Staff Christmas Meeting
Before wrapping up the year of 2021 here at Fishcare Victoria, part of the staff team was able to get away for some quality time together after many, many months of Zoom meetings, brief phone encounters and working from home. Blessed with some beautiful weather in East Gippsland, the team enjoyed a much-needed break and time to refresh at Cape Conran Coastal Parks in East Gippsland.
It was eye-opening to witness the aftermath of what has been a significantly wet La Nina year for the East Gippsland Region. On our way inland from Orbost we headed directly to the coast towards Marlo in convoy, behind Jenny who took on role as tour guide for the week whose local knowledge and geographical know-how proved helpful to us throughout the trip. We followed the wet and winding road towards Marlo, running adjacent to the Snowy River whose waters originate from Mt Kosciusko. Just as we were settling into the journey, passing large herds of cattle and acres of farmland we were abruptly stopped by an incredibly large plane of water across the road ahead of us, stopping us completely in our tracks. It was in this moment we found scores of small cray fish and waterlogged snails seeking refuge from the flood waters all over the road, and the egg of an unidentified bird! We watched as a car of tourists behind us made the probably not to safe choice to navigate the road ahead which they successfully managed at which point we made the decision to turn around for a fuel stop inland and take a safer route.
Upon arrival at the coast after an eventful morning we enjoyed lunch by the Yerung River and hit the water in our Kayaks and SUP’s where of course Mitch enjoyed searching for the far-Easts most impressive Estuary Perch, Jenny found herself ducking and weaving in and out of the maze of tree branches onboard her SUP and Elysia happily snapping away at photos and looking out for birdlife from the Sea Kayak. At one point we did in fact enjoy watching a local white bellied sea Eagle soaring effortlessly above the mouth of the Yeerung in search for Sea-mullet, it’s wing tips bent slightly upward assisted us identifying this bird from afar.
For the following days we explored the coast together, bumping into some arial drone surveys being conducted at the Salmon Rocks boat ramp and local fisherman throwing about their soft plastics. We enjoyed dinner at the Marlo Hotel, an awesome spot niceto be able to support local business after such a challenging couple of years.
We reflected on the year we’ve had as a team and how proud we are of the organisation and its resilience this past year. Our ability to navigate countless lockdowns and debilitating uncertainty whilst continuing to meet our targets and financial milestones has been nothing short of a remarkable team effort.
🐟 Merry Christmas from our team to yours and have a safe holiday season 🐟
