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WORLD WETLANDS DAY -

WETLANDS PRESENTATIONS

2nd February -11am

Erina Fair, Erina

OCCI is holding an event to celebrate world wetlands day.  This will include a series of talks on wetlands including the historic perspective of how wetlands are influenced by sea level change, a talk on freshwater wetlands and a talk on surveying and protection of wetlands. A static display will also be exhibited. Venue is

Erina Library and talks begin at 11 am.

 

GENERAL MEETING-

OCCI LAKE MACQUARIE

4th February -7pm

Awabakal Centre, Boundary St, Dudley

 OCCI Lake Macquarie is a new arm of OCCI Central Coast that started last year.  If you live in the Lake Macquarie area, and care about your marine environment.  Please come along to the meeting to see who we are and what we do, and help this new group get started.

 

SNORKLING @ FLY POINT

OCCI PORT STEPHENS

6th February -2pm

Fly Point, Nelsons Bay

 OCCI Port Stephens is having a day snorkeling at Fly Point.  If you would like to join in and explore this great snorkeling site please book on 0404713113.  Beginners welcome, some gear supplied if necessary.

 

PROJECT AWARE

INFORMATION SESSION

17th February

Port Stephens

 ‘Project AWARE on the Coast’ is a community marine education course run by OCCI over a number of weeks to teach about the fantastic marine life in our coastal waters. Ecology, safety, regulations, cultural considerations and field trips form part of the course. If you want to learn about marine life, come along to the information session to find out what its all about.  For details about the Port Stephens course contact 4980 0251.

 

PROJECT AWARE

INFORMATION SESSION

18th February

Lake Macquarie

 ‘Project AWARE on the Coast’ is a community marine education course run by OCCI over a number of weeks to teach about the fantastic marine life in our coastal waters. Ecology, safety, regulations, cultural considerations and field trips form part of the course. If you want to learn about marine life, come along to the information session to find out what its all about.  For details about the Lake Macquarie course contact 4921 0724.

 

GENERAL MEETING-

OCCI CENTRAL COAST

24th February -7pm

Marine Discovery Centre, 11 Terrigal Dr, Terrigal

OCCI Central Coast is now meeting at the new Marine Discovery Center at Terrigal.  The general meetings will include a guest speaker on a marine topic.  This months speaker is Sarah Huscroft on ‘The origins of sustainable development and how it applies to the marine environment’. Supper provided. Members, please come along and get involved. Non-members welcome to drop in and see who we are and what we do.

 

PROJECT AWARE PORT STEPHENS COMMENCES

3rd March

Port Stephens

 ‘Project AWARE on the Coast’ is a community marine education course run by OCCI over a number of weeks to teach about the fantastic marine life in our coastal waters. Ecology, safety, regulations, cultural considerations and field trips form part of the course. For details about the Port Stephens course contact 49800251.

 

PROJECT AWARE LAKE MACQUARIE COMMENCES

4th March

Lake Macquarie

 ‘Project AWARE on the Coast’ is a community marine education course run by OCCI over a number of weeks to teach about the fantastic marine life in our coastal waters. Ecology, safety, regulations, cultural considerations and field trips form part of the course.  For details about the Lake Macquarie course contact 49210724.

CLEAN-UP AUSTRALIA DAY

OCCI-MEMBERS EVENT

7th March

Avoca Lake

OCCI members will be getting together and taking to the water in kayaks to clean-up Avoca Lake for Clean-up Australia day. If you would like to take part contact 0406658070.  

 

SEAGRASS WALK

OCCI PORT STEPHENS

7th March

Bagnals Beach 9am

OCCI Port Stephens will be giving a Seagrass walk and information session at Bagnalls Beach.  If you would like to come along and learn about seagrasses please phone 0404713113 for bookings

 

EX-HMAS ADELAIDE SINKING

OCCI DISPLAY

27th March

Avoca Beach

The long awaited ex-HMAS Adelaide is scheduled to be sunk as a recreational dive wreak on the 27th of March.  There is sure to be plenty of onlookers for an exciting day, OCCI will be there to spread the word on the importance of marine conservation.

 

HERITAGE AFLOAT FESTIVAL

OCCI DISPLAY

11th April

Toronto

OCCI will once again having a display at the Heritage Afloat festival. Heritage Afloat is an annual event held at Toronto, Lake Macquarie NSW. The festival includes the participation and exhibition of traditional and classic boats - steam, sail, motor and oared craft of all sizes from all over Australia.  The festival also includes lots of activities including kids games, live entertainment and a "Quick and Dirty" boat building competition.  For more information about the event visit www.heritageafloat.com.au

Rock Pool Walk for St John Fisher Catholic School

On 10 December, Jeannie conducted a Rock Pool Walk at Shelley Beach for approximately 48, Year 1 children from St John Fisher Catholic School, Tumbi Umbi. Judy and Isabelle assisted and the children were accompanied by their teachers and enough parents for one adult per five children.  The six and seven year olds had been studying conservation of the marine environment and came with some knowledge and lots of enthusiasm.  The large group was divided into two and took turns on the rock platform with the OCCI ladies. While one group was peering into rock pools and finding the creatures, the other stayed on the beach doing other activities. Jeannie explained about several of the marine animals and how they adapt to living on the harsh rock surface and in the pools and crevices of the platform.  The children were able to identify a number of creatures and algae, such as the zebra top shell, the black nerite, the variegated limpet, the mulberry whelk, the cunjevoi, Neptune’s necklace and kelp from their worksheets.  The outing was a great success due to the excellent organisation of the teachers and the keen interest and excellent behaviour of the students.

 

OCCI recipient of ABC Radio auction

The group was contacted a few weeks ago by ABC Radio in Newcastle. They have had a campaign called ‘Hit The Bottle’ running since March where they have asked their listeners to collect PET bottles from out of the local creeks and bring them in to the studio. They then had some artists collaborate with local TAFE and schools to create an artwork from the bottles. The art work was then auctioned off over the air on 7th Aug. The highest bid was $1,000 and OCCI has pledged to use this donation to start an OCCI group in the Lake Macquarie area. An unexpected but welcome windfall! Check out the details by going to: www.abc.net.au/hitthebottle

 

WHALE DREAMERS FESTIVAL – August 2009

Official attendance numbers are estimated at 4,500!

That’s an official SUCCESS! Even though we had last minute hassles about traffic arrangements and the police would not let us open the road even to our shuttle bus, everyone was in great spirits. The whales began breaching as the drumming started – what an amazing opening ceremony! Our OCCI ‘Whales and Whalers’ game was a big hit, the entertainment and guest speakers were superb and the weather was very kind to us. Thank you so much to all our volunteers who helped out on the day, and a HUGE thank you to Nikki, Colette and Roberta for all their co-ordination of the event. It takes a lot of time and effort to put such a great event on. These girls have worked ‘above and beyond’! Stay tuned for bigger things next year!

 

OCCI – PORT STEPHENS!

OCCI is on our way to having a new ‘arm’! The group will be based in the Port Stephens area and is currently coined as OCCIps.  A bunch of very enthusiastic people attended a recent public meeting in Port Stephens on 16th May and voted to form an OCCI group in their area. The meeting was organised by founder of OCCI, Jeannie Lawson, and Jo Thompson, who has recently completed a ‘Project Aware on the Coast’ course sponsored by OCCI and Port Stephens Council. The first official meeting will be held next Wednesday night, 10th June, at 5.30 - 7.30 pm in the Waratah Room, Tomaree Library at Salamander Shopping complex, Salamander Bay. Contact for the group is Jo Thompson and her mobile number is 0404 713 113.  

 

Home found for the MDC - May 2009

The Central Coast Marine Discovery Centre was officially given a new home on the 20th of May. The old Terrigal Tourism Office located on Terrigal drive. OCCI was at the official announcement to show our support for the scheme as one of the supporting organisations along with the CEN and Newcastle University.   It is scheduled to open by November ready for the Summer holidays.  

 

Pride of Workmanship Awards - 2009

Jeannie was recently the recipient of a Pride of workmanship award for her work with OCCI helping preserve our marine environment.  Click here for more details and photos.

 

OCCIs Telstra Environment Award Nomination UPDATE

Well, we were beaten by a koala! The $2,000 grant for October went to a group who are planting food trees for koalas. A worthy cause anyway.

 

OCCIs Telstra Environment Award Nomination

OCCI is in the running for the October 2008 Telstra environment award and was recently featured on Channel 10 news with Tim Bailey’s weather. Click here to check out the clip.

 

Whale Dreamers Festival - 2008

This years whale dreamers festival was held at Norah Head and was a huge success with over 2000 people attending the day and a great  variety of whale and marine themed displays and entertainment. Click here to read more about the Whale Dreamers Festival and some photos from the day.

 

Whale Poetry Competition - 2008

There was great interest in the whale poetry competition this year with 99 entries received from schools and the community. The winning  entries were announced on 29th June, where some were performed at the Whale Celebrations at Copacabana by national champion Bush  Poet, Peter Mace. Click here to read the finalists poems.

 

World Oceans Day Coach Tour - 2008

The marine educational couch tour, organised by OCCI to celebrate world oceans day proved to be extremely popular with bookings filling  the bus almost as soon as it was announced. Due to the success of this event, OCCI intends to run a similar tour at a future date, so stay tuned. Click here to read more and for some photos from the day.