KEY POINTS:
I have a confession to make. I have not trained as a botanist so I had no idea what Lomandra Longifolia was. Learning that it's commonly known as the spiny-headed mat-rush left me none the wiser.
So why were eight of us enthusiastically re-potting these seedlings when we had the beauty of Australia's Montague Island to explore? Because there was a catch.
If you want to stay overnight on this New South Wales island nature reserve off the coast from Narooma, with a National Park ranger guiding your wildlife and walking experience, the only way to do so is on a Conservation Volunteers' tour.
Helping with the re-vegetation of the island is one thing, but knowing we were making homes for little penguins inspired us to blitz the re-potting of 1100 plants in two hours.
Our first experience of the wildlife was from the Narooma Charters vessel that took us to the island. We'd seen a giant petrel, hosts of shearwaters (muttonbirds), dolphins, migrating humpback whales, and then, around the northern end of the island, a huge colony of Australian fur seals.
Hundreds of the creatures were "fin surfing", waving their fins in the air to control their body temperature. Only a few seemed intrigued by the boat. What a spectacle.
After docking, we walked up the hill to the lighthouse and it was time for our next surprise. "Go away!" you could hear the silver gulls screeching as they strutted out to the path with beaks raised, or they'd rise into the air in the most raucous defence of their nests, reminiscent of the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds.
The voice of reassurance urged us past them, before stopping to give the official welcome speech in the shadow of the lighthouse.
Mark Westwood, our guide and mentor with the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC), helped to develop the overnight-stay venture in 2005. Volunteers visit and stay as part of the Conservation Volunteers of Australia (CVA) programme.
In the following years, the tours won the Ecotourism category of the NSW Tourism Awards.
But if anyone thought they would be "roughing it", one look at the guesthouse rooms dispelled that idea.
What was once the head lighthouse-keeper's cottage has been refurbished into quality accommodation while retaining its old world ambience.
Over lunch on the verandah we watched through a telescope as whales performed their antics, one slapping the water repeatedly with its tail.
We were lucky to have marine scientist and whale researcher, Michelle Lemon, with us so had the entire spectacle explained. Then it was time for a tour of the island, beginning with the 125-year-old lighthouse.
The dressed granite used for its construction was quarried on the island and hauled up using a block and tackle system.
The light began operation in 1881, and was upgraded several times before its automation in 1986. From the upper viewing platform we had a good perspective of the island, from buildings below to views toward the mainland.
Early keepers of the light and their families endured a lonely lifestyle, dependent on boats and elementary signalling systems for communication. This was brought home to us when we inspected the small cemetery where two children of the first keeper were buried. They died of suspected meningitis. An assistant lighthouse-keeper, Charles Townsend, died in 1894 after a cart fell on him when the horse bolted. Passing steamers didn't respond to their pleas for help because rough seas made landing too dangerous.
From the gravesite we looked across at the Butcher Rocks, so-called because sea eagles catching prey at sea frequently stop there to tear it to pieces.
Walking next to Old Jetty Bay, Westwood paused to show us the remains of an Aboriginal shell midden.
As late as 1892, one such group from the Wagonga tribe met a disastrous end, their canoes swamped in a squall with the loss of 150 lives.
Westwood also pointed out Gulaga (Mount Dromedary) on the mainland, an area of National Park recently handed back to the traditional owners. He then checked on some of the artificial nesting boxes in areas made temporarily bare by the herbicide spraying and controlled fire programme designed to eradicate the kikuyu.
This grass has displaced vegetation suitable for penguin habitat and has trapped or strangled 3 per cent of the penguin population each year. Before we left we had a quick glimpse of one pair of birds happy in their new home.
That first evening we accompanied some of the bird researchers for a penguin head-count. Two of us went with Peter Fullagher who has been counting shearwaters here since 1965 in an epic longitudinal study.
Two-thirds of those on Montague are wedge-tailed shearwaters, most of the remainder are the short-tailed variety.
The penguins land at many spots around the island and our choice of a rocky outcrop was more true-to-life than the huge enterprise that is Phillip Island in Victoria.
While it was exciting when the first few waddled past up their "highway" to their burrows, we were surprised when 15 suddenly appeared over the ridge in front of us.
Several conversations ensued - among the birds, that is - before they decided which way to go next.
Finally, number 55 arrived and, to our amazement, lay down near us, perhaps from exhaustion. We eased back and left him recuperating.
During our stay we explored parts of the coastline with colourful names like the Fingers, where we removed some sea spurge weed; Coffee Rock with its dramatic seascape; and the Gut, beyond which the northern end is a no-go zone because of the density of shearwater burrows.
There was also time to unwind, to take photos of crested terns gliding towards their nesting mates, or to visit the small museum.
Our last dinner was a convivial affair, though one question preoccupied us. Would the windy weather allow us to leave the island the next day? We knew now why the tour information said not to make departure arrangements in too tight a timeframe.
As it turned out we left only an hour early to beat the changing tides at the Narooma bar. The breeze was fair, dolphins rode the bow-wave and soon we were approaching the harbour entry.
Then it was life-jackets on as we rode the swell through the opening in the breakwater.
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GETTING THERE
Air NZ has up to five services daily Auckland to Sydney. Online fares start from $322 one-way.
Narooma is 5 hours' drive south of Sydney. A coach service is also available. See: www.premierms.com.au. In Narooma I stayed at the friendly and comfortable Seascape Ecotel, a motel that's being refitted with a variety of sustainable technologies for power generation and waste handling. See www.ecotel.com.au
MONTAGUE ISLAND
Public access is permitted only by guided tours on approved vessels. The two-night trip is run by Conservation Volunteers Australia in conjunction with the Department of Environment and Conservation. September to November is the most popular time because of the wildlife. Phone +61 3 5330 2922 or see Conservation Volunteers
* Bruce Holmes visited Montague Island as a guest of Conservation Volunteers Australia and the Department of Environment and Conservation, and stayed in Narooma courtesy of the Seascape Ecotel.
