By Sue Olsson & Josephine O’Brien
Co-Coordinators, Friends of Tomaree National Park
WOW, WHAT A WONDERFUL VIBE ~ Sunday 20 October 2024
Our Picnic for Nature, a fun family event to celebrate 40 years of Tomaree National Park, was planned for Iris Moore Lookout and Picnic Area. Just ideal with a beautiful accessible lookout and linked to the Tomaree Coastal Walk.
Credit: Iris Moore lookout ©Remy Brand_DCCEEW
Alas, the day’s forecast of howling winds — 30km/hr winds with up to 60km/hr gusts from the south west — was entirely unsuitable. We were so thankful to the neighbouring Anna Bay Scouts who came to the rescue and their cosy sheltered grounds were ideal.
Why theme our Picnic for Nature ~ Connecting beach, bush and your backyard?
Tomaree National Park is our largest local reserve and is important for protecting many species of wildlife. Across the Tomaree Peninsula, bushland is fast becoming fragmented or cleared for housing, roads, shops and industrial precincts. Patches of native bush no longer connect with larger reserves like Tomaree National Park.
However some species can coexist with us in more populated areas. As wildlife habitat shrinks, the corridors for essential seasonal or genetic movement also disappear. This is where you as a local resident can help. Your yard can be important in creating some of those stepping stones and flyways. Read more about why your garden matters.
Several groups who care for bushland and marine life came together with this message as our uniting theme for our Picnic for Nature.
Friends of Tomaree National Park highlighted the wonderful Tomaree plants that support birds, bees and butterflies. Native plants and pictures of their flowers and the birds, bees, butterflies and other insects important for them were available. We also had Tomaree garden plants suitable for residents to buy.
Additionally, a guide to typical exotic plants that can escape into bushland with native options, as well as a detailed Tomaree Habitat guide were available.
Thank you to our volunteers in yellow shirts!
Landcare Soldiers Point – Salamander Bay reinforced the theme with easy to make little insect homes and the associated informative display. But there was more …
… a fantastic bush diorama highlighting animal homes. All focussed on ways for connecting nature in your backyard. Thanks heaps Landcare Soldiers Point – Salamander Bay and Ngioka.
Meanwhile, the Friends of Tomaree National Park, working with the Woodies, Port Stephens Wood Workers, were busy all day helping everyone make their wildlife homes (many pre-booked) — from bee and insect hotels to bird nesting boxes. Friends of Tomaree worked closely with the Woodies to bring additional boxes to their repertoire, White-throated Treecreeper and Eastern Rosella nest boxes.
Eastern Rosella nest box
Bee and insect hotel
Many thanks Port Stephens Wood Workers for your wonderful skills and flexibility creating these boxes. They were such a hit on the day and very much appreciated. And sincere thanks to Port Stephens Packaging for your generous sponsorship of the wildlife homes, enabling very accessible low cost boxes for families.
Irukandji Shark and Ray Encounters helped visitors make great marine wildlife mobiles using lily leaves while chatting about taking care with what goes down our drains and other ways to help KEEP HEALTHY MARINE WILDLIFE — with a set up perfectly in picnic style ~ thank you Irukandji
The site was beautifully sheltered from the wind, and some picnickers were out on the grass enjoying the sun, and others under the melaleucas — fortunately the wetland was dry! Meanwhile Anna Bay Scouts were so busy they dashed out for more sausages and Cheeky Coffee maintained our caffeine levels – though they had alternatives too!
Our Fishermans Bay headland post burn walk was informative and packed with stories about the who and how of survival – though windy on the headland we were still enthralled by what John shared.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service were busy making wildlife prints and chatting about Worimi culture and tools.
And the EcoNetwork Port Stephens stall seemed to be the place for discussions.
The final activity of the day was the draw for the some fantastic prizes – with thanks for an intriguing Slivereye from @mat, a superb Tomaree print from NPWS and an appreciated Readers Retreat voucher. While winners were not onsite at the time of the draw — some had been there earlier – they were delighted.
Thank you Henk Tobbe for your wonderful Picnic for Nature gallery during the day.
Volunteers from the Friends of Tomaree National Park were active throughout the day — many had also helped organising the day and the Friends of Tomaree stalls. Thank you so much everyone.
While the Friends of Tomaree National Park organised the event, we extend our sincere thanks to our partners, the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, the National Parks Association (Hunter Branch) and EcoNetwork Port Stephens for their support to make the day possible.
Picnic for Nature ~ connecting beach, bush and your backyard event page is linked here