Mayday, Mayday. . .

After a bit of a pause, I can now report on a minor adventure, delivering climate change science to the people of the NSW south coast as part of the NSW Department of Primary Industry's Risk Management Regional Forums.

I caught a small commerical flight out of Melbourne and flew into the coastal hamlet of Merimbula where I hitched a ride over the Bega. Enjoyed a nice reception and dinner before getting down to business the following day in the unheated (and not entirely water tight) Bega Town Hall. This made the day a bit uncomfortable as the east coast low sitting off the NSW coast and sent temperatures way down. But hey, we're intrepid scientists right? It takes more that a bit of frostbite to keep us down. In any case, the workshop had a good turn out and the various farmers that showed up (largely dairy folks, given Bega is one of the nation's dairy hubs) were much appreciated. In addition to thanks, I got several comments along the following lines:

-"You don't look like a CSIRO scientist."

-"When I first walked in the room and saw you sitting there, I thought you were one of those rap guys. . ."

-"Man, I love your hair!"

Things got more exciting as we left the workshop and had to hop a small charter flight and shoot up the coast to Nowra racing the storm. Rob, the pilot, was cool calm and collected, although I raised an eyebrow (or two) when he proceeded to wipe off the condensation on the windscreen with his hand and don a headlamp to view the controls. From where I was sitting it was a long and bumpy 45 minutes. Rob rated the turbulence with a dispassionate ("moderate").

We calmed the nerves with another fine meal, liberally supported with wine and then got up the next day to do it all again with another set of equally enthusiastic farmers in Nowra. After which, Rob safely conducted us back to Sydney on much smoother and pleasant flight right over the city at night. Good fun.

Merimbula

Christmas brought another Preston family adventure. While last year, we circumnavigated Tasmania, 2007 saw us on the South Coast of New South Wales setting up camp at the Merimbula Beach Holiday Park. Merimbula is well known as a coastal playground for Victorians who sneak across the border into NSW in search of warmth (although given the water temperature was downright frigid, I think some might have been disappointed).

While our previous adventures in Australian caravan parks were quiet affairs, where we encountered mostly foreign tourists, the caravan park in Merimbula was solidly populated with Australians. We had the place largely to ourselves up until Boxing Day, at which point the hordes arrived - a seemingly endless stream of Aussies on holidays, complete with caravans, tent cities, and all the comforts of home (refrigerators, television sets, DVDs, etc.). It wasn't exactly a tranquil experience, but we had a choice spot on the cliffs overlooking the beach.

We checked out the surrounding beaches (Tula, Pambula, Tathra) as well as the inland cheese-making community of Bega (which I'd previously visited on the job), but ended up spending quite a bit of time at Bar Beach. This small spot was sheltered from the northern winds, and clearly quite a gathering spot for Merimbula's locals. We dropped in on Mandeni "resort" on a couple of occasions for little golf action. Despite being a bit tourist oriented, it was actually a nice place to place a round in peace and quiet at low cost. On our last day, we ventured into Bournda National Park for a little bushwalking, where we encountered heaps of wildlife (Jacky Lizards, Lace Monitors) including a rather exciting run-in with a red-bellied black snake ( better than stumbling upon a common death adder I suppose).

On the return trip, we dropped in briefly on Eden, to the south of Merimbula, and topped things off with some fish and chips at Lakes Entrance, Victoria.


Photos here