Kick Start Your Reserve Bus Tour

Last Friday Basalt to Bay ran our long awaited Kick Start Your Reserve Bus tour - after 2 previous cancellations. The tour visited Tozer Reserve, Yatmerone Reserve (Penshurst), Hawkesdale Common, Hawkesdale Racecourse Reserve and Pallisters Reserve. 10 people took their place on the bus with another 8 visitors joining us at individual sites. It was a great day for all with plenty of time out doors and lots information about current projects, opportunities for networking and heaps of food (we try hard to fatten our guests !).

The tour profiled a wide spectrum of reserves. Many reserves have the potential for the involvement of large numbers of volunteers and to be used as environmental education sites, while others have the opportunity for additional on ground projects. Pallisters Reserve is clearly the bench mark when it comes to local reserves but all the reserves had something special to offer. Tozer Reserve shows great promise as an environmental education center close to Warrnambool, Yatmerone is a great site for bird watchers, Hawkesdale Common is a great education site for local flora, while Hawkesdale Racecourse Reserve has plenty to offer, including club rooms which could be used for environmental education, a wide selection of native grasses and native orchids and is host to the largest Manna Gum in the region and a huge number of swamp rats !

Given the postive feedback that we recieved in response to the tour, it's likely that we'll have a follow up tour next year.

Thanks to the Department of Planning & Community Development for the funding to run the bus tour and Glenelg Hopkins CMA for resource support.