Sam and Hippy visiting by boat....at the very height of the flood (October 2016)

Sam and Hippy visiting the shed at 5.68m height...which was the peak.  Water in the pump shed and in the bathroom but nothing in the main shed.  Fabulous, and incredibly lucky as we missed trouble by 1/2 cm.  This was a bigger flood than 1975 for this area.

The date was Sunday Oct 23rd 2016. Peak was Monday 24th....an amazing amount of water that just kept coming, and coming, and coming.....

Keith and the Boys

Keith, Rohan and Eric on Sam and Meredith's farm.

Autumn 2015 Fishing at Cartwheel Bend

Russ catching a 25 pound cod...on scrub worms

...June 7th 2015

Sam and Tyler (at right) with a 18-20 pound cod caught on  a small Stumpjumper.  Sam took Tyler for a quick spin downstream and Tyler's little rod did the job when it hit, about 400 metres from camp.  It was in early May,2015

Cod in the net (above right....and on the way in) was caught by Russ day after Stephen's birthday....along the fallen tree in Cartwheel Bend.  Also caught a yellow belly, grunter and two or three carp, despite the fact the water must have been cold.

Callum Culls Carp and Coney (March 2014)

Matt Squared (they are both scientists!)

Had a great weekend.  No native fish caught, but Callum did catch this monstrous carp and shot a nice little bunny with the 0.17 HMR.  Matt Deighton and Matt Jones saw a curlew near Andrew Durie's house.  The night before we saw two foxes (spotlighting) probably within 300 metres of where the curlew was.  

Callum with his carp below.  Had 11 mm of rain in about 40 minutes immediately after this picture was taken and we all retreated, pretty soaked, into the shack.  Great for the trees etc.  Cartwheel Bend is gradually, very slowly, gaining a bit more vegetation.  Martin's friend Buff (and Matt J) flew a little Cessna 182 over the block on the weekend and could see the clear difference in vegetative cover.  Also could still see the sow lines from the native seeds planted 5 years earlier.  No bushes....just the rip lines.

Steve catches carp and gives to Callum 

so he could pretend he did

Matt Squared both saw a Curlew 

near Andrew Duries

Callum bags bunny with 0.17 HMR.
Dad promised to buy him one 

(that is, buy him a rabbit:))

Cartwheel Bend, March 2014 visit

Russ and Davo with an 81 cm cod

Slightly different view of the same grin!

Russ, Davo and Stephen at Cartwheel Bend on 9th March, 2014.  Davo had gone out in the morning for a quick fish before we left to travel home.  Result?  81 cm cod (small bardie); 48 cm yellowbelly and a nice carp....Cod and Yellowbelly still happily swimming around in the bend; the carp had a slightly different fate.

We didn't weigh the cod....had to get it back into the water....but probably 15 pound??  Matt Jones is verifying tomorrow by looking at his weight-length data (Note: Matt thinks, based on the data he has...the fish is 18-20 lb)

Look at the cod Sam and Matt caught further below in the blog.  Who wins???

River about normal height....maybe a little lower....A beautiful weekend in the low 30's with no wind.  Had 26 mm of rain about a week earlier and so the small trees looking well and generally a green pick around.

Davo begins his PhD in another few weeks looking at macro invertebrates (bugs in the water) in the Coorong.

For practice he was swimming around the water hole and picked up the following little "biter" which he says is reasonably common and can give a little nip....sometimes called Toe Biters.  Top of the bug food chain.  Scorpion bugs they are called.  Great few days.

Davo releasing the cod below on the right.  Took a little while to get going, but eventually fired up his major swim fins, had a nip of Davo's hand and went off.

Family trip only 4-5 weeks away

Davo swims the cod back and forth, then lets go

Scorpion Bug

https://www.google.com.au/#q=scorpion+bug+freshwater

Family Trip - Fri, Sat and Sun (11th - 13th April)

Some pictures from last year.....at top the camp takes a two hour break while we try and fix Len's zip (Pat and Len coming again), and below Eric gets a hug from his Mum for all the hard work he has done at camp.  "You are my Superman" I heard Mum say.

Quite possibly we will have Jude and Tony Larkin and Olivia/Emma Larkin along this time.  Pat and Len are very excited about that.  

The CBAAC (Cartwheel Bend Arts and Activities Committee) is in full swing (Pat, Michelle and Glenys) and Kaiah will be defending her 2013 Cartwheel Bend Arts Award.  

More updates as the time nears.

Three male finches.  Part of mob of 14

Zebra Finches Established!

We released 4 finches in about March 2013, then another 5 in April.  The aim was to "re-introduce" Zebra Finches....as had only seen perhaps 1 or 2 in the previous 10 years.  Now, January 2nd 2014, a mob of 14 is on the block.  Apparently they breed through spring, summer and autumn....after rains.  Three months to maturity; 14-16 day incubation and 4-6 eggs per clutch.  So they could breed quickly.  If you look closely at the photo (double click on it) there are two finches in the bottom left hand corner.  One is a female (orange bill compared to the red male bill, and no orange cheek feathers).  The other is a baby...has a black bill (not orange or red).  So, they are currently breeding.