Tarwin Lower Market Monday

The Tarwin Lower Market will be held on Monday morning, 4th January 2010 next to the Mechanics Institute Hall.

Venus Bay Weather Station

Neil Poole has set up a regular weather station in the Second Estate. It's been installed since October and shows current and historical data.

It can be accessed here and on the "Weather" link in the Links section of the left column of this site.

The map shows two weather stations (Neil is in the second estate) but there is only one due to the site picking up data from different reporting sites and rounding of location data.

Venus Bay - Leongatha Bus Service

A new bus service has started on Monday 28th September for a 12 month trial. The service will run on Monday, Friday and Sunday and is timed to meet the V/Line coach from Melbourne and Yarram, so there is now a public transport option to get to or from Venus Bay.

The route runs from Venus Bay Second Estate to Leongatha Station via Tarwin Lower and Koonwarra.

There are no designated bus stops along the route, so as long as you're standing along the route on time, just hail the driver to pick you up.

Timetable and route map can be downloded from here.

Of course, if the timetable doesn't suit, there's always South Gippsland Regional Taxis on 5662-4242

New Tip Opening Hours

From Friday, August 21, the Venus Bay tip will be open on Friday mornings from 9 to 12 instead of in the afternoon. All other times remain the same.

Venus Bay Tip Times

Backyard visitor

I haven't seen many koalas around here, but here's one that was wandering around the other day.

Toxic drums on the beach

There have been reports of large drums containing dangerous toxic chemicals along the South Gippsland coast, including at Venus Bay.

If you come across any of these drums, call the EPA on 1800 444 004... and don't touch them.

The Age: Toxic drum was left at mans home

Easter Weekend in Venus Bay

There are a few things on in Venus Bay over the Easter long weekend.

The Tour de Tarwin is on again on Saturday the 11th. It costs $5 ($10 for families) to take part in the walk or ride along the bike track between Venus Bay and Tarwin Lower. This includes a lanyard and water bottle and proceeds go to the Tarwin Lower CFA. Register from 9am in front of the Venus Bay Fishing Village Bar and Cafe.

There's also a fishing competition over the long weekend. Register at Rod Bending's shop.

The Tarwin Lower Market will be held on Easter Monday at the Mechanics Institute.

Rain Rain Don't Go Away

I'm loving all this rain. It's amazing how quickly the tanks refill and the grass regreens (is that a word?) with a bit of rain.

Venus Bay Artists Expo

The Venus Bay Artists Expo is still running at the Venus Bay Community Centre. It will be on until the 15th of March.

Tarwin Lower Market

The Tarwin Lower Market will be on again on the Labour Day holiday - Monday 9th March.

Collecting Pipis at Venus Bay Beaches

In a comment to another post, estatenubertwoer wrote about the illegal collection of pipis at Venus Bay beaches.

Gday Guys,
Just discovered the Blog and was wondering if you may be able to assist.

Pipies are being removed in and local authorities seem completely disinterested in enforcing bag limits.

This is the kind of thing i'm talking about; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBydoI69jYE

I'm deeply concerned at the way the bag limits are not being enforced. Pipies are being removed in commerical amounts and sold in melbourne fish markets. This is depleating resources and damaging the local eco system.

Has this been raised before, Does anyone else in town share my concerns?

Here is a link to Fish Victoria's site with an article on the subject.

It states that pipis are only allowed to be collected between Beach No1 and Beach No5, and only up to a limit of 5 litres per person per day. You must have a valid fishing licence and the pipis must be for personal use and not sold to anyone else.

I note that the comments in the YouTube video linked to above indicate that the people in the video haven't done anything illegal, but it's right to raise the issue to make people aware of the problem in general.

Members of the public who witness or are aware of illegal fishing should call the 24-hour reporting line 13-FISH (13-3474).

Victorian Bushfires - Radio and TV Networks

With all the devastation and loss of life and property around Victoria, we have been very fortunate to have been spared from the bushfires here in this part of South Gippsland.

Thoughts go out to all those who have lost loved-ones and homes.

ABC Radio is the official emergency broadcaster. 774AM and 828AM are the only options available locally due to the fire damage to the Mt Tassie transmitter which has cut the ABC Local Radio FM stations as well as ABC, SBS, Prime and WIN TV stations (both analogue and digital signals). Southern Cross 10 is the only TV station currently broadcasting in the Latrobe Valley, South and (I assume East) Gippsland. Some people may be able to receive metropolitan analogue TV stations.

At the moment, repair crews are unable to go to the Mt Tassie transmitter to assess the damage as the area is still not safe. Prime TV advised that it was not yet known when service will be restored. It may be days or even weeks.

Of course, priority must be given to dealing with the continuing fire threat and ensuring people's safety, ABC radio seems to be the best way to keep up to date with the latest fire information.

Update (10/2/09): Prime and WIN are back on air. SBS and ABC1 and ABC2 are still off air in Gippsland.

Tarwin Lower Market

The Tarwin Lower Market was on this morning, and will be on again on the Australia Day holiday - Monday 26th January.