Loched out

Last weekend the normally sleepy south-west Gippsland village of Loch was inundated with visitors for the Loch Village Food and Wine Festival.

Visitors’ vehicles lined the length of the main drag, spilling out into surrounding residential laneways.

As Loch is a frequent stopover for car clubs, there were typically some more exotic vehicles.

Sidewalks along the shopping precinct teemed with happy shoppers.

For the littlies there was a petting zoo. A wee baa-lamb turned the tables on my wee grandson, who himself became an exhibit.

Incidentally, the petting zoo was situated on the site where a house had stood until August last year, when it was demolished by a runaway truck. Next day my daughter was on the spot and snapped the following shot of the rig being extracted from the rear of the dwelling.

(Also incidentally, only six months earlier another truck had come to grief at almost the same spot.)

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spot of train spotting #2

Having long retired from plying the wilds of suburban Adelaide, Red Hen 402 climbs the Bena Bank — a 1:40 grade, I was assured by a train groupie with whom we were riding.

Below is the roomy interior, a suburban commuter’s dream, waiting to depart from Leongatha station.

After a day well spent plying the wilds of South Gippsland, Rail Motor 55RM (below) arrives at the Korumburra terminus. This vehicle, converted from petrol to diesel in the late 1950s, is indicative of the passenger rolling stock which serviced many country lines in Victoria in days of yore.

Rockin’
Rollin’
Ri-yi-yi-yi-idin’

Buckling of the rails, below, particularly during the warmer months, occasionally makes for an interesting ride.

all imarges by jarcob  —  click to enlarrge

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the shipwreck coast

click to enlarge — imarge by jarcob

Eagles Nest
seen from The Caves
near Inverloch, Victoria, Australia

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Toora-li-additty 2

As previously noted, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) recently refused a housing development at Toora, on the South Gippsland coast, due to the ‘probability’ of flooding arising from climate-change induced sea-level rise.

A ‘climate change adaptation specialist’, Dr Peter Fisher, in an opinion piece last week observed with regard to the Toora decision:

Curiously, [VCAT] did not invoke a similar precautionary approach when it refused to overturn planning approval for a gas plant upgrade near Marlo. The proposed residential development at Toora was apparently more risky than the processing and storage of liquid hydrocarbons and monoethylene glycol on a low dune next to a lagoon on a flood plain with only frontal dunes between the plant and the ocean.

Curious indeed; however, such inconsistency could be illumined by the fact that one proposal was underpinned by a significant commercial lobby, whereas the other clearly was not.

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Toora-li-additty

click to enlarge  —  imarge by jarcob

It seems global climate change and sea-level rise are imminently upon us.

The threat of rising sea levels has persuaded a tribunal to refuse a housing development in South Gippsland.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal said it was “reasonably foreseeable” that climate change would affect the allotments, which could be flooded and storm-damaged.

It is believed to be one of the first cases in Australia where climate change has been given as a reason to refuse a coastal development.

The VCAT decision apparently makes no assertions on whether climate change is anthropogenic, or human-induced, but it does lean heavily on the authority of “the preliminary view of CSIRO scientists that the Grip Rd area of coastline near Toora would experience storm surges and potential flooding.” (My emphasis)

click to enlarge  —  image source google maps streetview

This blog knows of at least one family who’ve bought a small acreage in the ‘affected’ area with a view to building a home there. The VCAT decision renders their existing planning permit null and void, leaving them with a marginal agricultural-zoned allotment which may be good for ... agisting horses?

One would think that building a residential dwelling, on land that may theoretically be subject to flooding at some future date, is a matter solely undertaken at the owners’ risk.

Of course, there are wider issues and downstream consequences of allowing exceptions in this case. But what are such people now to do with land acquired expressly for a given purpose, which has now been scotched by administrative fiat?

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sshhhhhh!

click to enlarge  —  imarge by jarcob

For some reason it’s been kept somewhat under wraps, but the area of Foster and Welshpool, South Gippsland, seems set to benefit economically from expansion of port facilities at Barry Beach. Some are even tipping boom times for the district.

There’s not much information available, but the following came across my desk today:

TEK-Ocean and Ancon Australia signed a two-year lease for a sector of Esso Australia and BHP Billiton’s Barry Beach Marine terminal in South Gippsland, Victoria, for the provision of logistics and subsea support services.

TEK-Ocean will offer full logistics services such as vessel berthing, fuel, water, storage and bulk handling. The services will be provided out of an interim wharf area that ... will eventually be replaced by a dedicated whart [sic] area ... which is being developed by TEK-Ocean and Ancon.

Gippsland Maritime Logistics, a division of TEK-Ocean, will manage port logistics operations at the leased area. TEK-Ocean said the location of Barry Beach will offer oil and gas operators in the Bass Strait fuel as well as time savings in comparison to using existing ports in Melbourne and Geelong.

It was also reported a couple of years ago that Southern Shipping was looking at moving its operations to Barry Beach, to expand its shipping business between South Gippsland, Flinders Island and Tasmania. I’ve been unable to find any further news on that.

We went for a drive down there last weekend to check things out, but couldn’t get near the site because the Esso/BHP-Billiton facility is subject to restricted access. Consequently we were only able to get a glimpse of the development from a scenic lookout above nearby Toora.

A farming couple with whom we stopped to have a yarn didn’t seem to know very much about it, either. As we were chatting, two sinister-looking black vehicles prowled past in convoy.

“There’s the mafia again,” the lady farmer observed.

The plot thickens.

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