Reflections of spring

Spring has finally sprung and the weather is warming up and over the last couple of weeks the weather has been perfect for paddling. Naturally, I've taken every opportunity available to get out on the river. This has so far meant several trips upstream from Baum's Weir to the Merrawarp Road bridge and beyond. The end result is that I have significantly increased my supply of scenic photos which began with a couple of trips upriver early in 2013.
These images were taken near the weir in the late afternoon with very still conditions about a week ago.


No, it is not upside down...

...it's only half the picture...

On each occasion I hit the water at the car park off Cyril Synot Drive which has a small boat ramp and fishing deck. An 800m paddle upstream from the boat ramp takes you under the Geoff Thom Bridge which carries the Geelong Ring Road over the Barwon.


The Geoff Thom Bridge on the Ring Road

From there, it is under the Barrabool Hills in a big loop as the river heads first south then north before curving away to the west and towards Ceres. From this point onwards, the birdlife increased significantly and on my most recent paddle I counted almost 30 different species.

More reflections beneath the Barrabool Hills

The base of the Barrabool Hills

Out from under the hills, the river passes through open farmland and thanks to the weirs and breakwaters below, is wide and deep enough for an easy paddle. The riverbanks are mostly tree lined with sections of reeds and Tangled Lignum in some places.

Between Baum's Weir and Merrawarp Road

 

Between the weir and the bridge

At the bridge, it is possible to put a kayak in, although there is no formal boat ramp and the area is used by vandals and worse. I believe however, that there is public access to the south  bank of the river via a track which runs down from Gully Road a few hundred metres downstream of the bridge, although I have not used it myself.

The Merrawarp Road Bridge, looking south east

Above Merrawarp Road, the scenery is similar however within about a kilometre of the bridge, the channel narrows in places and obstructions in the form of fallen trees either fully or partly submerged become more frequent and harder to negotiate. It is however still fairly easily navigable by kayak at the present water levels, although this may change seasonally.

Above Merrawarp Road

Above Merrawarp Road

About two and a half kilometres upstream from Merrawarp Road, the channel narrows substantially and things start to get really tricky. On this occasion I left it at that point, turned around and headed for home.
All up, a paddle of about 16km without rapids and without serious obstruction. My next mission will hopefully be to paddle the section of Barwon from Inverleigh down to Pollocksford Bridge.



Wind and water

A few weeks back I wrote a post about the number of windmills I noticed as I paddled some of the more rural sections of the Barwon, titled Tilting at windmills. Not long after, I received a detailed comment from "Hugh" whose family owned the land on which one of the windmills I had photographed stood. He informed me that in addition to the remains of this windmill near Ceres, a larger windmill had stood on the opposite bank of the river on land owned by the McCann family, but that it had been removed to make way for the Geelong Ring Road near where the Geoff Thom Bridge (the subject of a post from October, 2011) crosses the Barwon.


The Geoff Thom Bridge over the Barwon

He also provided details of some other significant windmills associated with the Barwon and Geelong's past. A pair were located, at Sparrovale Farm, their purpose being to drain the surrounding  land, and an earlier one was built at Chilwell and was used to operate the Riversdale Flour mill. Some discussion of the latter mill can be seen in the comments following my post "Grist to the mill".
The good news according to Hugh however, is that the McCann's windmill has been completely restored and is now located at the Geelong Showgrounds. As I live not too far away and often pass the showgrounds, I had indeed noticed the windmill and wondered about it. It was a simple matter therefore to snap a few photos of this large, fully-restored and rather impressive Southern Cross windmill, located just inside the gate on Breakwater Road.

Restored Southern Cross windmill at Geelong Showground

 It was a clear, hot day while I was there with only a light breeze blowing, however it was still enough to have the sails turning and the shaft rising and falling.

Southern Cross windmill, Geelong Showground

This windmill is noted on the Windmill Journal of Australia and New Zealand website, however the details do not appear as far as I can tell, to be accurate. I did search for further details concerning the restoration and installation of the windmill at its current site, however I couldn't see anything online.


Windmill at the showground

I did however make one other "discovery". I had forgotten that Geelong boasts two "Bills Troughs". The first, located in Fitzroy Street, Geelong was the subject of an earlier post "Horses for courses" and the second - as can be seen in one of the above photos - is located within the Geelong Showgrounds.


Bills Trough at Geelong Showground

More details can be found about these troughs in the earlier post, but in brief, they were installed during the 1930s across Australia and some other countries for the benefit of working horses. The funds were provided from a trust established out of the proceeds of the will of George Bills and his wife Annis. About 700 troughs were produced and all but about 50 of them were located in Australia.
 The troughs have a distinctive shape and style. The photo below shows a plaque acknowledging the benefactors on the trough at the showground.

Plaque on the trough

Beneath the Barrabool Hills

Saturday afternoon we took off for a second paddling expedition up (and down) the Barwon. This time I had the chauffeur paddling with me so an out and back trip was necessary. I decided we would head upriver from Baum's Weir, aiming for the Merrawarp Road Bridge and see how far we got.

At Baum's Weir

This section of the river travels through farmland and the Barrabool hills. The outcropping of sandstone from which it is formed is quite visibly different in its geology to the basalt which lines the river at Buckley Falls and gives a very different look to the landscape. The local Wathuarong clan of the same name lived in the area and gave the hills their name. At least three meanings have been suggested: oyster, a rounded mountain or a slope down to water. Given the nature of the landscape either of the latter two seem a likely possibility although "oyster" seems the better known.

Looking upstream to the Barrabool Hills

The cliff faces which rise up from the river appear to be inhabited by Welcome Swallows in their hundreds and they dart and dive above the river much like the Fairy Martins down in Reedy Lake. However, somewhat at odds with the rural landscape is the continuous traffic noise from the nearby Ring Road.

Looking downstream

The river channel past the Barrabool Hills is somewhat deeper than other sections of the river which I have seen and reminded me a little of the steeper banks of the Leigh and Moorabool Rivers.
As a consequence, it was difficult to see much of the surrounding countryside whilst on the river and the steep banks made it tricky to jump out and have a look.

High banks limit the view of the surrounding countryside

However, this is a very pretty part of the river with gum trees hanging out from the banks, over the water whilst in several places the river was so cluttered with logs, fallen branches and even whole trees that navigation became a little tricky. None-the-less on each occasion we managed to find our way through.

Dead tree  in the Barwon

We made it comfortably to Merrawarp Bridge - I can find no meaning for this name, indigenous or otherwise - in under two hours and decided we would push on and see how far we got. In the end it was probably an extra kilometer or two past the bridge through more dead trees, past a few fishermen (one in a kayak who proudly exhibited a sizable red-fin he'd caught), several pumps, the odd sheep or cow having a drink at the river and a couple of guys in a tinny, also off for a spot of fishing.
The bird life from what I saw was similar to other parts of the river, with the exception of a pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles circling overhead as we reached the upper limit of our trip - the first I've seen. Further downstream I came across a Nankeen (any-time-of-the-day-or)-Night-heron. For predominantly nocturnal birds, the local variety don't seem at all adverse to staying up late in the hope of making a catch. I spotted one during our circumnavigation of the lower breakwater on Thursday evening and often see them during daylight hours around Buckley Falls. This specimen however, was perched in a tree well above the river where it wasn't catching anything.

Nankeen Night-heron

Our return journey was reasonably uneventful, although we did stop off at one point to log a geocache which was only accessible by an on-river approach. This was our only landfall and the only opportunity to have a look at the surrounding countryside which was looking quite dry.
By the time we made it back to the starting point the earlier cloud-cover had cleared and I was able to take a few good shots with the sun behind.

The Geoff Thom Bridge on the Ring Road from the west

For the purposes of photography, paddling upstream would be best done in the morning...perhaps I'd better get a little more organised!

So who was Geoff Thom?

Geoff Thom Bridge over the Barwon River

Today I visited a section of the Barwon which I have seen from a distance, but never visited. I pulled off the Ring Road into what is presumably a service area at the new Geoff Thom Bridge which spans the Barwon upstream of Baum's Weir and had a look around.
The river at this point has a rural feel to it, despite the constant traffic noise from the bridge overhead. Whilst there has been some planting aimed at regenerating the area under bridge which was disrupted by construction, not too far away, the river banks are grassy and scattered with a few eucalypts. Whilst I didn't see a wide variety of bird life, there was none-the-less constant bird noise, making a distinct counterpoint to the sounds of traffic.
The bridge itself is the usual modern concrete construction consisting of a pair of 110m long spans supported by pairs of pylons which rise from the banks and the riverbed itself. I snapped a few photos and had a quick look around, but there was lots of long grass and the weather was warm, so I didn't venture too far afield.

A glimpse of the Barwon River looking south west
from the Ring Road 

At the present time, this  part of the river isn't exactly being promoted as a tourist destination so there is not a great deal to see, however it it my understanding that there are long term plans to extend the walking track from Baum's Weir, the extra 600 or so metres required to reach the new bridge and on the opposite bank, it is suggested that a shared trail He will be developed connecting Buckley Falls to Mount Brandon Peninsula and on through newly-developed parkland to Wandana, but what the timeframe for the implementation of these improvements might be is not indicated.
It also occurred to me as I was looking around, that I had no idea who Geoff Thom was. I know who the McIntyre Bridge, the James Harrison Bridge, even Prince's Bridge were named for, but who was Geoff Thom? Google as it turns out was relatively unhelpful giving me a photo of the bridge and an reference to an article which was not on-line. A quick query to a local mailing list however solved the problem.

Geoffrey Walter Thom was born in Geelong West in April 1910. He was an accountant, first with Ford and then running his own practice. He saw military service in New Guinea, was a member of numerous local committees and an active member of the Ashby Methodist Church as well as being a Rotarian, sportsman and politician. From 1946 until 1958, he was active as a Geelong West city councillor, serving as mayor from 1955-1957. Following on from his stint in council he was an elected member of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1958 until 1970, serving as whip for the state Liberal Party in the mid-1960s under the government of Sir Henry Bolte.
In the 1960s, during Thom's time as an MLC, the idea of a ring road to carry traffc around Geelong was first tabled. He was a strong supporter of plan, lobbying parliament to get the project up and running.
It may have taken nearly fifty years for the ring road to become a reality, however the naming of the bridge over the Barwon in Thom's honour, recognises the early efforts and the foresight of one of Geelong's noted politicians.