In the last month I have been walking in the early morning. with Kalani, our new male standard poodle puppy. He has replaced the recently deceased Maleko. We picked Kalani up in February from Katsto Kennels in the La Trobe Valley in Gippsland, Victoria on our way back from a week’s walking in and around Mt Buller.

Most of our walks during the late March/early April period have been on back country roads and the local bushland in Waitpinga, due to the toxic alga bloom along the Encounter Coast. The alga bloom was caused by a marine heatwave and the spread of the bloom was from Goolwa to York Peninsula.
The alga bloom placed the beach off limits, as it had caused the deaths of dozens of marine creatures as well as coughing, sore eyes, and blurry vision amongst humans. It was quickly identified as a type of planktonic algae called Karenia mikimotoi. It has now cleared enough for us to return to walking on the beach.