The picnic was a whirlwind of fun! This year the annual thank you picnic was held at Peter Carroll Oval in Katoomba, a new location for us as we celebrated the achievements of our bushcare community and beyond.

Due to high demand, we ran a Bushcare Trivia this year with questions composed from our very own quiz wizz bushcare collective of volunteers. We had a number of winners with first place going to Gun Gun Bushcare and consolatory prizes going to Warrimoo Weed Warriors, Deanei, Sublime Point and Medlow Bath – Congratulations!

It was the perfect year to run our kite making workshop, with 80km winds creating a beautifully chaotic aerial act of colour and lots of laughter (and much kite chasing).

The popularity of the cake competition saw the Bushcare Bake Off make a return. Volunteers showcased their culinary creations with the theme of spring! This saw the incorporation of colour, flowers, fruit and ants. This year’s winner of the golden knife (doubling as a popular weeding tool) went to 9-year-old Ivy Sambrooke Power. Moving forward we will be looking at changing the prize to something sweeter.

We celebrated the achievements of groups and individuals with the annual award ceremony. A big congratulations to the following awardees

Bushcare Legend – Karleen Waldron

Masters – Bob Taylor

Hard Yakka – Kit Stavert

Landcare Legend – Dennis Whye

Environmental Warrior – Sable Munro Davies

Junior Bushcare Award – Ivy Sambrooke Power

The special awards went to Lithgow Community Nursery, Jill Dark and Drs Judy and Peter Smith. This category recognises and acknowledges the contributions of these individuals and organisations to our Bushcare program.

Milestone Awards:

35 years – Friends of Katoomba Falls Creek

30 years – Redgum Park and Deanei Reserve

25 years – Jackson Park and Mt Wilson

20 years – Darks Common

15 years – Leura Public School and Upper Kedumba

10 years – Birriban

5 years – Valley View Swampcare and Woody Weed Wanders Group

A big thank you to WIRES for sharing some important information about those we share our bush backyard with, the Blue Mountains Women’s Shed for their amazing logistics, energy and enthusiasm in helping with the catering. Thank you to the Leura Catchment Group and Fitzgerald Catchment Group for sharing all the work you have been doing as well as the Healthey Waterways team and your amazing waterbug set up as well as being apart of our community in getting the next generation involved with bushcare through your Connect to Nature schools program.

Another exciting year complete, with another to come! Thank you

*More to see and read in the Summer Edition of the Gecko*