We hope you enjoy our newsletter. Please scroll down to read the latest updates on the tours, in the forest and on our beach cleanups - should you not wish to receive this email please reply back with unsubscribe in the header.

With the recent Northcliffe fires we have been busy assisting with transport of Fire crew – the Yeagarup area (and our tours) have not been in any danger from theses bush fires in fact the view from the dunes of the smoke formations has been spectacular.

Our new brochures are now available to post or you can download them from our website. We hope they bring back many wonderful memories from your time here in Pemberton.

Don''t forget to look us up in the new shop next time you are passing by. Our contact details are still the same - 12 Brockman St Pemberton Western Australia, Phone 08 9776 0484 and web www.pembertondiscoverytours.com.au

Pemberton Discovery Centre Grand Opening

To our past, present and future clients, we are pleased to finally have the Pemberton Discovery Centre building officially opened on Monday 28th November.

See us on Facebook & Trip Advisor where we do appreciate and absolutely LOVE your feedback on your experience.

It has been a year of hard work finishing off the building but now the gallery, shop and shed are done, the carpark is almost there and we are ready to start on the minigolf.

Our tours have been as exciting and stunning as always - we hope you have fond memories there. We have had a lot of whale sitings this year - more than usual so it has been a great year for our guides (they are itching to visit the beach every tour!) Our vehicles are going beautiful - the Arkana (good girl she is :o) is going well and is still an impressive sight to see over the sand dunes.

We have upgraded our hire car and now also have hire bikes available for use from our new shop. 2011 has been amazing year for us and FINALLY our new brochures are out and about (downloadable on our website)

Not only have we been fitting into our new shop but we have been able to offer full time employment to Wendy, gain another casual guide with Peter, currently training Trevor (he is wonderful!), grab Jiuliana for administration and generally build up stock and gifts in the gallery. Thanks to Ren (aka mum) for assisting with finding special souvenirs to fill the clubhouse gallery.

We wish you a happy new year (even though it has already started:o)

From the Discovery Team

Graeme, Toni, Wendy, Colin, Jiuliana, Trevor, John & Ren and the junior guides Cameron, Kieran & Georgia.

Wild Georgia - Update on the tours

On our Beach and Forest Eco Adventures we have had many sightings of Southern Heath Monitor lizards, including juveniles that have just hatched out of eggs. The waterholes that kangaroos dig to reach the watertable throughout the low-lying areas in the dunes and heathland are becoming increasingly important to wildlife at this time of year and we have been finding Western Grey Kangaroos, Emus, Bobtail Lizards and Southern Heath Monitors drinking at these low points. Families of Emus, Red-tailed Black Cockatoos and White-tailed Black Cockatoos have also been found regularly recently. Large groups of Carnaby''''s Cockatoos have been moving through the area feeding in the coastal heath and on pine cones in forestry plantations.

If you''''re out and about at night in Pemberton over the next couple of months look out for young Motorbike and Slender Tree Frogs heading out into the forests and looking for food after changing from tadpoles in our waterways. Also listen for Nicholls Toadlets calling at night when we get light summer rains. During our warmer months many species of spiders are active at night, including huntsmans, orb weavers, wolf spiders and ant-hunting spiders. Colonies of Christmas Spiders have set up their communal webs throughout the coastal heath. Beautiful dragonflies and damselflies have been buzzing around the waterways and in the forests we have been regularly seeing butterflies and scorpionflies.

Tall Kangaroo Paws (Anigozanthos flavidus), Australian Bluebells (Sollya heterophylla) and Slipper Orchids (Cryptostylis ovata) are flowering now. Around the area, look for Christmas Trees (Nuytsia floribunda) and Swamp Bottlebrush (Beaufortia sparsa) putting on gorgeous displays along the roadsides.

Grab the Pemberton Community Newspaper for Wendy''s (and Georgia''s!) monthly articles.

Tangaroa Blue Ocean Care Society

The Tangaroa Blue Ocean Care Society''''s 2011 West Australian Marine Debris Project Technical Report has been released (visit www.oceancare.org.au, look under “Our Projects” for the WA Marine Debris report download). The full year of data we collected during our monthly Yeagarup cleanups has provided important information about marine debris on remote beaches in the south west, revealing that 82% of debris on our beach comes from non-local sources, compared to 54% statewide. Across WA, 77% of debris found on beaches was made of plastic, on Yeagarup Beach plastic items make up 84% of all rubbish. Plastic remnant accumulation (the legacy of past activities – small fragments and pieces of broken-down plastic items) was by far the most common item collected on Yeagarup Beach, comprising 41% of all rubbish collected. Another 20% of debris collected was from the Commercial Fishing industry, 3% from recreational fishing, 28% from individual consumption (eg. packaging related to the consumption of food, drink and cigarettes), 5% from individual activities (4WDing and camping etc) and 2% from boating and shipping. Ropes, nets and lines made up 21% of debris. Our Coodamurrup Beach Cleanup in October for the annual South West Beach Cleanup showed 96% of all rubbish came from non-local sources and 87% was plastic. If everyone visiting our beaches picked up any plastic they found and took their rubbish home, imagine what a difference we could make!

Our data has shown that the south coast beaches can experience onshore winds and big swells year round, compared to a distinct onshore-offshore season found on the Capes and west coasts. This means we have a much more disorganised pattern for debris washing up and this dynamic part of the coastline is likely to experience frequent burying and flushing out of debris.

As we mentioned last month, we have committed to monthly cleanups at Yeagarup until April 2013. The next scheduled clean ups for Yeagarup Beach is 18 March, meet outside the Pemberton Discovery Shop at 2pm.

Don''t forget about Clean Up Australia Day on Sunday 4th March – we have registered Salmon Beach as a site – meet at the Salmon Beach carpark at 9am.

Hope to see lots of volunteers helping out this year!! And a huge thanks to all of the volunteers who helped out in 2011 from DCCG and TBOCS!!

If you wish to  join us (think of it as a ''free'' tour!) please get a message to Wendy here at the Pemberton Discovery Centre - 08 9776 0484 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it