Text: National Tree Day

Today is "National Tree Day". It is to commemorate the devastating bush fires that tore through much of the Cotter region and the edges of the city.

We arrived at the planting site at about quarter past ten (the first photo was taken at 10:23 AM DCT (Digital Camera Time)). Parking is along the "fire trail" (a new term I learnt today), which is really a narrow unsealed road wide enough for two cars. These trails provide access into the forrest for emergency trucks in the event of bush fires. Hmm... were they built after the bush fires? Or were they of not much use for fires of that scale?

First thing we did was to walk up to a tent to register ourselves for more spam. "Yes. I want to receive more information from Greening Australia." Next was my first "Tree Planting" lesson.

(1) Dig a hole
(2) Put little tree in
(3) Fill up hole (without burying the tree of course)
(4) Put guard around tree (a juice carton!)
(5) Leave little pot on either one of the sticks supporting the guard (this indicates to the watering party that the tree hasn't yet had its drink)

So off we went, took some tools, got some trees, sticks, and guards. And on to planting 31 baby trees.

We started at the bottom of the hill, but soon discovered that it got crowded and moved further along. After barely planting 10 trees, the crowd had formed again. Gee... there's going to be a lot of new trees in many years to come. So we moved again. This time we went the hard way: UP.

The climb was definitely worthwhile as the view was fantastic! The pumping station by the bridge, the river, the pipeline, the fields, the... everything looked like props on some elaborate train set. Except there was no train. :) Here in the rarified air (kidding), there was space for our remaining "younglings". Here they will grow big and strong. Giving each new tree a home was such an emotional moment. "We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig..." like the lyrics of "Heigh-Ho" from Snow White. Soon enough, 31 younglings have been planted and we went for a mini-hike to the peak of Mt Macdonald.

Satellite Photo of the area.