Linda and Roger's Bunhybee Grasslands

Facts about the Property

This is a page within Roger and Linda's Bunhybee Grasslands Web-Site.
Bunhybee Grasslands is a 49ha/120-acre conservation property 35km south of Braidwood, in sthn N.S.W.
You can follow through the internal links, or you may find it easier to use the Site-Map.

Bunhybee Grasslands is a prime example of native southern temperate grassland. This page provides what we know in relation to the following aspects:

• The Location
• Rainfall
• Grazing
• Environmental Reports in the Area
• Directions on How to Get There

There are companion pages on:

• The Geography of the Local District
• The History of the Local District
• The History of the Property

Location

Bunhybee Grasslands lies at an altitude of between 710 and 760 metres in a side-valley of the Shoalhaven River, 35km south of Braidwood.

The property is bounded on the west by the 946-metre Bunhybee Peak, and on the east by Jerrabat(t)gulla Rd. It is 4km south of the intersection of Jerrabatgulla Rd with the Krawaree Rd (which runs between Braidwood and Cooma), and 1km north of the intersection with Harts Rd.

It comprises Lots 7, 165 and 164 within DP 754890, once of the Parish of Ballalaba, but latterly of the Parish of Kwawarree, County of Murray. As shown on this sketch, the Lots run from N to S, and are, respectively, 470m(N-S) x 345m (E-W), about 400m square, and 400m x 450m. The property as a whole runs 1260m N-S with an E-W width that averages 410m.

Based on the Kain 1:25,000-series map, the middle of the middle Lot (Lot 165) is at about Latitude S35/40/40 or -35.6778 and Longitude E149/46/30 or 149.6083. One set of GPS readings at the middle of the house-location gave S35/40/385, E149/36/582, and elevation 2500ft (762m) +/- 30m (all of which are verrry close to the map-coordinates).

Here is the Google Map view, centred on the nearest place-name that Google Maps recognises, which is Jerrabattgulla, 3km south of the property.

Here are Google's directions from Braidwood to Jerrabattgulla, which is 3km beyond the entrance to the property. Here is a local-area map, and a detailed sketch, and a surveyor's map.

Rainfall

We understood the area's long-term-average rainfall to be about 750 mm (30 ins) p.a. However:

• the average during the long drought 2000-09 was about 580 mm (23.2 ins) p.a. – 77% of the long-term average
• the area is very windy and hence has a high evaporation-rate

There seemed to be no Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) site anywhere in the upper Shoalhaven valley, with the nearest official climate statistics being for Braidwood and Braidwood Racecourse, both c. 35km north.

However, after trawling the BoM site, I located the page for weather-station data. A search on 'Jerrabattgulla' found the location 35.68° S, 149.58° E, and it says station 070261 is at Gilston, at 35.69° S 149.59° E (the next property south of Warragandra, 2.5 km SSW of Bunhybee Grasslands, and at 725m, i.e. the same altitude. Here are the Gilston pages for daily rainfall, and monthly rainfall, mirrored here.

The extract in this spreadsheet includes a few missing months for which I've interpolated average rainfall. It suggests:

• a long-term mean of 753mm / 29.7in
• a 1985-1999 mean of 770mm / 30.8in
• a 2000-2009 mean of 580mm / 23.2in (77%)
• 2001-02 and 2004-06 were 65% of the long-term mean, 2003 and 2007 were average
• 2008 was 83%
• 2009 was 77%
• 2010 – consistent rain in the first half of Feb resulted in a record monthly total of 237mm, and May's 119mm was a 90%ile result; but the other 7 months to and including Sep were 25% below the mean (projecting 0-10% above average for the year)

The most useful weather-stations nearby are:

• 070057 Kwawaree, 16.3km south, at 730m (the same), since 1898 but patchy, 795mm p.a., mirrored here
• 069010 Braidwood, 30.6km north, at 643m (100m lower), since 1888, 718mm p.a., mirrored here

Other less relevant weather-stations nearby are:

• 070214 at Parker's Gap (the pass on the Captain's Flat Road), at 35°63S, 149°50E (10km WNW, but on the watershed at elevation 1249m). It presumably has higher rainfall, but the measurements are too sparse to be able to tell
• 070191 at Tallagandra (Tintinara) at 35.60°S, 149.58°E (11km due west, and elevation 855m, so apparently on the western slope of the Great Divide)
• 70061 at Major's Creek (18km NE, and at 670m, but considerably wetter – although less so during the drought since 2001)
• 70016 at Captain's Flat

Grazing

The property has always had limited water available for livestock. As a result, the property has always been lightly grazed, and appears to have never been improved with fertiliser, nor with non-native, higher-food-value grasses. Visiting professional and amateur ecologists have found about 180 native species of grasses and forbs on the property (and we've found another 20), and there are only relatively small problems with weeds (about 20 species, only a few of significance).

Environmental Reports in the Area

There was a Water Catchment Authority study of the Upper Shoallhaven in 2008, mirrored here.

There are mentions in Sydney Water Supply Quality Audits in 2005 and 2007, mirrored here, and here.

A report exists of the upper Jerrabattgulla Creek / Krawaree West area as seen from a regolith science (i.e. mining company) perspective in 2004.

Directions to Bunhybee

The property is 35km south of Braidwood. These directions assume you can get yourself to that metropolis (probably pausing there for a coffee):

• Leave Braidwood sort-of southwards on the road to Araluen / Cooma / Captain's Flat
• Follow the road 0.5km past the edge of town, then turn right towards Captain's Flat
• After 25km, ignore the right turn to Captain's Flat, and keep going straight ahead, up the Shoalhaven valley towards Cooma. The road is variously called Cooma Rd and Krawaree Rd
• 30km from Braidwood, just after crossing Jerrabatgulla Ck, turn right onto a gravel road called Jerrabatgulla Rd
• The gate onto Bunhybee is almost exactly 4km down this road. There is a large sign on the gate (but if the gate's open you might miss it)
• If you reach the T-intersection with Hart's Rd, you've gone 1km too far
• Even if the gate's open, DO NOT DRIVE IN! Please protect the grasslands from the seeds your vehicle inevitably carries, by parking on the (very quiet) unsealed road

The nearest named location on Google Maps is Jerrabattgulla, which is 3km further south.

On that map, the entrance is about where the 'g' of Jerrabatgulla Rd is.

Here are Google Map's directions from Braidwood to Jerrabbattgulla, but don't forget that that's 3km beyond the entrance to Bunybee.

This is a page within the Bunhybee Grasslands Web-Site, home-page here, and site-map here

Contact: Linda or Roger

Created: 7 October 2008; Last Amended: 8 October 2011