now in Horsham

We arrived in Horsham this evening, after getting an early start from Hamilton this morning so we could fit in an extra hike. Our first stop in Horsham gave a glimpse of what the next few days will be like: the lake where the locals used to recreate (swimming, boating, water-skiing) is COMPLETELY drydand has been for several years. There are weeds throughout the lakebed, and a dozer firebreak has been cleared where several meters of water once stood. It is quite scary, and made all of us feel that even though we live where the water feels plentiful, as individuals and as a society we need to be much better at conserving and managing water use.
Earlier in the day we hiked to the top of Mt. Williams in the Grampiens (not Gambier, thanks Naomi, I was tired...!) Mountain Range, and experienced the first big scenic vistas of the trip...we could see for many miles (ok, kilometers) in every direction. On our journey between Hamilton and Horsham we made stopped several times to hike to scenic overlooks...it was great to get in quite a bit of exercise.
For me, the vocational highlights from Hamilton were the Arborline nursery, where around 50-100 different tree species are grown for outplanting in both commercial forests and restoration projects, and an afternoon with Ron "Yonda" Elliot, a one-man red gum sawmilling operation. He was quite a character! We also had an informative morning with the local Catchement Management Authority (CMA), and went to several alternative farming sites as well as an ITC blue gum plantation and a joint venture restoration project they did with Greening Australia. Once again, we saw wetlands that were no longer wet. An interesting note from the restoration project was that they actually seeded the tree species in 2002...and now they are 6-10 meters high. They did some overplanting as well, but the vast majority of the site had been machine-sown directly onto the site.