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DECEMBER 2016 e-News
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Bellarine Bayside is the foreshore manager of 17km of Crown land from Pt Richards to the southern edge of the St Leonards township, which includes natural and built assets, holiday parks, playgrounds, boat ramps and boat sheds. Income received from the holiday parks fund the majority of maintenance, cleaning and improvement works.
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Bellarine Bayside e-News

Welcome to the December edition of our e-News. 

After a busy winter preparing the holiday parks and completing our maintenance and improvement program, we are looking forward to the influx of summer visitors over the coming months. Summer is such a busy time for us and I look forward to having our holiday parks bustling with activity again.  This summer sees loads of activities on offer for the kids and a wider variety of food vans than in previous years. Find all the details below.

 

Don't forget to follow us on social media for all the latest Bellarine Bayside news at your fingertips!

JOHN NANKERVIS
Chief Executive Officer

UPCOMING EVENTS
     
15 DEC 16 Port Community Carols, behind Port Pier Cafe
26 DEC 16 Port PS Market, Little Reserve & Parks Hall
1 JAN 17 Church in the Park, behind Port Pier Cafe
2 JAN 17  Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic, Portarlington
3 JAN 17  Portside Pilates, Parkview Room at Parks Hall
3 JAN 17  Portside Pilates, Indented Head Hall
7-8 JAN 17  Wellbeing Expo, Parks Hall
11 JAN 17  Renew Yoga, Indented Head Hall
11 JAN 17  Film Night, Indented Head Hall
14 JAN 17  Portarlington Mussel Festival, Parks Hall & Little Reserve



24 DEC 16  to 26 JAN 17 Port Charity Carnival, Nash Reserve

Bellarine Bayside Foreshore Committee of Management meeting summary reports are now available on our website. Click here to read the summaries. 
Portarlington Holiday Park Tree Removal

The safety of our holiday park patrons and visitors is our highest priority.

On Sunday 9 October a severe wind event lashed Victoria with gale force winds of 110km/h. This event brought down several large trees in and around the Portarlington Holiday Park and along the coast. The impact of these severe winds dramatically increased the risk of nearby trees falling or dropping branches, which placed them in the urgent and unpredictable category should we experience further severe northerly winds. 

On this basis Bellarine Bayside acted on the expert advice of an independent specialist arborist who recommended the urgent removal of these at risk trees. These urgent works were completed in November and a landscape plan was made available for comment which is currently being implemented.

READ MORE HERE

We have also taken this opportunity to make a few other improvements to the holiday park in this area including:

  • sealing Second and Third Avenue
  • laying turf
  • asphalting walkways around toilet blocks
  • creating a path from Fourth Ave to the beachfront
  • shelters near toilet blocks with furniture
  • an outdoor shower and drinking fountain at toilet block 4.
2016 Annual Community Meeting Wrap-Up
 
The 2016 Annual Community Meeting was held in the Indented Head Community Hall which has recently undergone some fabulous improvements. The evening started with a Welcome to Country by Uncle Bryon Powell who represents the Wadawurrung people, the traditional owners of the land we currently manage. Following Uncle Bryon, Bellarine Bayside Chair, Diane James AM gave a detailed update of Bellarine Bayside activities for the past financial year, which has been very busy but highly productive with many fantastic achievements. Download our Annual Report here to read more on these great successes. Previous Annual Reports can be found on our website here.

Our guest speaker for the evening was David Provis. David is an oceanographer who is very familiar with the northern Bellarine coastline and Port Phillip Bay. He is the Senior Principal for Cardno, who delivered the Our Coast Inundation Summary report. David presented some great information on coastal processes of the northern Bellarine, particularly erosion that can affect our foreshore quite dramatically .
Did you know the Indented Head Hall is available for hire? Download our venue hire form here and find out more about our facilities for hire on our website.

Holiday Park News

With plenty of activity in the holiday parks over winter and since the season opening on 28 October 2016, there is loads of exciting news and updates to share with you. First of all, a Kangaroo Jumper jumping cushion was installed at Portarlington Holiday Park, being our only holiday park open all year long. This is located near the entrance to the park. 

In other news, toilet block 4 in the Portarlington Holiday Park and the Batman Park camp kitchen have been renovated and refurbished. The improvements to the Batman Park camp kitchen came after consultation with campers during our summer Camper Connection sessions. We will again be holding these sessions in January 2017, so if you would like to have an informal chat with the Committee, CEO and Senior Management Team put the 19th, 20th and 21st of January 2017 in to your diary. Also, pick up a summer camper newsletter or follow us on social media for updates on locations and times of these sessions.
The food vans and summer activities will be back in full force this summer with a dedicated food van area created on Fourth Ave away from Arthur's recreation room and more central for everyone. A full list of food vans and locations will be available at check-in and in our hard-copy camper newsletter. Summer kids activities include the regular Summer by the Sea program, Kelly Sports activities and a Kids Craft Club brought to you by Bellarine Party Shop. Download the calendars of activities below.
 
                    KELLY SPORTS                                  KIDS CRAFT ACTIVITIES

Meet Our Staff - Heather Downey                                

I have been employed at Bellarine Bayside since September 2010 in a permanent part-time customer service role at reception. I enjoy the customer contact and working with a great team.  I previously worked at Torquay Foreshore Caravan Park as a casual receptionist for 8 years. In May 2015 I travelled to America to meet my dear pen-pal LaNor for the first time in 38 years and enjoyed every second! Our story was featured in the Geelong Independent and Bay Area News in California. A follow-up story was also published in Geelong Coast Magazine spring edition after I returned. 

Congrats to our Green Army Team Graduates!

green army logoOver the past 6 months the Bellarine Green Army Team has been working on a collaborative project between several organisations on the Bellarine Peninsula. As part of this project the team have been assisting Bellarine Bayside with several projects including integrated weed management of bridal creeper in several areas along our foreshore, planting native species and assisting our local Friends of Pt Richards Group in their effort to restore the natural beauty and habitat of Pt Richards Flora and Fauna Reserve. We congratulate the team on their efforts and wish them well in their future environmental endeavours.

Read more here and here.
Have your say on our bays and waterways!

pelican and boats summerRecreational boating and fishing contributes around $11.6 billion to the Victorian economy each year and accounts for about 51,700 full-time jobs. Victorians can now have their say on how to improve safety and access around the recreational use of waterways across the state. Minister for Ports Luke Donnellan has launched a discussion paper to help shape the development of a Safe and Accessible Victorian Waterways Strategy.

Have your say on the future of Victorian waterways by completing the online  feedback form on the website, or by emailing safeaccessible.waterways@ecodev.vic.gov.au.

Minister Donnellan says, "You don't have to own a boat or fishing rod to have your say, everyone is encouraged to get involved through this discussion paper and help shape the future of our rivers, coasts, and wetlands".

The discussion paper is available here.

Submissions close on Wednesday 14 December 2016.  

Animal Management Zones (Dog orders)

Bellarine Bayside is currently undergoing a review of the current animal (horse and dog) management orders in our management zone. Together with the City of Greater Geelong, Bellarine Bayside will be releasing revised, draft animal management zones for comment in early 2017. If you would like to stay informed on this project please email your contact details to contactus@bellarinebayside.com.au. All current projects are regularly updated on our website project page here.

Bellarine Nature Cadets

Kids exploring their environment

Bellarine Bayside together with Portarlington Neighbourhood House are calling for expressions of interest for our Nature Cadets Program. We are looking for a group of 12 cadets aged between 9 and 14 years old interested in learning more about their natural environment. Each week there will be varying activities run by skilled and qualified professionals in the field to provide quality information in a fun and encouraging atmosphere. Activities will include (but are subject to change):

  • Rock-pool ramble and beach comb
  • Magnifying glass session
  • Environmental movie night
  • Growling grass frog bush walk
  • Scavenger hunt
  • Craft/games and graduation.

To register your interest please contact Neighbourhood House on (03) 5259 2290 or email enquiry@portnh.org.au.
Snorkel Tours
Check out this video of the Steeles Rock area filmed by your snorkel tour guide Jarrod Boord.
This video of Portarlington was also produced by Jarrod.
Copyright © 2016 Bellarine Bayside Foreshore Committee of Management, All rights reserved.


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