My weekend Swamp Grass trek/trilogy/torment

[wagga]

I am still recovering at home from heat exhaustion, mentally fatiqued, financially compromised, but mostly in shock that I had just driven a 650 km round trip to find this currently illusive must have finch nesting material. Only to find it was very thin on the ground, with just us three finch fools or idiots (as my wife latter explained in great depth), trying to scratch around like old chook's in the paddock armed with a rack in one hand and a white bag in the other. After an hour or so this we counted only 6 bags of this precious commodity, midday was fast approaching with temps of 37 predicted and the after winds due to change, we loaded the bags back in the van and traveled down some back roads to the next paddock. This paddock had little to none left as it too was blown away. It was time our guide, fincho fool etc to return home as he had visitors on the way (I thank you again for all your help). On the way here we seen some other idiots in a paddock racking grass just down the road in the 'field that dreams are made' photos. Upon arrival at the field I parked under the only shaded area available, which was exactly where the others were before, right under the trees someone had left 6 huge bags of freshly picked swamp grass. The looks on each other face must have been priceless. After surveying the lay of the land, we decided not touch them, as this field must be at least 10 to 20 acres in size and totally covered in thick long 'golden strands of gold' swamp grass. It was this point in time we noticed the land owner was moving down the track on his ATV and heading straight down to our van. We introduced ourselves and asked if could pick some grass of the field. A polite and firm NO was their answer. They explained that the crops had washed away and this grass will be their only income for the year. He also mentioned that he was racking the grass into bags as he had a contract price of $30 per kilo from a Sydney business. $30 a kilo I asked again to confirm what I had just been told. We packed up again and left his property I thought to myself I am glad that I did not just load those 6 bags into the van.

Imagine the local news head lines:

'Police had stopped a major interstate supply and distribution network of grass, when a local highway patrol pursuit of Two men in a white van found that they had in possession 6 bags of grass weighing approximately 9kg in total.'

Even though the first part in the story is true, a part from peoples names have been deliberately left out, I think this could be used as a wake up call for though people how thinking that we are not held accountable for our actions.

PS check the gumtree.com adds for finch nesting material.

[SamDavis]

$30 a kilo? He must have been pulling your leg. At that price he need not bother planting crops next season.

[gouldianpaul]

Thanks for the funny story Wagga.....makes me realise I'm not the only crazy/wako/fincho going around. Truth be know a well know member on this form an I spent 4+ hours a few Saturdays ago looking for winter grass and other wild seeds up near the Dandenongs (near Melbourne)....at one stage we had not seen a living sole for over 45 minutes....I think we were actually lost for about 2 hours of the journey. I finally tossed in the towel when we came across Bunyip state forest....apparently it's at the back of Healsville....no where near where we wanted to be....at that point I cracked it and put my home address in the GPS and headed home.....It was that Isolated at one point a car stopped to see if we needed a lift back to civilisation....you should have seen the look on his face when I told him we were just picking some weeds.

Several of us have had a good laugh about this for the past 2 weeks......I now have 5 seed bags jammed into my freezer ready for me to pick the seed heads of the grass....will probably take me a month of Sundays to do.....any volunters to help just drop me a PM

Cheers
Paul

[garyh]

And i still burst in to laughter just thinking of these to finchos,thinking their lost and really ,scones and cream only around the corner,Mr tino trying to make a satellite dish out of a coke can because he had no telephone coverage,the numerous distress phone calls of where are we,about six in all, smoke signals from the dandenongs were the only thing missing,and im naming names anybody who knows these two, just use your imagination,yelling ,swearing,its everybody elses fault ,if we don't get home before dark we could be eaten,and to think these two world travelers were only just around the corner,fair dincum these two would get lost on a merry go round,and im still smiling,p.s. if this guy is getting $30.00 per kg for swamp grass,why plant seed crops,let the weeds grow i say ,garyh

[arthur]

I think that $30/ kg is pretty reasonable

Check out the freight . . which they calculate on the 'cubic' basis . .

Then check out the tiny packages of 'nesting grass' that you buy from the petshop for an arm and a leg

If you can drive a short distance to pick up your requirements . . @ $30 it is a steal

[willy]

You could have come to my place Wagga, I have heaps. Wouldn't cost you a cent. Probably more like an 800 km round trip though.

[wagga]

WILLY ..I am thinking about it ..Then reality sets in near 8 hrs each way, hot and windy conditions, crossing that mountain range goat track/highway to get there, possible oversupply the market price will drop for the grass, fuel costs and EXPLAINING to my wife WHY?

Yeah excuses, excuses why not to go .... BUT the $30 kg instead of $10 kg normally bulk buy price is tempting?????

Thanks for the offer,maybe another time

[garyh]

Might be worth the trip,get a few extra bags ,sell them off and pay for the petrol,i charge $20.00 for a 20 kg bird seed bag stuffed full,this usually weighs about 2 and a 1/2 kg might have to look at the price garyh