Tim the Yowie Man: dedicated to you, dear reader

Nonetheless, this column's New Year's resolution is to publish more of your contributions; and to show my commitment today's entire column is devoted to clearing some of my overflowing mailbag.

Happy New Year, and keep those emails and letters (yes, you can still send me an old-fashioned letter - see address at end of column) coming throughout 2015.

According to the well-travelled correspondents of this column, Potato Point is the most reliable location to spot emus on the south coast.

Keith Joliffe of Holt reports when he first saw emus on the Potato Point Beach he promptly referred to his bird book and "was surprised to learn that beaches are actually a normal part of emu habitat."

Although several readers, including Mimi Christie of Curtin and Shirley Fitzsimmons, report they often spot emus on the popular beach, Alan Nicol of Wamboin was the only beachcomber to answer my call for a photo of the flightless birds in situ (December 20). The keen shutterbug also snapped the other half of our coat of arms - kangaroos - enjoying the sun, surf and sand on the very same beach.

One reader who hasn't seen emus on the south coast, but who'd like to, is Chuck Young who has been visiting the coast for 43 years, mainly as a member of the ANU Scuba Club.

Chuck, who particularly enjoyed reading about the adventures of Canberra author, Klaus Hueneke in his latest tome Exploring a Wild Australian Coast also has some of his own unusual observations along the south coast which he describes as "an utterly beautiful coast which leaves the coast north of Sydney for dead."

"There is certainly quicksand in several places," reveals Chuck, who reports that there's a patch on the north side of the river at Lake Conjola. "After seeing so many western films where the villain disappears in quicksand I didn't really believe it, but it is real and very dangerous," confesses Chuck, who adds, "I couldn't move my legs, but luckily I was close enough to the bank to be able to haul myself out."

Chuck also has a word of warning for anyone pitching a tent at his club's favourite campground, at Mystery Bay, near Narooma. "One night an antechinus crawled into my wife's sleeping bag - it must have been in the tent before we closed it up," recalls Chuck, who adds, it was a moot point as to who was more terrified, my wife or the poor little creature which was frightened out of its wits."

Swooping the swooper

The campgrounds and beaches of the south coast aren't the only place where Canberrans are having close encounters of the natural kind this holiday season.

While recently exploring Mulligans Flat Nature Reserve near Gungahlin, Matthew Higgins of Ainslie, was swooped a number of times by a territorial female goshawk. As if one swooping bird isn't enough, as the goshawk swooped Matthew, a noisy friarbird joined in the shenanigans and simultaneously swooped the goshawk. "We three were doing a merry dance, the Mulligans' three-step," muses Matthew, who adds, "I ducked with each pass; on the occasion I didn't, she hit my hat."

Writer's retreat

This column's recent pilgrimage to Koorabri, the mountain retreat where Gwen Meredith penned some of the episodes of her popular 20th-century radio serial Blue Hills (Blue Hills dreaming, December 13), brought back fond memories for many readers, some of whom profess to close connections to the Brindabella hideaway.

"The article bought tears to my eyes on what would have been my late mother's 83rd birthday," writes Nick Corby who adds that his mother was the granddaughter of W.P Bluett, the original owner of Koorabri.

Nick explains that his mum "left school at just over 14 years of age and rode her horse from Canberra to Brindabella where she stayed until old enough to legally leave school," and that later in life while recovering from cancer "she camped on the banks of the Goodradigbee" [which runs through Koorabri]. "Living off the land and river was the best therapy she could get," explains Nick, who also fondly remembers "mum and her mother listening to Blue Hills in their Reid home every day 1pm on the ABC."

The expose on Koorabri also flushed out Robert Rolph of Page who, in 1965, as a truck driver, delivered the logs for Gwen's knock-out cabin.

"After picking up a farmer along with a pile of building material from a warehouse at the Kingston Railway yard," it was only en-route to the Brindabellas that Robert's passenger, W. P. Bluett revealed that the load was to be used to build a cabin for Gwen Meredith. "I knew who she was straight away as my mum was a big fan of Blue Hills" explains Robert."

"The trip with Mr Bluett over Piccadilly Circus was more than interesting as it has been light rain and the road was nowhere near in the condition it is now down into the valley" recalls Robert, who adds, "Koorabri was an absolute picture with bush land and rolling hills."

"I unloaded the truck and drove back to Canberra but never forgot that I carried the building material Gwen Meredith's cabin," reminisces Robert.

Meanwhile, Tony Healy of Florey reports he and his brother used to visit Koorabri back in the 1980s where, hoping to be inspired by Gwen's 'aura', they would attempt to write screenplays. Although their scripts were never turned into films, Tony remembers Koorabri fondly, "it really had a magic atmosphere and some beautiful stretches of river."

Punk-rocker Sphinx

While recently exploring the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick, Canada, Cathie Humphries of Kambah, noticed this giant face gazing out to sea at Hopewell Rocks. If you look closely you can even see his eye and what appears to be a short, nuggetty tongue and I don't know about you, but I think Cathie's 'rocky man' could do with haircut - the spike went out of fashion years ago, didn't it?

Cathie, who took the photo at low tide, reports that she didn't hang around for the tide to come in as the variation between low and high tides can be 14 metres plus – some of the biggest in the world.

"At high tide, the water reaches the seaweed line just below his chin," exclaims Cathie, who adds, "the tide comes in fairly quickly – walking pace in some areas, so you have to be careful not to get caught."

"If you see any photos of this area with blue water, they have been photoshopped," warns Cathie, who explains, "there is so much silt, the water is always brown and referred to locally as 'chocolate water'."

Will I ever learn? David Elliston correctly points out that there is no such place as "Tuross Heads" (Where on the south coast?, December 27). . "It is singular; Tuross Head," explains David, who adds, "the other 'head' of the Tuross River/Tuross Lake entrance, if you're looking for one, is Blackfellows Point."

It turns out I made the same blunder several years ago, so to make amends for this repeat offence, I have informed my editor that I will enact a self-imposed exile to Tuross Head, effective immediately, and for terms of the next five days (at least).

Further, in between morning paddles up the glass-like river, catching some lunchtime waves and scoffing some of the coast's best fish 'n' chips for dinner each night, I promise to write in big letters in the sand at the seaside hamlet's main beach, "I won't ever make this mistake again".

I trust David (oh, and my editor) finds this a fitting penalty.

Cryptic Clue: #7.

Degree of difficulty: Easy.

Last week: Congratulations to Joyce Deady of Curtin who correctly identified last week's photo (inset) taken by Brian McKay as the distinctive lookout on the walking track at Wallaga Lake. The clue "not far from a 'jolie' bridge" related to its proximity to the landmark wooden bridge which features in Angelina Jolie's newly released film, Unbroken.

"This lookout is like a portrait of Mount Dromedary (Mount Gulaga)," explains Joyce, who adds, "with the old wooden bridge in the foreground, the lake meeting the ocean, long stretches of white sand, and grassy slopes, on a sunny day you can be dazzled by the colours of the sky, land and turquoise water."

Joyce, who beat a number of other ultra-observant readers, including Peter White of Downer and David Adams of Aranda, to the prize, reckons that "around every corner from Narooma to Tathra you can find such natural beauty that you wonder why people go overseas for holidays ... although I'm glad it's still a somewhat of a secret corner."

How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and address to timtheyowieman@bigpond.com. The first email sent after 10am Saturday, January 3 with the correct answer wins a double pass to Dendy cinemas.