THANK you to Murray River Council for securing a $270,000 grant to upgrade Moulamein Lake and surrounds.
There will be solar lighting and seats around the walking track, a second electric barbecue and all the shelters will be concreted, with disabled access between them.
New seating, a drinking fountain and new fencing are also part of the upgrade.
Hopefully, this will all be completed by Christmas.
All our committee wanted was a second barbecue and a couple of shelters concreted. This is a great result for Moulamein and district.
Being a government job, my biggest worry is that they will put a dog drinking bowl at the bottom of the drinking fountain just next to a 15-hectare lake.
Thank you again to our Murray River Council for getting this grant.
Moulamein Auto Club Show and Shine
THIS was a very well attended event with about 80 cars, 16 bikes and three tractors, one truck and one boat on display.
There were plenty of people there and plenty of old stuff for sale.
They were all well fed by our Footy-Netball Club and well-watered by our Moulamein Bowling Club after the event.
Unfortunately, I did not get to see much of it as Sundays are always the best days for breakdowns when you almost have the rice preparations finished. The plans for next year could see it get even bigger.
New moon on its back
I WAS doing a duck run after dark last night when I noticed that this month’s new moon is on its back, almost as level as last month’s.
For those that do not remember my Old Man’s theory, a new moon on its back can mean one of two things: It is full of water and it is going to rain, or it is holding the water in, so it is not going to rain.
A new moon on its side also means two things – either the moon is tipping the water out, so it is going to rain. Or the new moon is empty and it is not going to rain.
Last month, the new moon came in on its back and we got between 60 and 70mm of unfocused rain.
Driving around the farm today, there were three bearded dragon lizards sitting on top of fence posts. Another sign of rain, according to the old fellers.
I had an old mate who is 80 tell me that it is definitely going to rain as his hip is playing up. At the time of writing, there is no rain forecast for the next 10 days.
Let’s see who is right this time. Our weather men. Or the new moon, lizards on top of fence posts and my old mate’s hip.
Melbourne Cup weekend
FOR those farmers who host half of Melbourne on this weekend as they love to get up here and shoot a few ducks and have a bloody good time.
I have it on good authority that the DPI will be teaming up with the local police to check out every rice farm that has duck shooters on it.
For all the farmers, please make sure your paperwork is up to date. Please tell all of your hunters to do the same. They are almost guaranteed to get checked out.
It could be a very expensive feed of duck, fish or yabbies if they do not have the right licence or the wrong gear.
Bowls season going well
LET’S hope our Division 1 team does not get nose bleeds, as they are on top of the ladder. They had another win with two rinks up, one rink down. Up overall.
Our Division 3 mob came home with full sails after the cream cake at smoko time, getting up on all three rinks with their first home match. We do share our cream cakes at smoko but our team knows which half to eat. Most weeks.
This weekend it is Division 1 at home to our mates from Swan Hill and Division 3 heading over to our mates at Lake Boga. Do not forget your smoko, Division 1.
We are still looking for new bowlers as not everyone is available every week. Come over for a roll on Thursday evening and give it a go. You may enjoy it.
Photo contest
YOU still have two weeks to get your “yellow” photos for our Gallery Girls Photo Competition. There is a total prize pool of $700, thanks to their great sponsors. For entry forms go to moulameinartgallery@outlook.com.
Transgrid power line
NO news at the time of writing. Some of my neighbours have received the letter or phone call to have a meeting. Some haven’t, so I do not know where this line may go.
Some were very concerned as they have no dryland. Their whole farm is irrigated. Some were not concerned as long as the line did not go through their irrigation.
Some didn’t care where it went, they just do not want this 70m-high power line going through our district, no matter where it goes.
The direct route from Deniliquin to Echuca would be the cheapest but our Murray River Council decided that it should go through less productive land and sent it our way.
Our meeting with them is this week. Stay tuned for the next exciting update.
River levels
THE Edward has continued to rise after the last rain event and is now at just over 3 metres and around 3000 megs a day.
It will keep rising as the flood waters from upstream work their way downstream.
There is still off-quota on our channel system, out the other side of town, and is also available in the Edward and our other rivers to make use of these excess flow.
Yabbies are still going in our rivers. This does not happen very often so if you want a feed, grab your drop nets and go for it.
Just remember that there are limits on how many you can take. Also, opera house nets are now banned in NSW so do not get caught with them.
