Barwon River AM

Ducks of some kind. And a seagull.

This is the "lawn" outside the rowing club. We've just disembarked because a large number of power boats have mysteriously appeared in the section of the river labelled 'rowing'. It transpires that the sign does not apply from the 18th December through early January, when the waterskiers 'own' the river from 10 am. Fair enough, I guess.

I can't find the ducks in my birdbook; it's not really 'bird watching', is it, more, 'guess what was passing though the artist's brain when s/he drew this'. Like Picasso.

I am convinced that I have discovered Nessie; a bit of cropping, some blur from a Scottish fog; all reference points to the banks deleted and bingo. I'm quite pleased and disappointed with this picture - in the previous two shots there was a fish in the beak, but too blurred to see; a combination of haste and slow shutter speeds.

The athletics track is also nearby. See note below about extending the bike track.

This is the three bridges of Geelong; not particularly scenic, it has to be said. And there are plenty of others, just not that I could fit into this shot. If I have my bearings correct - unlikely - the third bridge in this picture is the halfway point of the Saturday morning parkrun, in the Balyang Reserve.

This one I know - an Australasian darter, preening.

Geelong is an industrial city.

Another one of those darters - again, the shutter speed was wrong for the conditions, so the neck's not very clear. This is a big bird - in fact I didn't know darters got this size, so if someone tells me it's something else (a great cormorant?) I'd be unsurprised.

Passing the golf course. Not so different to the Cooks river, really.

More waterfowl. The plant on the bank is lignum, of which there is a lot throughout the wetlands. Home to lots of small birds, which if you have extremely quick eyes, you might see. I guess if you see them often enough, you might identify them.

This was close to what I assume was once a ford (?) but now is (I think) the breakwater after which the suburb is named, crossed by Gundog Lane, which is where we put the boats in. There are excellent walking tracks on both sides of the river up to Gundog Lane. After that, nothing. I feel a mission in life coming along. A path continuing along the river here would pass within about 600 meters of our place, which would make cycling into town extremely pleasant. It would also make the distance from our house to the athletics track 3.5k along the river, which would be a nice way to get to training.