Weed the willows please

For about ten years I have been photographing the Darlot Creek at Homerton from the bridge on Coustleys Road. You can read previous blogs here and here.

Last week I visited the bridge again. The blue gums have grown quickly but they are not quite mature enough for harvest, the eucalypt on the bank is still healthy, there are still reeds and other great plants in and beside the creek. But I could hardly see the creek. The willows have grown so much the creek is clogged and shaded. It's sad to see the damage that willows can do and I fear that in the future there will be no point in maintaining this photopoint.

Willows clog Darlot Creek.

Darlot Creek, south of the bridge on Coustleys Road.

Which authority is responsible for the river? Do they have enough money in kitty to clear the willows? If they did find the funds I would tell them not take out the roots because that would cause too much damage. Just cut and paint. And I would ask that they remove all the debris because willow can grow from a stick. Please do it sooner rather than later.

Mallee at last

Yesterday we were just about packed and ready to leave home when catastrophe #2 struck. A flexible metal hose leading to a bathroom tap burst and flooded three rooms before we could turn off the mains tap!!

So we spent the next two hours mopping up, replacing the offending hose and lifting carpet so it had a chance of drying out. And then we left. We have no idea at this stage whether the damage is terminal, whether the carpet and vinyl will go mouldy, whether the chipboard flooring will dry out or whether it is an insurance claim. Our family have been left to cope with it all while we just get on with our holiday. There's a lesson here for everyone - turn off the mains water when you leave the house for any length of time. Imagine what the house would have looked like if the hose had burst a couple of hours later!

Today we drove up through Swan Hill and then into mallee country near Hattah. We started to see saltbush and mallee trees on the roadsides, saltpans and lunettes, sandy plains, flocks of Galahs, Mallee Ringnecks feeding on the roadside and sandy tracks tempting us to get off the bitumen. We're starting to feel that we really are on holiday.

We didn't expect to see a plantation of willow trees. It's a project to grow willows to make cricket bats. This plantation was established in 1998 at the appropriately named Wood Wood - they've chosen to plant Salix alba var. caerulea. Seems like the wood from those trees would make a huge number of bats but I suppose they know what they're doing.

Willow plantation, Wood Wood.