Thursday, November 03, 2011

 

The New Big Dam

Yesterday we went for a trip out to see the work on Canberra's new dam. It is being built on the Cotter river. There is already a dam there, but the new one will be three times as high and hold a huge amount of water. The new one will actually cover the old one when it is finished. There is a great walking trail from the carpark at Cotter picnic ground to a viewing platform where you can see the new dam being built. The trail follows the river most of the way. The water is really clear and you can see fish and tortoises and even platypus if you are there at the right time. I like to sit on the little bridge over the river and count critters in the water. Actually, I would love to go canoeing or rafting down the river, but the Oldies won't let me. When you get to the viewing platform you can see the work going on; huge cranes, cement and rock trucks and men working on the next section of dam wall. You can see the old dam behind the work. Water is flowing over the spillway of the old dam and is piped into the river below the new one. There are a lot of posters at the platform explaining all about the new dam. I will visit the dam every month and keep you posted on progress. There is one thing that you have to watch out for when you do this walk in summer. The path is concrete for a lot of the way and snakes like to lay on it to soak up the warmth. We found a fairly big Copperhead near the path on our way back. He had moved off the track when he heard us coming and was just off the edge waiting to see what we would do. Copperheads are very venomous, so you should treat them with respect. We waited a while and then Dad got the snake to slowly slither away by stamping his foot; snakes feel vibration and Dad sounded like something the snake didn't want to meet. Next time we do this walk I hope to meet some more interesting critters.

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