195901
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+ | ====== The Sydney Bushwalker. ====== | ||
+ | |||
+ | A monthly bulletin of matters of interest to the Sydney Bush Walkers, c/- Ingersoll Hall, 256 Crown St., Sydney. Box No. 4476, G.P.O. Sydney. ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | === No. 289. January, 1959. Price 1/-d. === | ||
+ | |||
+ | |**Editor**|Geof Wagg, 131 St. Georges Cres., Drummoyne. UW 3435 (B) 1-2 p.m.| | ||
+ | |**Business Manager**|Brian Harvey.| | ||
+ | |**Reproduction**|Jess Martin.| | ||
+ | |**Sales and Subs**|Jess Martin.| | ||
+ | |**Typed by**|Grace Wagg.| | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== In This Issue: ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | | | |Page| | ||
+ | |Fire Prevention Schemes for Unprotected Areas| | 1| | ||
+ | |At Our December Meeting|Alex Colley| 2| | ||
+ | |The Great Wade|" | ||
+ | |Salami - Cabernossi - 54" | ||
+ | |My Love's the Mountains|Dot Butler| 9| | ||
+ | |Weekend At Home|" | ||
+ | |Jottings Of A Bull Moose| |12| | ||
+ | |Letter From Mick Elfick| |14| | ||
+ | |Six Feet Under The Earth| |17| | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Advertisements: | ||
+ | |||
+ | | |Page| | ||
+ | |Hattswell' | ||
+ | |Leica Photo Service| 7| | ||
+ | |Sanitarium Health Food Shop|11| | ||
+ | |Paddy' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Fire Prevention Schemes For Unprotected Areas. ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Although volunteer bush fire brigades have been formed and equipped to undertake the fighting of bush fires in urban and rura1 areas, and the New South Wales Fire Brigades operate in Fire Districts under the Fire Brigades Act, responsibility for carrying out fire prevention and suppression measures in vacant Crown lands covering vast sections of the Coast and Tableland regions - in many parts contiguous to centres of population such as on the Blue Mountains - is quite beyond the resources of either of these organisations. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Funds amounting to £100,000 for expenditure on planned fire prevention works in unprotected regions in coastal and tableland areas have been made available by the State Government. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Following the serious fires in the Blue Mountains and other parts of the Coast and Tablelands during the 1957-58 fire season, the Chief Secretary, the Hon. C. A. Kelly, M.L.A., convened a special conference of the State' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Embraced within these proposals are:- | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Blue Mountains Bush Fire District.\\ | ||
+ | The Southern Highlands (Nattai) Bush Fire District.\\ | ||
+ | The Putty Bush Fire District.\\ | ||
+ | The Barrington Tops Bush Fire District. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Broadly, the schemes are designed to include the following:- | ||
+ | |||
+ | * The prevention of uncontrolled fires. | ||
+ | * The encouragement of controlled hazard reduction at safe times of the year. | ||
+ | * The development of a system of fire trails and firebreaks in unoccupied lands. | ||
+ | * The setting up of means of fire detection and communication. | ||
+ | * To facilitate attacks on fires in rough or inaccessible country at the earliest practicable stage. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is of great interest and to the benefit of walkers, who know only too well how our walking areas have suffered in recent years. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== At Our December Meeting. ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | At the commencement of the meeting our President had a busy time welcoming new members - no less than six altogether. Four of these - Jean Gordon, Elizabeth Hahn, Stan Daily and Bob Godfrey (with daughter) were admitted in December, and two others, Vi Harvey and Denise Hull in November. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Correspondence brought a request from the Hobart Walking Club for a donation towards the equipping of a hut at Port Davey as a memorial to the late Charles King. On a motion by John White, it was decided to donate £5. | ||
+ | |||
+ | A letter from Miss Daphne Ball, Hon. Sec. of the Bouddi Park Trust, said that the scrub in the park was regarded by many of the local residents as a fire menace to their properties. If they could ever prove that bushwalkers were responsible for starting a fire there it would be difficult to retain the area against the " | ||
+ | |||
+ | A notice from the Newcastle Technical College Bushwalkers informed us that they were forming an association to take over White' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Negotiations between the Federation and property owners in Centennial Glen, Blackheath, had resulted in the property owners agreeing, willingly, to let walking parties cross their land, provided they made themselves known en route. Cattle had been shot, and, as shooters with rucksacks look like bushwalkers, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Tom Moppett told us that a special fund had been created for locating and fighting fires in vacant crown land, as suggested by the S.B.W. and other bodies some years ago. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The President informed us that several Club officers would not be standing for re-election in March. These were Edna Stretton, Membership Secretary; Tom Moppett, Conservation Secretary; and Ken Meadows, Secretary. Jess Martin would appreciate someone else taking over the duplicating, | ||
+ | |||
+ | At the conclusion of the meeting Frank Ashdown reported fresh hut building at Burning Palms and Era and the picking of wild flowers along the Princes Highway near Darke' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | Dear Dorothy Dishkaway, | ||
+ | |||
+ | I have been terrorised by the concrete jungle opposite Hyde Park. During our Club Christmas Dance I was Stripping a Willow when I got a terrible agonising pain in the ankle above the feet. | ||
+ | |||
+ | They carried me home head first in a sleeping-bag. When I got there my ankle was all puffed up and was missing some skin. I looked at my ankle and found it had three bloody puncture marks in it. Someone suggested I had been kicked, whilst a friend said I should have been kicked anyway. The thing that worries me is that they say the Dalai Lama nests a pet poisonous snake in his beard. I couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | - Waltzer Kruschen | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== The Great Wade. ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | - " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Only once before, and that in my first writing for the magazine, more years ago than I care to remember, have I felt impelled to use a pen name. Come to think of it, that was about a trip on the Colo River, too, but I then used a pseudonym because I was bashful, not for fear of the consequences. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Because, since the occasion of the Great Wade I have learned that some fifty years ago, the purists amongst mountaineers so deplored the use of pitons that the chappie who employed them was a cad, unfit to belong to any gentlemanly Alpine Club: while twenty years later, there was great dissension on the sporting virtue of using bottled oxygen on Himalayan peaks. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now there' | ||
+ | |||
+ | After promising to be a large party, there was a dwindling in the ranks until finally we were only six as we broke camp near the eastern end of Culoul Range on a fresh November Saturday morning, and climbed into A's land Rover. The timber road was more or less trafficable for another four miles, but it was still only 7.15 when J pointed to a familiar side track, and we stopped and alighted, and upped packs. | ||
+ | |||
+ | We passed four hours in a journey along ridges bearing a general resemblance to much of the Blue Labyrinth, save that from the occasional high points, the country ahead, and to left and right, so far as one could see on this bright morning, was a chaotic wilderness. In the Labyrinth you can usually glimpse bits of Blue Mountain settlement or even the coastal plain. Once we passed over a lofty point, richly grassed - some sort of volcanic intrusion of the kind that is often associated with the tops in the Northern Blue Mountains, but mostly we traversed a featurless spur, with stunted sandstone country vegetation. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Eleven thirtyish, we came to the rim above Wollemi Creek, and from one of the cliffy outcrops looked down on a small, discoloured stream winding between steep, but not sheer, walls. Perhaps half a mile down, through an almost imperceptible rift in the chewed-up landscape, the clear waters of the Capertee entered and we were looking down on the birth of the Colo. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Intrepid types would no doubt have been down in half an hour or so, for the total descent would not have been greatly over 1,200 feet, but we were a cautious party and worked down from shelf to shelf and level to level, while I sweated considerably, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The leader, who "had been there several times before", | ||
+ | |||
+ | Forty minutes or so after lunch, and a bit over half a mile down the Wollemi, we came to the Capertee, and therefore, the Colo. (I still think the Colo should start five miles above, at the confluence of Wolgan and Capertee, but then, cartographers are highly irresponsible people.) | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Capertee, glary be, was warm and crystal clear, and only about six inches deep, flowing over an expanse of gritty yellow sand. It came out of a tortuous looking rift between stained and shaggy walls. It looked wild. I knew a little satisfaction at being in a spot where comparatively few walkers had gone, though only seventy miles from Sydney and about five or six hours walking time from a highway. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another dip for those who wanted to, and the leader said we now had between four or five miles down river to cover. It may be necessary to do the lot that afternoon if we wanted a tolerable camp site. About three o' | ||
+ | |||
+ | I suppose we continued down the west bank of the Colo for half a mile or so: the gorge had closed in, and although the cliffs on each side were broken enough to offer endless scaling opportunities to the intrepid, they wouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | I had been eyeing the gentle looking stream, and presently could bear it no more. Flinging away my reputation as a walker like a winter garment of repentance, I mumbled to H, who was nearest and would know what I meant, " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Very soon my sandshoes and socks filled with gravelly sand, so I peeled them off, put them dripping in the top of my 'pack, and splashed happily on, barefoot. At the first rough patch of bank, I outstripped the earth-bound party, and then H joined me. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Joyously we splashed and bounded along. D and then C followed suit. Here and there were unexpected, innocent-looking patches of quick sand, and in one stride you could be up to the knees, the thighs, the hips in three inches of water and one or two feet of sand with the consistency of porridge. Undeterred, we bowled noisily downstream, and presently even A and J, in whom tradition died hard, were sloshing and sinking and sloshing again. It became an accepted routine, after negotiating a particularly soggy or extensive strip of quick sand, to perch on a rock or sand bank and watch the tail wallow through, with some not-too-accurate shouted advice on the positions where the quick sand was quickest; and considerable ribald hilarity. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The means of extricating ourselves from the gorge was at the outlet of Boorai Creek, just opposite, and when it began to drizzle under an overcast sky on Sunday morning, there was no real incentive to dwell by the river. About nine we started on the hill, stopped a time at the crest to go to the rim and look down into the ravine and across to Mount Barrakee, and heaven knows what else on the west, then struck off along the labyrinthine ridges again. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Standard ridge walking, rejoining the trunk of the Culoul Range about three miles from the road, filled the rest of that day until at 3.15 we came again to the Land Rover. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Overall, and considering that we walked in one of the least frequented parts of coastal New South Wales, it was an entirely uneventful trip. Why, it wasn't even as rough as I'd expected, although still qualifying for "some of the roughest country in the State" (and no apologies to the local Press). | ||
+ | |||
+ | However, I believe some record should be made of the first wade down the Colo: and if sensitive walkers feel that our conduct is improper, I can only urge them to try the same journey at a time when the river is low and the sun is bright and warm - and see if their rectitude and love of rock hopping will carry them dry-shod where we splashed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | --- | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Hatswell' | ||
+ | |||
+ | For all your transport problems contact Hattswell' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Speedy 5 or 8 passenger cars available. Large or small parties catered for. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Fares: | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Kanangra Walls - 30/- per head (minimum 5 passengers) | ||
+ | * Perry' | ||
+ | * Jenolan State Forest - 20/- per head (minimum 5 passengers) | ||
+ | * Carlon' | ||
+ | |||
+ | We will be pleased to quote other trips or special parties on application. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Photography!? | ||
+ | |||
+ | You press the button, we'll do the rest! | ||
+ | |||
+ | Finegrain Developing. Sparkling Prints. Perfect Enlargements. Your Rollfilms or Leica films deserve the best service. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leica Photo Service. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 31 Macquarie Place, Sydney, N.S.W. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | GUMBOOYA-INGA GUMBOOYA-INGA GUMBOOYA-INGA | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Salami - Cabernossi - 54'. ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | - " | ||
+ | |||
+ | So read the Christraas food list. Yes, unmistakeably, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== More Free Nights. ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Committee Members (bless 'em) have been fully aware of the fact that on the Club nights when they meet in the inner sanctum to sagely deliverate on Club affairs, the " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Be that as it may, the new Social Programme now in the hands of members will disclose that the first Wednesday of each month is now designated a "free night" with the hope that ordinary members will come in and make it a social evening among themselves (without the added attraction of the Committee) just as they do on other programmed "free nights" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Tentative plans are afoot for such innovations as the provision of the projector in a darkened corner to allow the screening of sundry slides by those who don't have a projector at home. The Social Secretary would welcome suggestions for the unorganised entertainment or recreation of members on that night of the month (such as table tennis), so that those who want to have a quiet (or otherwise) natter can do so without the frustration of sitting up like Jacky in row upon row in the dark. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== My Love's The Mountain Range. ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | - Dot Butler. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What takes you to the Mountains every weekend", | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | It started when I was a little over a year old. Family circumstances took us from Sydney to Queensland where an exceptionally torrid summer, together with an epidemic of some description, | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | But my mother, with that unaccountable stubbornness mothers have, refused to give up hope. Every morning in the quiet grey silence before the dawn she would set out with me for the bush. We went early to avoid the heat of the day. From the top of the highest hill we would watch the sun arise in a glory of splendour. Trees would rustle with a cool stir in the soft dawn breeze as the world awoke. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "The world is very beautiful," | ||
+ | |||
+ | There were happy puppy days in the bright clear Queensland weather when the five little brothers and sisters lived and loved and laughed and were riotous in the sun. They danced and hunted through the bush, they lay sprawled on the hot sun-dazzled earth, warm in the sun and delightfully cold in the shade, and watched white islands of cloud heap themselves pile on pile and fill the upper air with movement and colour; they speculated on the infinite blue of the sky as seen through the riot of green and silver which was the gum trees. There was the joy of responding to the strong vibration of the earth, of trying to unravel the myriad tiny noises that made up a noise, and who can explain the deep soul-satisfying joy a child knows on feeling the silky-soft dust of the white road go puff between bare toes, or in squelching knee-deep through the thick black mud of the tidal mangrove creeks. In the trees were koala bears to be enticed with gum leaves, and if you stayed in the bush when the sun had gone down, you might be lucky onough to see a ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | When I was five we came south again to live at Epping. Still the friendly grey-green bush was all around, and sometimes it was all splashed and painted with gold. On those days when the wattle bloomed, a child could wander through the perfect sweetness of a world of green and gold, permeated with a wild-honey smell, and become friendly with the horny, clinging splinter-pullers on the wattle bark, and the iridescant beet1es that got in your hair, lifting their wing-cases and saying " | ||
+ | |||
+ | There were days of hot, singing silence, and days when the locusts droned deafeningly through the pulsating air. If they ceased suddenly it was as though life had been snapped in the middle. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Some time about my tenth birthday we went to live on the western line, in a place of great, wide paddocks which stretched and rolled away as far as the eye could see. All around was a blue perimeter of sky, but over there where the sun went down, standing out in bold porminance against the sky, rose the mountains of the West, of a more entrancing, beckoning blue. How we children longed to go there! What stories we wove about the great hills and greater valleys where the golden air drifted lazily in deep silent gorges walled in by tall gaunt ranges - where the dingos howled at night beneath a sky freckled with stars, and quiet, round-eyed things prowled through the growth and sniffed in the dark. Oh, the vastness of it! The solitude and the mystery! | ||
+ | |||
+ | Of course it was great fun to play down in the creek bed near home where the ti-trees danced all in green and white, and the brown flood sang along between mossy banks rich in unexpected fungoid treasures of orange and purple, whites and browns and reds. It would act as a palliative for a time, and the insistence of the still small voice urging us to the mountains would be somewhat dulled, but in my mind a faint pain would remain to haunt me when alone. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Early one Autumn morning when the wind bore a scent of other worlds - urgent, tantalising, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Even as I looked, the colours blurred, the light faded and the shade of evening closed in. The mountains softly withdrew into the dark hollow of night and a little evening zephyr fanned the scented air. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I don't remember how we got home, but for a long time afterwards I went round in a brown haze of reminiscence, | ||
+ | |||
+ | However, the mountains still remained far away. School work and suburban interests filled by days till, at the age of 19, a wonderfully new and exciting world opened to me. I joined up with the happy, friendly company of people whose hearts belong to the deep solitudes of the bush, the rugged sun-kissed ridges and the shining watercourses. Together we go out into quiet places, and at odd moments we may catch a glimpse of a little fleeting form from the Shadow Land, and as we lie by the camp-fire at night, watching the red sparks fly upwards in a rush of light towards the cold white, radiance of the stars, a deep peace steals over us in the realization that we have at last come home." | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Sanitarium Health Food Shop and Vegetarian Cafe. === | ||
+ | |||
+ | __Australia Day Weekend__. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Sanitarium Shop offers a full range of non-perishible summer foods suitable for this holiday weekend - in the bush or at the beach camp:- | ||
+ | |||
+ | Dried fruits, rice, nut-meat, figs, beans, fruit cake, breakfast foods, tinned fruit, fruit juices, biscuits, spreads, nuts. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 13 Hunter St., Sydney. BW1725. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Wanted. Wanted. Wanted. === | ||
+ | |||
+ | A powerful wolf-cry capable of being heard at least one half mile away. Owner/s required to give genuine wolf-calls from a hilltop at hourly intervals or as otherwise needed in the coming GUMBOOYA-INGA. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Watch Notice Board for auditions. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Weekend At Home. ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | - "Bull Moose" | ||
+ | |||
+ | I've had my meals all cooked for me\\ | ||
+ | And breakfast late in bed; \\ | ||
+ | A bath that took two hours -\\ | ||
+ | The papers all I've read. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I've overeaten grossly,\\ | ||
+ | I'm not the slightest tired.\\ | ||
+ | It seems so very long ago\\ | ||
+ | The last time I perspired. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There' | ||
+ | A drink - an easy chair;\\ | ||
+ | An atmosphere that's heated\\ | ||
+ | By flowing dustfree air. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I've had my full 8 hours' sleep,\\ | ||
+ | And as the doctor said:\\ | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | To soothe an aching head". | ||
+ | |||
+ | The softness of these moccasins\\ | ||
+ | Is comfort, heaven knows.\\ | ||
+ | I slip them gently from my feet\\ | ||
+ | And work my battered toes. | ||
+ | |||
+ | No walking this weekend,\\ | ||
+ | I should feel good, but gee,\\ | ||
+ | This resting' | ||
+ | For cripes, it's killing me. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Jottings Of A Bull Moose. ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | __Did you read this news item__? "Baby walks at six months on Terry' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thinks - Quieter than Cornflakes anyway. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | __Applied Psychology__. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Who was the attractive unknown lady walker who remarked to her friend while standing in a crowded train, "I wish that strong good-looking chap would offer me his seat, I'm so tired" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Immediately six men jumped to their feet. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | __Overheard__. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I can't understand her. I think it must be drink." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Bad luck, you should try when you're sober." | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | __the Walkers' | ||
+ | |||
+ | He is no walker who to the ground\\ | ||
+ | Can fall and lie without a sound. | ||
+ | |||
+ | But he is walker who, with a smile,\\ | ||
+ | Can rise and push another mile. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | Even the best of family trees has its saps and suckers. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | __Dorothy Fix__ (or is it Mix) | ||
+ | |||
+ | My advice to the venturesome girl who finds it difficult to resist the well worn paths and the attractive invitations from men bushwalkers is " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | __Darling I'm Getting Older Dept.__ | ||
+ | |||
+ | If you take the height of Mt. Cook (12,406 ft.) from the height of Mt. Everest, what's the difference? | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | __Sailor Beware__. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Would you say the flirting girl at the yacht club was contemplating witchcraft? | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | __The Skindiver__. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Ignore this element awhile,\\ | ||
+ | Dive deep and glide a rocky aisle,\\ | ||
+ | Cool and still, yet fair to see-\\ | ||
+ | Behold the wonders of the sea.\\ | ||
+ | And in a world where fishes fly\\ | ||
+ | Forgot that earth is slave to sky. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Wombeyan Caves. === | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Ranger at Wombeyan Cavas has stated that the people with whom he has the most trouble are those known as bushwalkers. Mr. Stiff has stated that he realises that the body of people mentioned are of a very independent mind, but would like to point out that it is illegal to enter any cave in the reserve (and there are no caves worth entering which are not in the reserve) which require any type of artificial light. Members are asked to note this point and co-operate with the ranger, who you will find is quite a reasonable bloke. However, he will also be found to be quite zealous in his job! | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | 14. | ||
+ | A LETTER FROM MICK ELFICK | ||
+ | I read in the November mag. that people expected me to depart with any battered overnight bag only. Nell, despite the hinderance of about 40 million | ||
+ | part time soldiers, who decided to prance about the streets, and the encumberance | ||
+ | of a certain female, who decided she wanted to buy a camera, I managed to purchase a monsterous, useless, hopeless suitcase, but forgot the essentials - shirt on which ties will fit, tie, etc. | ||
+ | Naturally, I did take my little blue bag with me. It was chock-a-block | ||
+ | with text books (weighed about 42 lb. 6 oz.) and needless to say, I didn't check it in at the airport office. | ||
+ | First thing I did in Hobart wqs to hurl the big, useless, hopeless, | ||
+ | monsterous suitcase under Manning' | ||
+ | haven' | ||
+ | However, I am beginning to think that my little blue bag is nearing the end of its economic life - maintenance costs in needles and cotton are high and it may soon need a new zip, but with a few modifications it should have | ||
+ | years of life yet. | ||
+ | I've been walking for a few years now, but most trips have been all male " | ||
+ | Now I've strayed into a new field. Imagine the party - Elfick and two females (Evelyn and Ruve) - on a six day loaf through the Cradle Mountain-Lake St. Clair Reserve. | ||
+ | First I might as well explain how this came about. Since I've been w working an average of six days a week since arrival, I suddenly found myself with seven working days which I could take off and still get paid for - so I | ||
+ | knocked off work on 16th December. Now, since I finished up at Launceston, | ||
+ | the simplest thing to do was to walk:back fia the Reserve, and by a mere - " | ||
+ | Now for the sorry? tale. We set forth in typical Tasmanian weather at about 8.00 a m. By 8.30 it was snowing in a horizontal direction and by 9.00 a m. we were frozen, so we stopped at Kitchen Hut, The weather didn't improve so we stayed put, only venturing outside to either view the dismal white scene or gather hunks of wild rhubarb to " | ||
+ | Next day the snow was only coming down at about 30o to the ground, so we three intrepid souls made a wild rush for the next hut. | ||
+ | The weather and schedule for the next few days was similar and as | ||
+ | follows:- | ||
+ | 15. | ||
+ | 1. Arise when it is beginning to look a bit light - generally 9.00 - 9.30 a m. | ||
+ | 2. 10.00 a m. breakfast cooked by the girls (chiz | ||
+ | 3. 11.00 a m. push off in a rush. | ||
+ | 4. 1.00 - 2.00 arrive at next hut vet and/or frozen. | ||
+ | 5. 3.00 p m. sufficiently thawed/ | ||
+ | 6. 4.00 - 8.00 tea cooked by girls (chiz). | ||
+ | We did see a bit between the wildly fleeing clouds, and the mountAins seen through the wild weather seemed even more formidable and impressive. The waterfalls were beaut - nlenty of water in them. | ||
+ | By the time we reached Windy Ridge the bad weather had blown itSelf out and from Narcissus to Cynthia Bay was great - real N.SX. type feather. To celebrate, we trotted up to Byron Gap (uphill at an average 3 m p.h. - who said girls can't walk:). | ||
+ | However, I'd better tell you of a few traps laid for charlies like me so yoa can warn any others who are in a similar nosition. (1) I was told "you go first since you will set a good pace etc." - what rot, but the leader does fall into the most bogs and get the most mud; (2) At Narcissus Evelyn trots in, towel in halid, saying "Gee that swim was great" | ||
+ | Still, despite the weather etc., it was a great trip - I wouldn' | ||
+ | lhen we all arrived at the flat, there was bedlam. Imagine five bush- walkers in a 2i room flat, cooking, packing and unpacking all at once. When it was time to sleep, you literally cleared a space with your feet and laid down, if possible. | ||
+ | Then the girls decided to do some of their " | ||
+ | Every time Ruve or Evelyn or myself say hello, all they do is to turn round and chuckle; | ||
+ | 16. | ||
+ | Anyhow, I now have a week's solitary confinement here to straighten things up before the mob returns. I made a great discovery tonight after a lot of work - the floor is covered with linoleum and underneath my left foot is a patch which is a definite green colour. Perhaps we have a green lino floor: I must get to work and find out: | ||
+ | All the best. | ||
+ | Michael Elfick. | ||
+ | P.S. We (the H.E.C.) go to the West Coast on 6th January to work on the Ring River Gorge and Pieman River, so I should see a bit of the S.W. then - especially if we get our ' | ||
+ | P.P.S. For heavens sake don't publish this | ||
+ | SUMMING CARNIVAL 1959 | ||
+ | This year's Swimming Carnival will be held on the weekend of 14th 'and 15th February at Lake Eckersley, a -wide sandy bend of the Nbronora River; - approached from Heathcote Station by an easy walk of about 2i miles, Mo6tlY along an unused Water Board Road. The official train is the 12.50' | ||
+ | Saturday, whilst the day walk will be on the 8.50 a m. Sunday train. Those - | ||
+ | coming out on the Sunday are asked to Make haste as the programme is a full one. Cups of tea will be waiting on arrival! | ||
+ | There are two annual trophies to be won - the Henley-Memorial Cup for the | ||
+ | highest point score, and the Mandelberg Cup for the mixed relay handicap race. | ||
+ | It will be interesting to see if Georgina Langley can retain the Henley | ||
+ | Memorial Cup. Will another star come to light? | ||
+ | The main events mill be:- | ||
+ | Men's Open Championship | ||
+ | Women' | ||
+ | Men's Breaststroke Nbmen' | ||
+ | Long Plunge - Gets & Ladies | ||
+ | Underwater Contest Peanut Scramble | ||
+ | The point score is decided on the open races, breaststroke races and the long plunge. The "Long Plunge" | ||
+ | GUMBOOYA-INGA GUMBOOTA-INGA GUYBOOTA-INGA | ||
+ | It is a much used saying that "truth is stranger than fiction", | ||
+ | SDC FEET UNDER THE EARTH | ||
+ | - " | ||
+ | Now speliology (or cave exploring) is a subject on which I delight to let my hair down because I've done quite a bit of it and haven' | ||
+ | I think one of the most humerous things about caving is to hear the performance of someone caught in a " | ||
+ | One such 6/-6" explorer, known to his friends for irrelevant reasons as "The Admiral", | ||
+ | Now the Admirnl' | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | "But I tell you / just don't bend that way!" "Can you get on to your other side then?" | ||
+ | With a tremendous clatter of hobnails and laboured grunts, the Admiral sought to rotate himself in the confined snace. | ||
+ | "Watch out Admiral:" | ||
+ | At last, with a final grunt and sigh, the Admiral announced, " | ||
+ | 18. | ||
+ | "What do you mean you think?" | ||
+ | "Well, my feet are still facing the other way". | ||
+ | "Never mind them. They' | ||
+ | As you may imagine, the sound of even heavy breathing in sueh a aonfined | ||
+ | space is considerable, | ||
+ | kicking hobnailed boots against hard limestone, the din is deafening. | ||
+ | All these sounds we heard (together with some muffled curses) as the | ||
+ | - | ||
+ | Admiral progressed around the ' | ||
+ | the same way as his head, and his head and shoulders were moving into the seeond | ||
+ | part of the ' | ||
+ | In fact, his legs from the knee down seemed to be just too long to fit round into the " | ||
+ | in getting one leg jammed with the knee in a hollow in the floor and his foot | ||
+ | hooked somehow on the roof. | ||
+ | "Er, Bev, can you see my right foot?" | ||
+ | "Yes, it's there Admiral." | ||
+ | "I know it's there: But can you see why it wont come down from the roof?" " | ||
+ | "What: Are you sure you're looking at my feet? | ||
+ | "Size eleven." | ||
+ | "Must be. I suppose I got them muddled when:they were facing the other way. 1V6.1:1, can you get it unstuck, whichever it is:" | ||
+ | "Hang on, I'll try." | ||
+ | There was a pause while Bev manouvered into a better ' | ||
+ | the sound of blows interspersed with cries from the Admiral. | ||
+ | Thud: " | ||
+ | I'm trying to knock it out with my rock hammer, but it wont come. | ||
+ | have to take off your boot. Hang on." | ||
+ | "Hang on: Where do you think I'd g | ||
+ | While Bev laboured to remove the boot, the carbide lamp at the other end of the Admiral, which had been flickering for a time, finally went out, leaving him in darkness. With more muffled curses, the Admiral decided to rectify this | ||
+ | because, quite apart from being in the dark, the acetylene gas, no longer burning, kept leaking into the atmosphere and while it wasn't dangerous, it smelt vile. The matches, of course, were in his overalls pocket and as he was | ||
+ | lying on his right arm, he couldn' | ||
+ | 19i | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | "Not ready:: You do nothihg but lay there while I wait on you hand and foot and then you're not ready!" | ||
+ | "But rizr light' | ||
+ | "What do yob. need a light for? You can't get lost." | ||
+ | So it was that the Admiral was talked into nroceeding with one boot on, both arms by his side and his light out. Of co-urse he didn't get more than a foot before the leg with the boot on got caught, and by this time his shoulders were also jammed and the lamp was leald ng acetylene right under his nose. | ||
+ | I wont bore you with the rest of the story. Enough to say that the Admiral extricated himself with the greatest alacrity when Bev accidentally? | ||
+ | Efa,araa | ||
+ | "The roughest country in the State" is usually discovered by the press on the Tuesdays following long weekends. It is located wherever the lost hikers happen to be and descriptions of it help fill the spaces between the advertisements and reports of accidents. But the S.M.H., in an intrepid sortie to the North on the weekend of 7th and 8th December, located it on the HaWkesbury: where the new power line is being laid. | ||
+ | 0 o | ||
+ | ULL,U ja.A.L,A.R ? | ||
+ | 0 0 0_ | ||
+ | If not, this may be just what you're looking for 11 | ||
+ | _ o | ||
+ | The 1959 Mae claR TRIAL to be hell' | ||
+ | UN | ||
+ | 1911711 | ||
+ | 0 o 0 | ||
+ | FOOTWEAR | ||
+ | The walking season for 1959 is fast approaching | ||
+ | and for those once again thinking of N72.WFOOTIAIEAR, | ||
+ | wish to announce a new shipment of Commando Soles has just arrived and we have placed further orders for boots to be made up with these soles fitted. Our last shipment sold out very quickly. | ||
+ | These boots are becoming more and more popular as the more cautious buyer learns from a new owner of their versatility and makes the plunge ! I | ||
+ | Just to refresh your memory, these boots have the following special features:- | ||
+ | Commando Sole stuck and brass-screwed to solid double butt leather sole. | ||
+ | High-quality chrome-tanned uppers all sewn with double waxed thread and triple stitched at vital points. | ||
+ | All soles fitted the full length of the boot. | ||
+ | In all, an article of footwear to take a lot of hard punishment and give reliable service. | ||
+ | PRICEP..a PAIR - 5. 5. O. Colours - Black or -- Tan, | ||
+ | ANOTHER NEW LINE IN FOOTWEAR | ||
+ | Special miners' | ||
+ | JUST ARRIVED | ||
+ | Full range of carabiners just arrived - priced from 9/9 to 27/6d. | ||
+ | PADDY PAWN | ||
+ | Lightweight Camp Gear, | ||
+ | 201 CASTLF REACH Si. SYDNEY | ||
195901.txt · Last modified: 2018/11/23 13:12 by tyreless