Removal of Willows at Crookwell

Themes: Crookwell

One of the most frequently searched terms which brings hapless punters to this quiet corner of the interwebs is ‘Crookwell’.
Don’t worry. I’m just as astonished as you.

Let me be clear, I’m not for a moment surprised by the fact that there are scores of desperately sad, silently despairing, shiny-bottomed, keyboard pilots peering out the windows of their silicon stalagmites through the noxious soup cynically re-branded as ‘air’ and dreaming of a better world. Whose shoulder have they got to cry onto?
Where else can they turn for words of comfort and assurance?
Who else will listen to the ascii outpourings of their existential angst?
Other than the internet Oracle.
The prophet, pimp, pusher, and purveyor of all that virtually is.
iGod of post-modernity THY NAME IS GOOGLE.

In fact, I’m reliably informed that if Google detects that you’re an eligible, clean-living, fair-minded, eco-friendly type person (based on search history and facebook updates) AND YOU DON’T TYPE ANYTHING into Google’s search field, but rather, just HIT “I’M FEELING LUCKY” it will immediately search for ‘Crookwell’.

Of course people are searching for Crookwell. It’s a spiritual thing.
What is astonishing is that they find my papermind.

For the uninitiated, Crookwell is a small country town 30mins drive North-West of Goulburn. It is a haven of peace, sanity and potato farming 900metres above sea-level on the South-West Slopes of the Great Dividing Range. It is also where Emma and I own half of a little piece of land and a cottage with my parents.

We were down there last weekend on our way to Canberra. Our property is bordered by Kiamma Creek, which, in the past, was a little waterway completely choked by old willow trees. The willows were very pretty but they’re a menace when it comes to Australian waterways. Their roots soak up and de-oxygenate the water so that fish and frogs find it hard to survive. The local council and landcare group have just finished completely removing the willows and are planning to replant the fringes of the creek with native trees and rushes. The plans look good (you can click for a closer view). At the moment the poor old creek looks pretty wrecked. It will take years for the replanting to really get established and look good. But already the water is flowing better.

We are also planning to plant out the lower section of our property with trees sometime in the next few years. Hopefully this will eventually create a really nice parkland area along the creek.

Any volunteers for a tree-planting weekend, just drop me a line.