So I left my last post in a bit of a rush and a bit behind on the times, as I was already in Wodonga, whereas the post suggested I was in Shepparton, woops! Well, I must admit that I saw some cool things between Shepparton and Wodonga, and I would be selling all of us short if I didn’t report on them. Are those cool things insect-related? …Yes, mostly but there is some extra stuff in there as well, you know, just to be inclusive of other interests.
Anyway, on with the story!
After I had checked out Shepparton’s mooving art display, I decided to find camp, again using wikicamps. I found one just outside of town and next to a lovely river! That night, a consistent sucking/popping noise could be heard on the water’s surface… Cod by the sound and volume of it! However, after about three casts I was too harassed by mosquitos to continue (apparently they both feed and protect the fish). Regardless, it was a lovely spot and the site from which I wrote the last blog post!
Next day, after a brief search by the river for bees, I set off towards Wodonga. Along the way, I found my first flowering Casuarina of the trip! There were only three species of bee on it while I was there: European honeybees, a Lassioglossum sp. and another smaller species of which I only found two individuals (one of whom was found in my hair and I had to wait for it to crawl from the back of my head to my scalp before I could catch it!).
Lassioglossum sp.
Watching all of these bees feed (and holding my 4-5kg camera rig) made me hungry. So I took the turn off to Glenrowan, the town where Ned Kelly had his last stand (thanks to The Beards for teaching me this). I took in the sights (giant Ned Kelly) and went into BLT [Breakfast, Lunch and Tea] for lunch! Well, I’m not normally one to take photos of my meals in cafés, but I couldn’t help myself this time…
That afternoon, I made it to Wodonga, took some photos of one of the bees that I found and published my last blog post, so that’s all you missed folks. After that, I met with my old friend, Indigo who I went fishing with in Lake Hume (a dam). Naturally, we didn’t catch a thing, but it was a beautiful location and we did see some trout jumping.
Well, as lake fishing didn’t work out for us, we decided to take the more scenic route the next day, up to some mountain streams! If you must know, Indigo beat me in fish count, but I did catch my first ever trout! After this, we went in the direction of Mt. Buffalo for some sight-seeing and to stay the night and watch sunrise…
We made it to the top of the mountain (a bit of a drive and a short 1.5km walk) to watch the sun set. Following this, we went for a drive to hopefully finally find a wombat… Which we did, finally!!!
Naturally the next morning we had to be up for sunrise!
A premium example of my awesome panning skills
After this, I dropped Indigo back home (after he caught more fish than me again) and continued on towards the snowy mountains! There, I saw some cool views and nearly overheated Ron going slowly up the steep hills in the hot weather (thankfully, I saw the dial before he got too hot).
I would have to pay [in advance] for staying in any NSW national park, so I continued on to Jindabyne, where I found a nice spot in some bushes next to Lake Jindabyne (at least it’s a descriptive name).
After enjoying the evening and morning in Jindabyne, it was time to move on towards Canberra. Along the way, I stopped in Cooma, where I asked a lady (Esther) if she’d mind me looking in her garden for bees, to which she agreed. I did find one species, but I believe that I already had it. Anyway, me being me, I talked to her for a couple of hours and got to try some of her home-made fermented foods which I would recommend. Unfortunately, there really aren’t many bees or flowering native plants around here anymore…
One cool night and morning in Canberra was enough to realize that I was not going to find any bees there and so I decided to move on to Sydney, where I would stay for almost a week to catch up with friends and meet with Michael Batley at the Australian Museum. Before I left though, I did have a look around the park where I stayed that night.
The road to Sydney is not terribly long, and I haven’t carried my camera around too much in the city. But the weather hasn’t been great for people or bees, so I’ve spent my time up until now seeing friends and relaxing!
James
Kilometers travelled: 24 260
Bees found: 178
The Bee log blog 
Ohh! Sorry I missed your brief visit to Canberra. Funnily enough I was in Sydney! Yeah, all the bees are disappearing here. Seen a few BBB but the NCBs disappeared a few weeks ago. I do feel better about liking them since you pointed out that they are still very important pollinators. Heading off on my Birdsville trip on the weekend and very excited about that. All the best for the rest of the trip. Looking forward to a few more posts before you arrive back where you started. And also looking forward to the results of your amazing journey and efforts.
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That’s alright, Renee! I would have stayed longer if the weather had been kinder. Good luck on your trip (Which you must already be on by now!) Only one more post before home I think, but I wont stop there… I”ll try to keep something going at least until I’ve got the book out! 🙂
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