Corporate Sponsorship Plan

I am currently at work on a coporate sponsorship plan with previosuly mentioned corporates. I hope to meet with Alison Raymond (Business Development Manager of Landcare Australia - Melbourne), late in February to finalize the plan. Updates to follow.

If anyone in the network has any other potential corporate sponsors in mind, please let me know.

Western District Tree Muster Article

Hey guys - The Warrnambool Standard will be publishing an article on the Western District Tree Muster Project, this coming Saturday. This should be a good start to our publicity campaign for the year.

January Penguin Count

At their last Middle Island Little Penguin count on January 14, Warrnambool Coastcare / Landcare Group volunteers recorded 42 penguins coming ashore after dusk. This drop in the number of dusk arrivals (compared to 80 at the count beforehand) is associated with the fledgling of chicks which no longer need to be fed by their parents. A big thank you to all who attended. If you would like to be placed on the Middle Island Little Penguin Monitoring mailing list or attend a count, please email kristieking14@yahoo.com.au.

Let's do it !

Well, I'm back on the job after a brief 2 week holiday; that included : loadza kayaking, an encounter with a dead sperm whale (see pic below), hanging out with my son and plenty of time doing just nothing at all.

Said whale was seen at Discovery Bay in Nelson last Friday/Saturday and turned out to be a Sperm Whale that I measured at 19.3 m (63 ft). My first thoughts were that it was a female Sperm Whale (due to the genitalia that were flapping around - no big doodles here) and that it had been hit by the oil rig that could be seen on the horizon. Peter Gill (of Blue Whale Study) says that it was a male and that it probably died of natural causes. It was sad to see such a beutifull creature dead but a privaledge to see it none the less.

Today Brenton, Tim and myself went to Hamilton to hear more about Caring for Our Country (CFOC) and the Victorian Investment Framework (VIF). Although we were originally considering a medium sized bid ($2.5 m), I doubt that we will now pursue this path. Although we have not made any final decisions, it's likely that we will be throwing our hat into the CMA ring, to see if there are any other potential applicants for a medium sized CFOC application and also to determine where an application for VIF funds might fit in. As part of Basalt to Bay's suite of funding options, over the next few months I will be :

• Exploring the possibility of developing corporate partnerships with Origin Energy, Acciona Energia, Pacific Hydro, Santos, Hot Rock Limited geothermal group and Glaxo Smith Kline
• Compiling a list of relevant social, community and environmental funding for local Landcare Groups and developing projects with LCG's to target specific funds
• Exploring several community based fund raising ideas.

Be sure to keep up to date with what happens.

Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare Update - Middle Island penguin Monitoring

Hello and welcome to 2009! I trust everyone had a fantastic Christmas
and New Years.

We certainly had a nice surprise at our last count on December 16,
during which we counted 80 Little Penguins. This is the highest number
of arrivals recorded on the island since 2001/2002, suggesting that
the colony is indeed bouncing back after severe fox predation in
recent years. A big thank you to everyone who attended the count.

Our next count will be held on Wednesday January 14th, meeting at 8:30
pm at Stingray Bay car park. If you'd like to attend, please let me
know via email or phone (0355623851) before the day. Due to safety
issues we can't accept latecomers after the group has crossed to the
island.

Please note my new email address - kristieking14@yahoo.com.au; also,
if you've had a change of email or would like to be removed from this
mailing list, please let me know. Thanks.

Cheers,

Kristie.

Holidays

Well I'm finally in holiday mode (yeahh baby !!!) . I'm at home in Port Fairy for the week and then next week I'm heading back to my farm in central Victoria, to visit my favourite mountains and a few old red gums that I've been missing. See you in a fortnight. Happy holidays !!!

Mobile Muster Confirmed.

As of this afternoon, I can confirm that Basalt to Bay is the happy recipient of $62,000 from Mobile Muster (http://www.mobilemuster.com.au/)(via Landcare Australia) for the Western District Tree Muster project. More details to follow.

Beware of Reindeers (Achtung, Achtung !!!)

Here's a Christmas Story to warm the cockles of your backside.

After following She Who Must Be Obeyed's orders and setting up some Christmas lights on the roof, I decided it was time to move the reindeer from the front yard to a place with a view. Said reindeer was very happy with his new view on the roof. Then about 2 days later after arriving home in the rain, Mistress of the House, tells me that I'd better get up on the roof and get the reindeer down, as it looks like the wind might blow it into the neighbours window. So wearily I staggers up onto the roof, being carefull in my bare feet not to slip - stepping like Santa on Christmas night. I find myself at the top of the roof and only have to go another 6 or 7 feet, when holy Sugar Honey Ice Tea, I'm on my ass and sliding fast. My ass hits every bolt on the way down and then my feet land in the gutter. I just manage to hold my balance and stop myself from crashing down on my head. My ass is torn, my hands are cut and the reindeers bloody fine. So I grab a few extra lights and shove them up his proverbial and hang the rest over his eyes. Not to be outdone, the roof looks back at me, still wet and treacherous. So I try to climb but I can't, I just keep slipping back. Meanwhile, cars keep coming past and I thank god that most of them are tourists and try hard to look dignified. Anyway I rip off my shirt dry the roof, scaddaddle up and over and make my way down. My True Love asks me if I'm ok and I wimper 'I don't think so'.

I clean myself up and limp in for dinner. When I got home, all I wanted was a bath - so much for wishfull thinking ! Said Beloved can tell that I'm hurting and offers me a frozen sausage to sit on. But having torn my self a new pucker string, there's no way I'm gonna stick a frozen sausage up where the sun don't shine. I settle for a bag of frozen peas instead.

For 3 weeks, she stares at my gaping wound, dabbing ointment and bandaging my buttocks. She tells me that I should have had stitches but my dignity just doesn't extend to being the laughing stock of doctors. My feet tingled for a few days and passing wind came with thorns. But I'm all mended now and much the wiser. The reindeer is still up there and the bloody bastard can stay till winter for all I care. At least I lived to tell the tale. The reindeer's headed for the scrap heap !