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© 2010 Ocean & Coastal Care Initiatives
© 2007 Ocean & Coastal Care Initiatives
GENERAL MEETING-
OCCI PORT STEPHENS
18th August
OCCI Port Stephens is a new arm of OCCI that started last year. If you live in the Port Stephens 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. For time and venue details phone 0437 803 696.
GENERAL MEETING-
OCCI CENTRAL COAST
25th August -
Marine Discovery Centre, 11 Terrigal Dr, Terrigal
OCCI Central Coast is now meeting at the new Marine Discovery Centre at Terrigal.
The general meeting will include a presentation by Jeannie Lawson on Cephalapods
(Octopus, Cuttlefish and Squid). Supper provided. Members, please come along and
get involved. Non-
GENERAL MEETING-
OCCI LAKE MACQUARIE
2nd September 6pm
Dawabakal Environmental Education Centre
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. For time and venue details phone 0403 394 999
AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM DISPLAY
4/5th September
Australian Museum
OCCI has been asked to host a display at The Australian Museum during September to celebrate Biodiversity Month. We will have our usual touch table display but will also be doing some interactive activities with the kids.
GENERAL MEETING-
OCCI PORT STEPHENS
15th September
OCCI Port Stephens is a new arm of OCCI that started last year. If you live in the Port Stephens 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. For time and venue details phone 0437 803 696.
GREEN LIVING FAIR
25th September 9am-
Gosford-
Council is once again holding a Green Living Fair, now in its 5th year to be held
in Kibble Park on Saturday 25 September 9am -
SCHOOL HOLIDAY ROCKPOOL RAMBLES
October
Central Coast
OCCI will be holding a series of Rock Pool Rambles during the October school holidays. Join our knowledgeable guide to explore Central Coast Rockplatforms and discover the many fascinating creatures that live on our rocky shores. Please check back closer to holidays for dates and details.
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-
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 -
Home found for the MDC -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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.
