Batemans Bay Bushwalkers

I've joined a group called the Batemans Bay Bushwalkers (http://www.baybushwalkers.org.au/), a club that goes on long walks (what we would refer to as hikes) around the area, twice a week, mostly in the state parks that are prolific here. I've gone out four times so far, with distances ranging from 12 to 20 km, and group numbers ranging from 12 to 24. There are about 200 members, and the walks range from easy to hard, all depending on the distance and terrain. I am willing to go on any level walk, as long as I am free to go, I don't mind. It gives me a chance to see the area we are living in , going on trails that I would never have found on my own. They are a very nice bunch of people, mostly retired, and never lacking in conversation. There is one Canadian among them, a gentleman from Winnipeg who has been in Australia for over 20 years, but has not lost any of his accent! It's a nice bit of home having a chat with him, but the Canadian accent does sound a bit strange, I'm so used to the Aussie accent.

I've seen a bit of wildlife on the walks, but I was on a walk in the Kiola State Forest last Wednesday and, along with the kangaroos that we see almost everytime, there were a couple of snakes and leeches. Here, leeches are on dry land, well, where the ground is moist, and on this one track, whenever we would stop the leeches would creep towards our shoes and climb up to try to get at our ankles. Apparently they can sense the heat of our bodies. So we tried not to stop, but also kept an eye on our shoes and flicked off any intruders. That didn't stop one from attaching to me, although I didn't notice until we had stopped for lunch, and we were talking about the leeches and someone said that often they would get home, take off their shoes and there would be a patch of blood on their sock. I just had a quick glance at my ankles, and there was the telltale bloody spot! The leech had had its fill and was gone, so I just cleaned it up and put a band-aid on. I had never heard of leeches being on land like that before, and it was creepy watching them creep towards us; the only leeches I've encountered have been in water. Anyway, the snakes were interesting. There was one red-bellied black snake (saw one last time I was on a walk, too) and a diamond python. Here's the red-bellied black:


At our lunch spot, we were near the top of Durras Mountain, overlooking the ocean. It was just beautiful, and we saw a humpback whale slowly making its way north. I'd never seen a whale before, so it was great. We couldn't really see too much, we were high up, but we saw the splash it was making, the spray from its blowhole, and one white fin a couple of times. There are a few places along the coast here that are good for whale watching, so one of these days I'm going to take myself to one of these places with a lawn chair, binoculars, and a picnic lunch. I'll let you know if I see anything! The spring (October and November here) is supposed to be better for whale watching, because that is when the females are heading back south with their calves. We'll keep you posted.