Proposed Monaro Rail Trail sparks memories of adventure by 'ordinary road bike'

While most readers debated the various merits of using the rail corridor, closed to trains since 1989, as a recreational route for walkers and cyclists, it was a photo of the old tracks at Colinton, near Bredbo, which brought back a flood of memories for Feeken.

During an adventure by "ordinary road bike" from Hobart to Canberra in 1956, Feeken revealed that he camped with Gerda, his wife, and Sygun, their 14-month-old daughter, "right near the location featured in the Colinton photo".

"Our route was via the Tasmanian central plateau to Beauty Point, and then from Melbourne to Sydney via the Bonang and Monaro highways," recalls Feeken, adding, "little Sygun was seated in a wooden seat, fastened to the handlebar".

Not only did Feeken dig out some old photos of the epic cycle, he also dusted off his 1956 diary and his entry from October 8 provides an insight into life on the Monaro 62 years ago.

"We started at 11am. It was very warm. The gravel road was dusty and bright to the eyes. There were many trucks moving about in the process of building the Monaro Highway, to be sealed with tar. We arrived in Bredbo, a nicely situated town, and went to the Commonwealth Bank agency to withdraw some money from our saving account. However, our signature, arranged through the Hobart branch, was required which we did not arrange. The lady from the Bredbo Post Office who had the bank's agency, felt sorry for us and lent Gerda one pound, which we returned to her with a letter of thanks from Sydney."

No helmets, no tar, no ATMs and a young carefree family with a sense of adventure. The world really was a different place in 1956.

Simon Kaminskas of Palmerston has shed some light on how murray cod were first introduced to Lake George (November 22).

"Contrary to what many believe, the lake wasn't initially stocked directly with cod," reveals Kaminskas, explaining "it was actually an accident."

According to Kaminskas, a self-described passionate native fish angler, conservationist and historian, "in 1848 Terence Murray, who owned Yarralumla, [which later became the Governor General's residence] transported the cod from the then fairly pristine and native-fish-filled Molonglo River to his lagoon at the northern end of Lake George."

"A few years later the lagoon overflowed in big rains, and cod were washed down the creek and into Lake George proper," Kaminskas, who has sourced his information from old newspaper articles, said.

"The cod went great guns in the lake for decades," Kaminskas said.

"Their demise was the Federation Drought," he said, adding "apparently the stench of dead fish was so great horses refused to carry their riders near the lake for months afterwards."

Kaminskas has also thrown cold water on claims that there was once a fishing trawler working Lake George.

"There was, however, a man called Murphy who used set nets and caught cod from a small row-boat around the boulder-strewn section of the lake opposite the Federal Highway," Kaminskas said.

Still at Lake George, Steve Taylor reports that when the lake was near full in 1892, his great-grandfather, James Shaw, was wrongly accused of stealing a boat from a Bungendore farmer.

"Thankfully he avoided jail and went on to be a surveyor and photographer on expeditions to PNG and botanical expeditions in Western Australia," Taylor said.

But Shaw's bad luck returned when he was later "fatally shot in the back by a disturbed farm worker." Heck, talk about a run of misfortune.

If you live in Red Hill and have lost a number of coat hangers recently, then you may want to check in the trees around the leafy inner south.

While recently working on a demolition job at the Red Hill Flats, Greg Hill of Isabella Plains said he was stunned to see "a nest made predominantly of coat hangers" on the ground beneath a gum tree.

"Apart from hundreds of coat hangers there was also a mobile phone charger and a heap of wire cables and strings," explained Hill, who wonders what sort of bird is responsible for the nest. "Is it a magpie?" he asked.

Geoffrey Dabb, this column's birding aficionado, confirmed "it's almost certainly a magpie", adding "they typically incorporate wire and plastic into their nests."

Somehow, I doubt the coat hangers are being pilfered from the wardrobes of local residents – more than likely the birds are finding them scattered in rubbish piles around our suburbs.

While enjoying a recent stroll around Gossan Hill Nature Reserve in south-east Belconnen, Adriana vanden Heuvel of Bruce stumbled upon this "wonderfully gnarled eucalypt". Like me, vanden Heuvel would like to know what caused the extensive marking on this tree.

According to Vanden Heuvel, "the tree is located on the 'Gossan 2' track, about 40 metres south of the intersection of the Radford firetrail and Gossan 2 track".

Can anyone help?

While recently touring through country Queensland, Christine Retschlag was shocked to see ''yowie pie'' on the menu at the Fernvale Bakery, an hour's drive west of Brisbane.

Concerned that some jilted pastry chef had chopped up "her favourite akubra-clad columnist" for not including their tasty offering in this column's recent pie quest (December 5, 2017), Retschlag demanded a list of the ingredients.

"No, it's not real yowie", answered the defensive chef, adding "it's half-beef and half-pork."

Well, that's a relief.

"I can't believe you didn't mention the Snapper Island simulacra in your Batemans Bay feature last week," Phill Sledge of Kaleen said.

"From the south-eastern side the island resembles a lion's or monkey's head surveying the sea south...and if that's not enough, from Corrigans Beach it looks like a lion with paws looking north."

A double-banger simulacra with the one geographical feature? Well done Sledge, I think that's a first for this column.

Clue: A man's home is his castle, isn't it?

Degree of difficulty: Medium

Last week: Congratulations to Dan Leslie of Curtin, who was the first reader to correctly identify last week's photo, taken by South Coast shutterbug Alan Nicol, as Burrewarra Point Lighthouse, near Tomakin – an active light located just north of Broulee and 25 kilometres to the south of Batemans Bay. Leslie just beat Ian McKenzie of Fisher and Meredith Edwards to the last prize of 2017.

While several readers agreed with the sentiments of James Graham that "it has to be the least romantic lighthouse in the country", lighthouse enthusiast Kevin Mulcahy of Tura Beach "would not classify it as a lighthouse".

"It is a navigation aid to shipping but it has no keeper or a revolving lantern," Mulcahy said, adding, "these lights are usually glass reinforced cabinets but this one is concrete, making it unique."

For the record the Burrewarra light was built in 1974 and has a range of 17 nautical miles.

How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and address to timtheyowieman@bigpond.com. The first email sent after 10am, Saturday 6 January, 2018 will win a double pass to Dendy.