Wandering posts

As a result of most of my recent  posts covering a trip West, two posts relevant to this blog have appeared on my 'other' blog.  I haven't worked out how to copy them here (if that is possible) so will just post links here.

The state of Bastion Point Beach.

The hunt for Glossy Black-Cockatoos

A few bird-oriented outings

 This post sort of combines birding and the aftermath of the floods following 16 days with non-trivial (ie >0.2mm) of precipitation.  It was originally called "A couple of ... " but I have now added a third and some people remind me that 'a couple' is exactly 2 unlike a dozen which is about 12.

On the Thursday morning we were able to get to the usual turning point of our morning walk.  There was still water running on to the road at the three lowest spots, but it wasn't right across the road as was the case on Wednesday.  We had just seen the Police removing their flashers and cones from Broome St.

If anyone want's proof that the boardwalk was submerged the previous day, this eel grass gives a good hint.

Seagulls and a White-faced Heron were investigating the culinary opportunities.

On the Community News FB group someone asked where the Pelicans and Gulls went when their usual island was flooded.

In the afternoon Frances and I went for a stroll along Bastion Beach.  Obviously high tides the previous day and a lot of kelp left.

Looking towards the mouth it was clear a good lot of dune has been washed away.  A couple more goes and it is easy to envisage the Mouth having shifted back to where it was when "Skippy and the Intruders" was filmed here in the late 1960s: right at the bottom of the steps.

There were a lot of waders around.  I estimated 50 Red-capped Plovers, 5 Double-banded Plovers (fresh from breeding in NZ) and 5 Red-necked Stints (stocking up before flying to Siberia to breed).

Here is a Double-banded Plover, without a double-band.  Wait until June for that!

2 Red-capped Plovers (one seeming to be in a bit of a hurry) and a Red-necked Stint.

A vegetated patch of sandbar is now well cut off from the dunes.

The next morning (11 March) we had listed a walk at Gipsy Point so I rolled up to guide people to the start of the path.  Although the Genoa River looked calm the speed with which floating logs went by showed there is still a good flow.

I recorded some 21 species including a White-faced Heron (taking  high view) ...

... and at least 3 Wonga Pigeons  (which have gone very quiet around Mallacoota).

15 minutes after the advertised kick-off I found I was invoking an  an Official Pipe Flat 20 Mile Run joke: I was birding with my friends, so set off on the track.  There were a few navigable puddles and water-filled gutters, but when I got to the point marked X ...

.. the water feature involved look to be at least knee-deep with no obvious (and/or dry) alternative route.  So Dick Whittington was called forth.

On getting back to the Town Centre I check the depth gauge at the wharf: it was back to 0.49 m, very close to where it was on Monday!  The same applies to the BoM gauge at Genoa Gorge.

The third outing was a walk along the Narrows.  My primary focus for this was to see how the flood had affected it, having seen a huge torrent pouring out of Sunny Corner on Wednesday.  The short answer was that the walk - including the infrastructure rebuilt following the fire - appeared to have survived well. The "tide mark" suggested that the high water was about a metre above the current level.

On the way we stopped to look at an apple tree 

A long rain "event"

 We are currently in a La Nina situation which in Australia means above average rainfall.  (In some other places it means below average rain.  It seems this is a zero-sum game.)  In mid February this seemed unlikely as we went 12 days with no rain.  It started raining on 24 February and at the time of starting this post we have gone 13 consecutive days with at least 0.4mm of rain with total fall over the period of 145.4mm. Looking at the big days its possible there have really been 2 events which sort-of ran into each other!

The radar image at 0500 hrs on 8 March suggests there is plenty more to come.

It appears that my Weather Station (WS) is right in the line of squalls as by 0600 on the 8th we have scored 52.6 mm (since 0900 on 7 March) compared with 40.2 mm at the airstrip and 33.0 mm on Gabo Island.  I shall confirm the WS reading by reference to my Nylex plastic gauge when daylight arrives. 

In a post yesterday I mentioned the width of the Genoa and Wallagaraugh Rivers.  There is an official gauge on the Genoa (a few km upstream from the highway) which shows it is beginning to nudge minor flood level.  

I suspect the cattle on the Genoa Flats will be breaking out the snorkels any time from now.  The official BoM flood warning is IMO very conservative about the likely rainfall in the lower part of the Genoa catchment, although it doesn't seem to be extending far inland.  By 1430 on the 8th the gauge was recording 2.15m: obviously very close to minor flood level of 2.20 m.  As it is still pouring at Mallacoota it isn't a giant leap of faith to say it is going to exceed the minor flood level.

At 0740 I looked at the Weatherzone 'Victorian' radar.  I have put in the apostrophes as this includes a fair amount of NSW, especially the coast. 

In animated form it shows the main movement at Mallacoota is from the North, but most of the heavier falls (yellow) are staying around Bateman's Bay.  I think there is still plenty to come for us.

Thank goodness the Mouth is open.  The official gauge at the Wharf has been showing a level around 0.44 m for the past few days but will I suspect be a good bit higher today.  To put it in context here are a couple of snaps of the Broome St Lagoon Boardwalk from our morning walk.

The area covered with Samphire is usually well clear of the water.

The pole furthest out in the water has a diagonal strut supporting it.  That is usually clearly visible: my guess is that the water is about 30cm higher than it was a week ago.  When the Mouth was last closed the level at the gauge got to 1.58 m on 20 July 2020 and the water was well over the entire boardwalk.  Then Parks opened the channel on the 21st.  

I have now checked the official gauge: it is at 0.68m so up about 24 cm in the last few days.

Sticking with the gauge I went back about 2 hours later and it was up to 0.72 m, which may combine rising tide and rainfall effects.

One of the lower jetties is close to going under.

As is the parking area along Lakeside Drive near Mullet Creek.  The red dashes are the usual water line.

By 1600 hrs we have received 71.4 mm today plus 10.8 mm yesterday for a total of 82.2 mm for this part of the event.  As we are less than a quarter of the way through the year my pro-rata estimate gets a fair amount of rata: the current estimate for the annual total is 1,827 mm.  Which isn't going to happen - but if it did would whup the previous Wet Year by some 380mm!

The rain has continued overnight with 16.4 mm since midnight.  Weatherzone radar shows the system as having moved out to sea ...

... but it is still raining at our house.  Total for the event is now 213mm and the pro-rata estimate for 2022 is now 2014 mm!  The flood gauge at Wangarabell has been on, or just over, minor flood level for some hours and a friend who drove in yesterday afternoon reported that all the paddocks at Genoa were under water before dark.  A post to the Mallacoota Community FB group reports water over Lakeside Drive in three places (presumably the usual ones between Broome St and Mirabooka St.

I was asked for an interview by ABC East Gippsland (great fun Mim Cook) and by the time it started I was down at Fisheries Jetty so they got live commentary of a car testing (successfully) the waters.

The boardwalk is covered ...

... as are jetties, small and ...

.. large.

As I was leaving the Police came along and put out cones.  They will be suggesting to the Shire that they close the road asap. 

Looking out of my window, Karbeethong Jetty is going under.

An alternative view of Karbeethong Jetty.

Run off across the path into the Narrows walking track.

The main wharf is well flooded.  Making a guess from earlier images of the depth gauge I suspect it is registering a depth of about 1.2m: this would be an increase of about 0.8 m in 4 days.  That is round about 20 million cubic metres of water.

Strange goings on at Captain Stevenson's Point.

Note the white rope going off the front of the truck!

In this image I have overlaid red on the white rope to show it going out to this boat that has been washed round from the wharf.

The mouth was wide open and very rough.

The view from the boat ramp area at Bastion Point.  For some reason the waves weren't breaking over the Fairly Big Wall.

Two views from the stairs down to the beach at Bastion.