Today was a bit of a roller coaster! Waking up before dawn at Frahns Farm, the site where funds will go for restoration by the trustworthy hands of BioR, was sublime.
An open tent fly, the dawn chorus of birds greeting the day (if you haven't heard this before, you must) and clean, fresh air made me wonder what it would be like to wake up to this every day.
I met Fi, a volunteer with BioR, and she took me to check some of the nesting boxes which have been installed there in the last two years. I was very excited as I hadn't visited the site in two years - I had visited on a monthly basis in 2015 when responsibility for the properly first fell to BioR, to collect baseline bird survey data so that we could understand how the populations changed over time.
It is an incredibly species-rich property for an agricultural landscape, and still supports some declining species including the Restless Flycatcher and Brown Treecreeper, each pretty amazing birds in their own regard. Incredibly, there was also evidence of Southern Whitefaces, Rosellas and Pygmy Possums nesting (look these up if you want to die of an attack of the Cute)!
SLXLM
In high spirits after having witnessed conservation in-action, I began my travels for the day, albeit a little later than a regular day.
I would have happily stayed at Frahns Farm for a few more days, but I was back on the bitumen and the Ks were flying by. Reaching Murray Bridge, I took care of my feet by strapping some swollen ankles, which ended up helping immensely. I also had a bit of lunch, which I think helped because I had arrived in less-than-great spirits, obviously a little tired. A bit of food changed all that though because when I left Murray Bridge I felt like I had a new lease on life, and another 13 km on-the-clock helped get the day's total to at least 30 km.
Later in the day I got a visit on the side of the road by SAPOL Officer Tim, who gave me some handy safety tips, thanks Tim! As I write this, just having finished dinner, I expecting my mate from school Nick Hepper to pay me a birthday visit! Nick is doing his own fundraising walk from May next year called Walking for Ataxia - check it out - and I'm looking forward to joining him for part of it.
SMXLL
Alright Signing out, cheers everyone for the Birthday Love!
