February
Mt Horror with Sean Blake
Mt Horror features in the landscape from just about anywhere in the North East. Its shape from a distance isn’t unusual, but it did play a significant role in the early story of the timber industry of the North East. It is little-known that the southern face of the mountain is a relict of rainforest refugia.
March
Black Sugar-loaf, Birralee
Birds: Button quail, yellow-throated honeyeaters and golden whistlers. Slime moulds: In summer they appear on rotting logs and stumps. They are moist and quite often brightly coloured. They have names like ‘dog vomit’, ‘scrambled egg’, ‘wolf’s milk’ and one in Mexico is called ‘moon’s excrement’.
April
Mt Stronach
May
Wasterhouse Conservation Area lead by Mike Douglas
From the top of Hardwickes Hill we had a birds-eye view of the reserve and associated features such as Waterhouse Island. The linear Pleistocene dunes formed during the last glacial advance, at its peak 20 000 years ago, are clearly discernable – sea level was 120 metres lower, and much of Bass Strait was a cool windy desert. The main objective of the day was to look at salt resistant plants (halophytes) on the shore between Herbies Landing and Waterhouse Point. Most of these plants belong to the saltbush family, Chenopodiaceae, and the pigface family, Aizoceae.
June
Mt Scott
July
Waterhouse
September
In the Fingal Valley
At Evercreech Reserve are the giant Eucalyptus regnans. Named “regnans” as a reference to the Latin “regnum” meaning kingship, these giants are the tallest tree species in Australia. They are referred to commonly as the giant ash. Also impressive for their height were the Mathinna Falls, our next stop. After short drive we made our assault on Mt. Young.
October
Federation weekend, Mt Cameron and Cape Portland
November
Cascade River
Exploring the Chinese history in the area between the Cascade Dam and Mt Paris Dam