This weekend was a long weekend for Sydneysiders (about time too, we haven’t had a bank holiday since January!).  On another note they give you a very strange look when you call it a ‘bank holiday’!

We also took Friday off work so that we could make the most of 4 days off.  On Thursday evening we drove out of Sydney across the Blue Mountains to Bathurst.  It took approximately 4 hours and we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere.  Although it was much further inland it was quite chilly, especially at night.  We slept in Bathurst and after a nice breakfast out (because the cheap hotel had run out of breakfast!) we headed to Orange.  On the way we stumbled across the ‘Mount Pleasnt’ V8 race track – we didn’t know we would end up driving on it!

Orange is a cute little town with a nice botanical garden and some wineries.  We made the most of it and sampled some wine – we are getting pretty good at choosing wines now and the philosophy is if it tastes good buy it.  A lady asked me (Carly) what my preferences are and I said “to be honest I’m not that sure – I like a lot of them”!  I did feel a bit stupid after this and made an effort to work out my preferences.  I have decided I like most Reislings, Verdelhos and Viogniers!  We both decided Semillons are not our favourites.

After our short visit to Orange we drove round to Forbes, which is another nice little country town, with wild west type buildings.  Further round, Parkes is also cute and we tucked into some lunch at a cafe.  Customer service wasn’t their strong point, but the food was very nice!!  Also near parks is a famous radio telescope which Dave took delight in looking at!  It was quite interesting and absolutely huge!

Following lunch we headed off to Dubbo, which is properly in the middle of nowhere.  It’s very hilly, with lots of dry grass, but you can see the red desert land coming through under the grass.  We stayed in nice little hotel in Dubbo (there are no hostels, so you have to go for hotels).  There was a tennis court, which we made use of.  We stayed there for two nights and visited the ‘Western Plains Zoo’.  It’s a huge, lovely zoo, with loads of space for the animals.  The highlights for us were the meer cats , lemurs, otters and lions!  Very cute and it wasn’t so hot that they just slept all day like usual!

We went on another road trip the next day and headed off to Mudgee (beautiful wine region).  On the way we stopped off at the Wellington Caves, which are quite cool.  There’s three of them and they are pretty huge.  It was quite amusing because the power went out in the cave and it took a while to find our way out again.  Luckily some other visitors had torches on them – handy!  We also stopped off at Lake Burrendong, which is massive and has a big dam, which Dave enjoyed studying!

On arrival at Mudgee we, of course, headed to some more wineries.  We were still driving so we could only take small sips, however, it was still fun!  We preferred the high altitude Mudgee wines to the Hunter Valley ones for some reason.  On arriving at our hotel and after all Dave’s driving, I needed a nap!  We had a nice dinner in the hotel and prepared ourselves for the mammoth journey for the next day.

The journey home was long, long, long.  However, it was broken up with a trip to Sofala, a tiny little gold town in the middle of nowhere.  I know I keep saying that but this one really was!  At one stage the population was 25000 when the immigrants were searching for gold.  Now it is approximately 70!  We thought we would have a go at panning for gold and hired some equipment from a local cafe for just $2!  We desperately tried to find some in the river nearby, to no avail!

From here, we faced a 5 hour journey back home.  The problem is that there is just one road through the Blue Mountains and thousands of tourists!  However, I’m glad that they don’t build roads all over the place and therefore had to grin and bare it!  We spent 1.5 hours travelling at under 10 miles per hour, but hey ho, it was all worth it!

Our first outback experience was great fun!

This post has been inspired by people around me and they are inspirational, in the ‘living green category’.  This is a list of the ‘Sarhn awards’.  Like the Grammies and Oscars but only better!  J

My cousin Amber

An amazing woman who has been supporting my quest to not only live a greener life but also a life lived free from cruelty to animals.  Read my post about Lucy which was inspired by Amber.

Regular readers will be familiar of Zoo man, Tassie Devil defender Dave.  His wife Lou is a regular contributor of information to this blog.

Dave is regularly featured in the press.  From being on the TV show ‘The Zoo’ and many newspaper and magazine articles; Dave speaks out about the plight of our Tassie Devil. 

Remember the Tassie Devil fund raiser in 2008?  Dave’s virtual Devil and many others helped to raise over $50,000.  This money will help zoos throughout Australia breed Devils for release into the wild when it’s safe to do so.

Graham (I met Graham when I photographed his wedding)

I recently found Graham and his wife on facebook.  They accepted my invitation to join my facebook network of friends. 

Looking through Graham’s photographs and facebook profile I was not only inspired but surprised.  Surprise because I never knew of his work and researching in saving the Ethiopian Wolf.  This species of wolf are those long legged variety found in the mountains of Ethiopia and there are only 500 remaining.

According to the ‘Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme’ website, Graham joined as a field coordinator in 2006 and since then has been working in Ethiopian in the attempts to save this species.   

My husband Brett

Hi gorgeous man you!  You have been totally supportive of the changes I have made throughout our home and lifestyle.  I realise that my quest to live a ‘greener’ life directly impacts you and thus you have also been on a ‘green’ journey that was not of your own partaking. Though this was my idea and passion you have embraced the ‘green’ journey and made it your own.  Thank you for your love and support.

Australian Bloggers

This is a little thank you to those bloggers who have supported, encouraged and inspired me on my journey to live a ‘greener’ life.

Greening of Gavin

Towards Sustainability

Nevyn’s World

Green Change

Green Lettuce Soup

Little Eco Footprints

Bokashi Composting in Australia

On New Year’s Eve, I was in Armidale with my family. We were tucked up inside our little campervan at the Pembroke Caravan Park where it was hot enough during the day to swim in the pool and cold enough at night to snuggle up under a quilt. Perfect, in my opinion.

We’d been on a driving trip from Brisi to Dubbo with friends to take the children to the zoo. The day we went biking the 15km around the Western Plains Zoo, the temperature hovered around 33degrees with humidity that was, well, bloody high, and apparently record crowds. My husband had a rotten cold/flu and spent the entire time sneezing and blowing his nose. I’m not that good with heat. Or bikes. Most of the animals were too hot to be bothered emerging from the water or shady corners. My kids are the kind to say ‘oh yeah, there it is, let’s go’. Still, I’m glad we went. But our friends loved every minute of it. 

In Armidale, at Pembroke Caravan Park, the owners invited us all to a NYE BBQ beside the pool. There was quite a turn out. My kids were swimming in the pool while I drank Banrock Station white Shiraz ( highly recommended) and spoke to a lady about all things from retirement to Tim Winton. On the later point we shared a mutual affection. The condition to attending the BBQ was to be prepared to share a story and I thought, well, given I’m a writer, that should be ok. But I spent most of the salad and sausage course hoping I wouldn’t be called upon to say anything. The lady I was talking to disappeared every few minutes to have a cigarette, really, this is my only vice, she said each time before departing, which made our conversation – which I was quite enjoying – rather disjointed. I listened to the conversations all around me. Oldies, mostly, discussing their medical ailments, really, you have diabetes, too. Which kind? There was the man in the corner, red-faced and sweating explaining the virtues of different caravan park amenity blocks, really, the quality ranges from the adequate to the plain inconsiderate. Imagine a man my size (picture a happy walrus on two legs, here) trying to squeeze into a cubicle fit for a child, or trying to get my entire body wet with a showerhead so clogged only one stream of water works and that shoots out in an unpredictable squirt. Dessert concluded  and the owner of the park stood and thanked everyone for coming. Story time. I was happily distracted watching one son in the pool and the other on the playground and hoped to avoid being asked. I needn’t have worried. Person after person volunteered telling us all about themselves, where they had come from and, while they came from such diverse places as Germany, Perth, New Zealand and ‘up the road from Glenn Innes’, they all concluded their sharing by saying how much they appreciated the BBQ. One bloke, close to tears, told about how he’d been on the road for years and wouldn’t go back to a fixed way of living for anything, when I’m dead, the misses can kick me out the door on the way to the next town. I’ve got a van full of cards from friends I have made in parks. You won’t find communities like this staying in motels, I  can tell you that. There were three votes of thanks offered to the owners of the park that night, and three rounds of applause. Not because any of the people who stood and said, ‘I think we should show our appreciation’ thought any of the other two were inadequate, but that hearing isn’t always that good by the time you’re old enough to take off around Australia and two rounds of applause and cheers simply  weren’t noticed. 

I found myself soaking up every inch of my experiences this holiday. The way that tree branches vary in colour from reds and oranges to the most glowing whites. The way the leaves from some trees are silver and shimmer as though they are a colony of a thousand, miniature insects. The sense of an endless road. The feeling of the caravan bumping along behind us. The worry of whether we’d double checked the tow ball. The surprising arrival of lavender and sunflowers and daisies. The feeling of heat and tiredness and dogged determination to finish the bike trail at the zoo. The way anger rushed up inside me every time my kids decided to belt into each other in the back seat or the way some people love what others loathe. The relief of cold water, the feeling of cold wind on my face. The words that people say, the way they look and think and interact. And, yes, stories. Too many, too important, too fragile to share, yet. 

These giraffes were taken at Western Plains Zoo, Dubbo. Captured with a Nikon FM2 camera and 200mm micro lens.

This Eland was taken at the Dubbo Western plains Zoo. Image was taken with Kodachrome and scanned.

Peter Garrett, Australia’s Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, today released a report on the biodiversity, ecosystems and social and economic uses of the oceans of northern Australia. The report entitled ‘The North Marine Bioregional Profile,’ brings together and explores the available knowledge of the Arafura and eastern Timor Seas, from the Northern Territory/Western Australia border to Torres Strait, including the Gulf of Carpentaria.

The report is expected to assist the government to better understand and protect our marine environment, conserve biodiversity and determine the priorities in our marine conservation efforts. It will also assist industry to better plan and manage their activities in the region.

A Marine Bioregional Plan for the region covered in the report is expected to be handed down in 2010. In total there will be five plans covering Australia’s marine regions.

View The North Marine Bioregional Profile at:
http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/mbp/north/index.html

A breeding program for the rare Lowland or Western Bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus eurycerus) is going well at Australia’s Western Plains Zoo. One month ago a calf (called Djembe, which means drum) was born at the zoo and is doing well. Djembe is the fourth calf born at the zoo.

The calf was born using caesarean section because of difficulties with the birth. Despite fears of the mother rejecting Djembe, which sometimes happens with caesarean births, young Djembe is going well and being cared for by her mother.

The Lowland Bongo is one of the largest African forest antelopes and is in serious decline. It is thought that about 25 000 animals remain in their natural central African habitat.

BELOW: Footage of a Bongo in Captivity

(7).    Melintasi Jalur Segitiga Parkes – Dubbo – Orange

Hari Minggu kemarin, 5 Agustus 2001, saya mempunyai rencana berbeda. Masih juga ingin melakukan perjalanan keluar kota, namun kali ini tidank menuju ke kota-kota yang jauh melainkan keliling ke beberapa kota yang ada disekitar kota Parkes. Jalur yang saya pilih adalah lintasan segitiga dari kota Parkes, lalu menuju kota Dubbo yang terletak di arah utara Parkes dan kota Orange yang terletak di arah timur Parkes. Saya sebut saja lintasan memutar ini sebagai segitiga Parkes – Dubbo – Orange.

Berangkat dari rumah agak siang, terlebih dahulu saya menuju ke Tourist Information yang ada di kota Parkes. Sekedar ingin tahu apa yang sekiranya dapat saya lihat di kawasan Parkes dan kota-kota di seputarannya. Yang saya sebut di seputaran adalah kota-kota terdekat yang jaraknya bisa hingga 100 km, akan tetapi masih dapat ditempuh dalam satu jam perjalanan atau lebih sedikit. Segera saya meninggalkan Parkes menuju ke utara melewati Jalan Clarinda dan Newell Highway

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Kota Parkes mula-mula terbentuk sejak pertama kali diketemukannya endapan emas pada tahun 1862. Perkembangannya menjadi semakin pesat ketika diketemukan lagi tambang emas Bushman’s Gold Mine pada tahun 1871. Kota inipun lalu bernama Bushman. Pada tahun 1873 Perdana Menteri New South Wales, Sir Henry Parkes, berkunjung ke lokasi penggalian emas ini. Lalu pada tanggal 1 Desember 1873 nama kota ini pun berganti dari semula Bushman menjadi Parkes sebagai penghormatan atas Sir Henry Parkes. Kemudian pada tanggal 1 Agustus 1887, jalan utama di kota baru Parkes ini berganti nama menjadi Jalan Clarinda. Clarinda adalah nama baptis dari Nyonya Parkes.   

Kota Parkes yang bersaudara kembar (Sister City) dengan kota Coventry di Inggris ini terletak pada elevasi 339 m di atas permukaan laut. Meskipun terletak di daerah beriklim subtropics, suhu udara rata-ratanya relatif tidak berbeda jauh dengan umumnya di Indonesia, yaitu 30 derajat Celcius maksimum di musim panas dan 16 derajat Celcius maksimum di musim dingin. Pada saat musim dingin seperti bulan-bulan ini suhu udara di malam hari memang bisa turun menjadi sangat dingin.

Jalan Newell Highway sendiri adalah jalan utama yang membelah wilayah negara bagian New South Wales dari kota Tocumwal di selatan dekat dengan perbatasan negara bagian Victoria dan Goondiwindi di utara di perbatasan negara bagian Queensland. Oleh karena itu kota Parkes tergolong cukup sibuk disbanding kota-kota kecil lainnya karena berada di perlintasan ekonomi antar kawasan. Tidak heran kalau truk-truk pembawa kontainer-kontainer raksasa pun seringkali terlihat melintas di kota ini.

Sekitar 20 km di utara Parkes, saya keluar dari jalan raya membelok ke timur sejauh 6 km menuju ke sebuah area yang dikenal dengan nama Parkes Radio Telescope. Dari kejauhan sudah tampak sebuah piringan raksasa berdiameter 64 m berdiri di sebuah kawasan terbuka. Teleskop ini dikelola oleh CSIRO Australia Telescope Parkes Observatory. Ini adalah salah satu piranti riset astronomi terbesar yang berada di bumi belahan selatan. Sarana dimana benda-benda angkasa menjadi tampak dekat dan jelas untuk keperluan pengembangan ilmu dan teknologi di bidang astronomi.

Parkes Radio Telescope merupakan salah satu dari delapan antene (piringan) yang keberadaannya menyebar di tiga kawasan. Sebuah antene lainnya yang berdiameter 22 m terletak di Coonabarabran dan enam antene lainnya yang masing-masing juga berdiameter 22 m terletak di Narrabi. Kedelapan antene yang disebut The Australia Telescope ini diresmikan pada tahun 1988.

Ketiga kota Parkes, Coonabarabran dan Narrabi terletak di jalur lintasan Newell Highway. Bersama-sama dengan sarana riset dan observasi astronomi lainnya yang tersebar mulai kota Canberra di selatan hingga Narrabi di utara dan melintasi beberapa jalan Highway, maka jalur ini memperoleh julukan plesetan sebagai “Highway to the Star” menyerap sebuah judul lagunya kelompok Deep Purple.

***

Dari kawasan antene teleskop di Parkes ini saya melanjutkan perjalanan ke utara sekitar 100 km menuju ke kota Dubbo. Menjelang masuk ke dalam kota, saya membelok ke timur menuju ke kawasan kebun binatang yang disebut Western Plains Zoo. Mula-mula saya ragu untuk masuk, wong di kota kecil yang jauh dari mana-mana kok mempunyai kebun binatang. Paling-paling ya sesuai namanya, kebun yang ada binatangnya.

Setelah membayar tanda masuk seharga A$ 22.00 (sekitar Rp 100.000,-) dan diberi peta lokasi, saya baru tahu bahwa kawasan yang luasnya mencapai 300 hektar ini menyimpan lebih 1000 ekor binatang dari lebih 100 spesies yang berasal dari seluruh dunia.

Bedanya dengan kebun binatang umumnya adalah di tempat ini binatang-binatang tersebut dibiarkan lepas di alam terbuka. Untuk keperluan pengamanan biasanya diberi kolam air yang agak lebar dan pagar, sehingga pengunjung dapat melihat binatang-binatang tersebut seperti di alam aslinya.

Tempat ini rupanya menjadi semacam tempat penangkaran bagi binatang-binatang langka yang populasinya di dunia nyaris berkurang. Melalui rute sepanjang 6 km yang dapat dilewati kendaraan, saya dapat melihat bnatang-binatang langka antara lain badak hitam, badak putih, gajah Afrika, biri-biri Barbary, singa Asia, harimau Sumatra, kura-kura Galapagos, gibbon tangan putih, elang ekor baji, dsb.

Ada juga binatang-binatang yang jarang dijumpai atau namanya kedengaran aneh seperti unta, biri-biri Barbary, zebra Grants, eland, wapiti, rusa fallow dan rusa chital, antelope, bison, kuda Przewalski, dingo, koala, emu, kanguru merah dan abu-abu, wallaby, tapir, lemur, dsb. Di antara badak yang ada di situ salah satunya rupanya berasal dari Ragunan. Dari hasil penangkaran binatang-binatang itu kemudian di sebarkan ke kebun-kebun binatang di seluruh dunia.

Pendeknya, saya jadi lupa waktu berada di tempat itu. Sehingga hari sudah sore ketika akhirnya keluar dari kebun binatang dan menuju ke kota Dubbo. Tingkat kepadatan dan keramaian kota Dubbo sebenarnya tidak berbeda jauh dengan Parkes. Suhu udara harian juga relatif sama. Saya memutuskan untuk tidak berhenti di kota ini.

Dari Dubbo saya berbelok arah ke selatan menuju kota Orange melalui jalan National Route 32 atau yang disebut dengan Mitchell Highway. Jarak yang harus saya tempuh menuju Orange adalah sekitar 150 km, melewati beberapa kota kecil di antaranya Wellington dan Molong. Pemandangan alam di sepanjang jalur ini cukup indah dinikmati karena melewati jalan-jalan di daerah dataran agak tinggi meskipun bukan kawasan pegunungan.

Hari sudah larut sore ketika memasuki kota Orange. Rencana untuk menjelajah kota ini saya batalkan karena hari sudah beranjak remang-remang dan suasana kota pun sudah sepi. Orange adalah kota di pegunungan yang populasinya lebih dari 36.000 jiwa, karena itu lebih besar dan lebih padat dibandingkan Parkes. Suhu udara kota ini di saat musim dingin dapat mencapai di bawah nol derajat Celcius. Oleh karena itu salju sering dijumpai di saat musim dingin seperti sekarang ini. Masyarakat Orange bangga dengan menyebut kotanya sebagai kota seratus taman karena banyaknya kawasan-kawasan hijau pepohonan melingkupi kota ini.

Dari Orange, saya berbelok ke barat untuk kembali menuju Parkes. Jalan yang saya lewati adalah jalan tembus menuju Parkes sejauh 100 km melalui beberapa kota kecil antara lain Boree dan Manildra. Akhirnya saya tiba kembali di Parkes sudah lewat jam 7:00 malam. Puas rasanya telah menjelajah kawasan kota-kota kecil di seputaran Parkes melalui jalur segitiga Parkes – Dubbo – Orange sepanjang 370 km di hari Minggu kemarin.   

Parkes, 6 Agustus 2001
Yusuf Iskandar