from the lighthouse wash across the rocks, capturing a gull in flight. It was definitely a moment that will stay with me forever.
Both of these Naturewise projects were amazing experiences, and there are several more that I would like to try, including Kangaroo Island, Cape York, and Eco Beach near Broome. But next on my ‘Naturewise list’ is a trip to the Northern Territory, where I hope to assist the local coast care community with marine debris surveys on the Cobourg Peninsula in Arnhem Land. This work is important because over 100,000 birds, whales, seals and turtles worldwide are killed by plastic rubbish every year; the survey data collected by volunteers is sent to WWF Australia so they can determine the source of pollution and come up with strategies to aid pollution reduction. I’m really looking forward to another incredible journey.
Posted by Karen Graham on 3 March 2010 - 7:14pm.
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