Australia

arthwollipot said:
What - there's a horse race of some kind happening today?
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I believe so. Here is an evidence. (artist's impression)



ManFromSnowyRiver.jpg

©DVD.net​




Then fast the horsemen followed, where the gorges deep and black
Resounded to the thunder of their tread,
And the stockwhips woke the echoes, and they fiercely answered back
From cliffs and crags that beetled overhead.
And upward, ever upward, the wild horses held their way,
Where mountain ash and kurrajong grew wide;
And the old man muttered fiercely, "We may bid the mob good day,
No man can hold them down the other side."

- A B (Banjo) Patterson​


Except for one.
 
Ded Fishies Required

I'm reposting this from one of the other Australian threads (:))


BTMO said:
In other news, does anyone reading here fish? In Australia?

I need some genetic samples from members of the Arripidae genus from Australia.

These have common names like tommy ruff, Australian herring, Australian salmon, salmon trout and Western Australian salmon. They aren't actually salmon, trout OR herring, but are part of a small family that only lives in NZ and Australia.

Feel free to PM me if you can help.

Samples required are tiny, and I need them to get to Adelaide by mid-January so I can parcel them up and return them to NZ with me over the holidays. I will of course re-imburse you for costs associated with getting samples to Adelaide.

Note - if you have some of these species sitting in the freezer now, they will be fine! As long as they are uncooked, I can still get DNA from them for my study.
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Sorry, I don't fish. My dad took us fishing a number of times when we were kids, but I never really "got" it. Seemed like a lot of work for little reward. Perhaps we just weren't very good at it.
 
I was the lone fisherperson in our family when we were kids, despite living about a K from the water. None of us ate fish except the cat, so the incentive of a free feed wasn't very strong, but I enjoyed the time I spent on it, and pulled some really wierd looking stuff out of the water.

I catch and realease redfin occasionally in Sunday Creek just 'cos it's a pleasant way to spend an afternoon, maybe with a bottle and a book. I kept some in an aquarium for a while, because they're actually quite pretty, but they outgrew the tank and had to go native again.

I haven't done a wildlife post for a while, so I might make the Reddie our first fishy contribution.


As an aside, Arti, I somehow have no trouble visualising you in your waders trying to ambush trout on the Cotter. In a deerstalker hat covered in lures and a pipe in your mouth.

Soz, I'll take my pills now and go lie down for a bit.
 
You guys might be interested: Despite living just a few hundred yards from the beach in Beaumaris, my family have all been of the fly-fishing persuasion and that had been me too until about 15 years ago.
That said, we did chase redfin here and there, had the odd outing in the bay and caught flathead and such.

Then I went north and got into some real salt water fishing - tuna, huge snapper, reef fishing etc. It opened my eyes to a whole new world. Now I get out as often as I can - usually a charter out of Hastings after snapper, gummy, elephant shark, baracoota - whatevers running.

I have also been Barra fishing in Kakadu, Tuna and Barra off Broome, Marlin off Bermagui, Dolphin fish in the Cook Islands. I make it a habit to 'get out' wherever I go. I am keen to do Whyalla for the snapper season probably Jan 2011.

If I tried to find the buggers myself, I'd have no chance so I am quite happy to pay someone for the privelege of having me. I recommend it highly, they find em, I catch em, they clean em, fillet em and I take, freeze and eat em. Great deal!
 
Kewl. My wife lived at Beaumaris many years ago.

I've never tried fly fishing at all. From what I've seen of the experts doing it I can see me catching myself, and not much else.

I got the fishing bug again when I moved to Queensland in the mid-70s since my sis lived at Broadwater and my brother-in-law was a mad fisherman. Favourite things were catching Tailer off Elephant Rock when they were running, or drifting around in the canals at night catching Mangrove Jacks. We saw some awfully big things in those canals, and I wouldn't swim in there for a million quid.

I've also managed a fair bit of fishing around the north and western coasts. I was lucky enough to serve in helicopter squadrons and it was de rigeur to take the fishing gear along on 'recce' flights. We obviously found some pretty deserted spots and usually had to post a lookout with a slur and ten rounds to keep watch in case the local wildlife decided to make US lunch.

The ocean off Western Australia seems to have every bitey, eatey thing there is swimming around in it.

I caught a 10 kg Giant Trevally near the 21 mile channel marker off Port Hedland once (the water is only about 20 feet deep out of the channel) using a silver teaspoon for a lure. That was in an RL34 sailboat, just the thing for fishing. Not. We must have been doing about 20 knots when I hooked this thing and it near yanked me out of the boat.

We often caught Barracouda using army-style folding can openers and no hook. The vicious bastards would strike at anything, and many a personal best in swimming was set as a result of falling overboard.
 
.

Redfin Perch​


Redfin.jpg


Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Actinopterygii

Order: Perciformes

Family: Percidae

Genus: Perca

Species: P. fluviatilis​


Also known as European Perch, English Perch or Reddies.

The Redfin perch is native to the cool-temperate waters of the Northern Hemisphere. It was first introduced to Tasmania between 1858 and 1862 and to Vic in 1861. The species is widely distributed throughout the temperate portion of the Murray-Darling Basin, but absent from the colder headwaters and the hotter reaches of the Darling drainage. It is not present in Queensland. It survives in water temperatures of up to about 31°C, which largely explains its distribution.


RedfinMap.jpg


It seems that the Taswegians are making efforts to stop the spread of Redfin, as they are with trout, but I'm unsure how successful they've been.

The species is occasionally moved illegally by anglers and, once established, can increase rapidly in numbers. In Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra, within six years of establishing it formed 58% of the total catch. However, these numbers declined dramatically after an outbreak of EHNV (see below) in the early to mid 1990s, and the species now comprises around 10–15% of the catch. The perch is a popular angling species, particularly in Victoria.

The Redfin perch is a pelagic carnivore with a diet that includes crustaceans (shrimps, yabbies and other freshwater crayfish), zooplankton and small fish such as Western carp gudgeon, galaxiids and Eastern gambusia. It is known to prey heavily on newly stocked trout.

The Redfin perch is the main host for Epizootic Haematopoietic Necrosis Virus (EHNV). This virus, unique to Australia, was first isolated in 1985 on Redfin perch and is characterised by sudden high mortalities of fish. Laboratory trials have demonstrated that Macquarie perch, Silver perch, trout and Mountain galaxias are among several species found to be extremely susceptible to the disease, but the impacts in the wild are as yet unknown. EHNV has now been recorded from NSW, ACT, and Victoria.


Fun Fact:

Because of their similar appearance and ability to cross-breed, the yellow perch has sometimes been classified as a subspecies of the European perch, however, it is unclear whether or not hybrids are viable, and most classifications treat the two fish as separate species.




Primary Source: Murray-Darling Basin Authority
 
Don't talk, damnit - fish!

Get out and fish!

Work on my masters for me...

:D
 
Nup! That's a thread premiere, and worth a transcript for the furriners.


Come to Australia

Red back, funnel web, blue ringed octopus
Taipan, tiger snake, adder, box jellyfish
stone fish and the poison thing that lives in a shell, that spikes you when you pick it up

Come to Australia
You might accident'ly get killed

Your life's constantly under threat
Have you been bitten yet?
You've only got 3 minutes left
Before a massive coron'ry breakdown

Red back, funnel web, blue ringed octopus
taipan, tiger snake, adder, box jellyfish
Big shark, just waiting for you to go swimming
At Bondi Beach

Come on

Come to Australia
You might accident'ly get killed
Your blood is bound to be spilled
With fear your pants will be filled

'cos you might accident'ly get killed

- Scared Weird Little Guys​


Thanks Arti :)
 
A kiwi friend of mine forgot to listen to that before going to Mittagong a couple of weeks ago.

Brown snake...

She is fine now.
 
Mittagong is in a beautiful area. It's part of a sandstone plateau that is just perfect for brown snakes. Your friend was probably unlucky that the Summer heat seems to have started early this year and stirred the snakes to life.

The good thing is that the plateau will be dotted with Waratahs coming into flower. (with deadly spiders hiding in them)

Historilogical post on Mittagong coming up! I even have a family connection to the old days in Mitta that I can brag shamelessly about.
 
Mittagong has historically been the place to stop for lunch when driving from Canberra to Sydney.

Unfortnately those days are gone, now that the bypass has been built.
 
Akhenaten said:
Mittagong is in a beautiful area. It's part of a sandstone plateau that is just perfect for brown snakes. Your friend was probably unlucky that the Summer heat seems to have started early this year and stirred the snakes to life.

The good thing is that the plateau will be dotted with Waratahs coming into flower. (with deadly spiders hiding in them)

Historilogical post on Mittagong coming up! I even have a family connection to the old days in Mitta that I can brag shamelessly about.
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My old man went to a Marist Brothers seminary at Mittagong as a novice, as did his brother. I have very vague memories of visiting my uncle there.

My father, needless to say, came to his senses and left after a year or so. He went there at 15 under family pressure.
 
arthwollipot said:
Mittagong has historically been the place to stop for lunch when driving from Canberra to Sydney.

Unfortnately those days are gone, now that the bypass has been built.
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Yeah, the Maccas at Sally's Corner Road doesn't have quite the same character. The bypass is awesome though, and I love getting the first glimpse of the lights of Sydney from the top of the hill at Aylmerton when I'm heading North.


lionking said:
My old man went to a Marist Brothers seminary at Mittagong as a novice, as did his brother. I have very vague memories of visiting my uncle there.

My father, needless to say, came to his senses and left after a year or so. He went there at 15 under family pressure.
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There are still a lot of colleges and things around Mittagong. The rarified air must help somehow.

My family was always pressuring me to go places. Blazes, hell, and buggery to name but a few, but never the seminary, so at least they drew the line somewhere.
 
Akhenaten said:
Yeah, the Maccas at Sally's Corner Road doesn't have quite the same character. The bypass is awesome though, and I love getting the first glimpse of the lights of Sydney from the top of the hill at Aylmerton when I'm heading North.
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I never travelled that way before the bypass was built but we have detoured through there occassionally. Just a little bit prettier than the Maccas.


Whereabouts in Queensland did you live? I grew up in Brisbane but spent a couple of years in Toowoomba.
 
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