OUR Moulamein Men’s Shed have been busy with their battery drive and fund raising.
Sunday before Christmas 10,000 cod fingerlings were put back into our local rivers.
My grandkids and I had the privilege of putting 2000 of these 50cm-long cod into the Billabong Creek.
My grandson was very excited because he has figured out that they will think they were born here and they will come back here to breed every year.
He hasn’t caught a cod for four years he was telling everyone.
He is 8, so that’s half his life since he has caught one. A bit like most fishermen.
Well done to our Moulamein Men’s Shed. There were also 4126 yellers released about a week later.
About 700 of these were put in the mighty billabong and the rest were put into different locations in our Edward River.
Batteries can still be dropped off at our Men’s Shed in town for next year’s re-stocking or call Noel on 0447 541 200 for a pick-up.
Champion of champions in our club
ONE of our bowlers, Kerryn Evans, made it through the heat last weekend to take out the big one: top female bowler in our league.
Well done Kerryn, you have done our little club proud.
Good luck in the next level.
Call 000
I WAS out a bit late on the Sunday night before Christmas finishing off a few jobs and I got a call off a mate a bit after 10pm.
I think there is a house on fire at Chah Sing, he said. I told him to call 000, turned the ute around.
Called a mate to help me out and headed for the shed. Got another call before I got there that it was a power pole not a house.
Arrived out there, 000 still hadn’t been called.
Local grapevine is good as we had our Cat 6, the Beast as it is known, out there as well as two Mallan trucks.
The fire had got into the timber by then but they had it under control.
It must have got a bit wild before we got there as one of the gum trees had a branch on fire 10 or so metres off the ground.
Luckily our Beast has a water cannon that can reach that high but it took a bit of manoeuvring to get in close enough and about 7000 litres to put it out.
There was an excavator there ready to go but there was a power line down and they couldn’t move until the power was off.
Call 132 080, I told them, to get the power shut off.
Put this number in your phone. You never know when you may need it. I do not know how many times I have said this.
By all means call someone on the local brigade to get things happening but always, and I mean always, call 000.
They will note bite.
You will not get into trouble and you will not get a bill.
It will just get everything happening that should happen.
In case of an emergency, call 000.
Successful bowls tournament
WE had 52 bowlers brave the heat last Saturday for our Local Traders Any Combination Pairs.
The Shields brothers Rob and Pud took out the honors on the day.
Thank you to our sponsors on the day, Moulamein IGA, Ruralec Electrical Contracting, Moulamein Post Office, Pryor and Son Mechanical Repairs and Riverina Crop Care.
Thank you to the organisers and everyone that turned up in the heat.
Lake lock changed
I FEEL like a bit of a Grinch when I change the lock on our Moulamein Ski Lake just before Christmas every year.
But our committee has to pay for the water as well as the power to pump it about a kilometre to keep our lake full.
There are not many places you can spend a whole day skiing on your own on a 15-hectare lake and have access to two free barbecues.
Come here during the week and you can do this most days. On a weekend you may have to share it with a few other boats.
Our fees are only $150 for a 12-month key or $30 a day if you just want to try it out.
You can swim in our lake for free, fish off the bank in our lake for free. Even paddle your kayak around our lake for free if there are not any boats zooming around.
Come and check it out. We have the Moulamein Lakeside Holiday Park 30 metres from the boat ramp. You can grab a key there.
Rice coming in early
THEY say we have had a warmer than average start to our rice growing season.
I must be getting tougher as it is one of the latest years that I have gone to short-sleeved work shirts and now I’m back into jumpers in the mornings.
They are the experts, so we have to believe them.
River levels
OUR Edward has had a slight rise and is now sitting at about 1.96 metres and just over 1900 megs a day.
I had a call from a mate who was concerned about the oxygen levels as we were restocking the rivers over the Christmas break.
They dropped a bit and are now sitting at 6.8.
This is great for our new fish that have just been put into our rivers.
Fishing has been still great in the Edward with plenty of cod getting caught. The odd yeller and plenty of carp to keep the kids happy.
The Mighty Billabong still hasn’t come good.
Let’s look on the bright side. That 2000 cod and the 700 yellers that we put in the creek will have a better chance of survival because there is nothing there to eat them.
