197508
Differences
This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.
Both sides previous revisionPrevious revisionNext revision | Previous revisionNext revisionBoth sides next revision | ||
197508 [2014/03/13 19:52] – apaddock2 | 197508 [2014/03/14 17:13] – apaddock2 | ||
---|---|---|---|
Line 95: | Line 95: | ||
by Dot Butler. | by Dot Butler. | ||
- | The Kameruka Bushwalkers organised this trip, from 19th to 30th June. They had one seat to fill in their chartered 6-seater plane and asked could the S.B.W. come to their rescue, so I accepted the offer. | + | The Kameruka Bushwalkers organised this trip, from 19th to 30th June. They had one seat to fill in their chartered 6-seater plane and asked could the S.B.W. come to their rescue, so I accepted the offer. The members of the party were David Marks, Dennis Ritson, Peter the Pilot, Libby Thornhill, John and myself. We spent the previous night at Dave's place at Burwood, ready for a dawn getaway. |
- | The members of the party were David Marks, Dennis Ritson, Peter the Pilot, Libby Thornhill, John and myself. We spent the previous night at Dave's place at Burwood, ready for a dawn getaway. | + | |
- | The first question was, would we actually get away? The man who owned the plane had it up for sale and had almost found a buyer, but the sale fell through. Then he made a last minute demand for cash when we had been expecting the hiring to be a cheque transaction. Lengthy telephone calls and a hasty draining-off of all our cash reserves at last solved this unexpected | + | The first question was, would we actually get away? The man who owned the plane had it up for sale and had almost found a buyer, but the sale fell through. Then he made a last minute demand for cash when we had been expecting the hiring to be a cheque transaction. Lengthy telephone calls and a hasty draining-off of all our cash reserves at last solved this unexpected |
- | away! But no Over the ether came an insistent voice, " | + | |
- | Victor Romeo-Papa-Victor! Your cargo door is not locked!" | + | We went via Charleville, |
- | stopped the engine, crawled out and shut the door on our packs, got in again and. we were really off. I felt I was a passenger in the twin,-pram in which I used to push Rona. and my sister' | + | |
- | Page 8 THE SYDNEY BUSHWAIK7R August, 1975., | + | We were met at Katherine by the administratcr |
- | We went via Charleville, | + | |
- | We were met at Katherine by the aaministratcr | + | Our Administration friend picked us up and drove us back to the airstrip. We had to make the next hop to the isolated little GeoPeko uranium mine at Jabiru. Peter was not qualified to fly by night, so always we had to be landed before the sun dipped below the horizon. Peter, of course, had his times and distances all worked out, but we in the back seats spent a good bit of time in wondrous suspenseful speculation as we whirled over the vast uninhabited wastes of Arnhem Land. |
- | Our Administration friend picked us up and drove us back to the airstrip. We had to make the next hop to the isolated little GeoPeko uranium mine at Jabiru. Peter was not qualified to fly by night, so always we had to be landed before the sun dipped below the borizon. | + | |
- | Peter, of course, had his times and distances all worked out, but we in | + | With a bit of time to spare before the sun disappeared, |
- | the back seats spent a good bit of time in wondrous suspenseful speculation as we whirled over the vast uninhabited wastes of Arnhem Land. | + | climbed up a tower to spy out the land, but it was the sound of the generator at the mine, generating the evening's lighting, that gave us our clue which way to head. Down the red earth road, through the Capricornian bush, and we came upon telegraph poles with flying foxes hanging from the wires and then the mine outbuildings. Luck led us to a spacious recreation room and we were soon taken in tow by a garrulous engineer. We prepared our meal at his house, viewed the company' |
- | With a bit of time to spare before the sun disappeared, | + | |
- | the rugged mountainous escarpments and gorges through which we were | + | Next day one of the men drove us in his truck sixty miles to the crossing |
- | going to bushwalk. Fascinating country! Then 70 sought out the tiny | + | |
- | lonely airstrip and bounced to a halt with time to spare. Dennis | + | Following a river should not be difficult, but we soon found that unless you kept the water of the main river in view you could be lured away even more than 90 degrees off course following one of the anabranches, |
- | climbed up a tower to spy out the land, but it was the sound of the generator at the mine, generating the eveninc's lighting, that gave us. | + | |
- | our clue which way to head. Down the red earth road, through the | + | Arnhem Land is buffalo land. You meet them everywhere. The mothers are formidable foes if separated from their young, so whenever we came upon them unexpectedly we took good care that they were all galloping together, heads thrust forwards and horns back, and of course away from us. |
- | Capricornian bush, and we came upon telegraph poles with flying foxes | + | |
- | hanging from the wires and then the mine outbuildings. Luck led us to | + | Our first night' |
- | a spacious recreation room and we Tore soon taken in tow by a garrulous engineer. We prepared our meal at his house, viewed the company' | + | |
- | Next day one of the men drove us in his truck sixty miles to the | + | New country is always fascinating. Besides the buffalo there were wild pigs wallowing in the black mud, and wallabies, dingoes, emus, lizards, not to mention brown snakes and taipans |
- | Crossing | + | |
- | Page 9 | + | There were the usual Bushwalker adventures of route finding in unknown country. Once, rather than swim a billabong, we had to climb up through a small range, then back again to the river. Pretty rugged going up among the rocks, but very interesting. |
- | THE SYDNEY BUSHVIALICER | + | |
- | August 9 1975. | + | On our second day the river spread out into a lake about a mile wide with many water birds - ducks and jabirus and magpie geese with legs on them like footballers, and white egrets and herons, and darting over the banks were russet and blue kingfishers. Whirring flights of quail rose at our approach. At night curlews wailed in rising crescendo of panic. It gave Dave the shivers - like a woman being strangled, he said. We wondered whether he spoke from first-hand experience. |
- | ... | + | |
- | Lightweight bUshwalking. | + | When we left the river we took a compass course across low country, finding water when we needed it wherever the paperbarks and pandanus grew. The last day was a long one. We had hoped to get back to Jabiru by dark, but were still steering our course by starlight, and eventually tried to home in on the generator' |
- | and camping gear. | + | |
- | Don't be lumbered with a winter bag in | + | Libby and I spent the night with the Ranger |
- | summer | + | |
- | Our new ' | + | Mt. Brockman |
- | Kiandra model: Pillow flap, hooded bag. Well filled. Compact, warm and lightvveight. Excellent for warmer summer nights and times when carrying weight can be reduced. Approx 33/41bs. | + | |
- | Hotham model: Superwarm hooded bag made for cold sleepers and high altitudes. 'Box quilted' | + | Gove Peninsula is the northernmost tip of Arnhem Land. We stayed the night with a pleasant young couple, the husband being one in charge of the bauxite |
- | ' | + | |
- | Everything for the bush- walker, from blankets and air mattresses, stretchers, boots, compasses, maps, books, stoves and lamps to cooking ware and freeze dried and dehydrated foods. | + | Our next destination was Urapunga and the Roper River Mission. One of the elders of the tribe, who spoke quite good English, met our plane and offered us the hospitality of his house for a cup of tea and use of the toilets. His pump was not working, so the boys repaired it for him. An interesting aspect of the toilets was that when you pulled the chain a large green frog came swimming out of the dwindling surge and clambered up again to his damp home in the cistern. |
- | ' | + | |
- | One, two or three man. From TA to 3%lbs. Choice of three cloths. | + | Lots of photographs were taken of the little aboriginal children on the beach. Libby bought a bark painting from the store. She asked an artist on the beach would he touch up a spot on it. He looked at it in some disgust, dismantled all the trimmings and set to and repainted the whole thing. |
- | Supplied with nylon cords and overlapped doors. No wails. | + | |
- | WALL TENTS | + | That night we went to a beaut barbecue party and were given some large fillets of barramundi to take away with us. |
- | Two, three or four man. From 314 to 4'/ | + | |
- | three cloths. | + | We had been making enquiries along the way as to the whereabouts of a mysterious "lost city" of Arnhem Land, recently shown on T.V., but no one was sure of its location. At Roper River, however, we struck pay dirt; a huge aboriginal offered to show it to us if we would afterwards drop him off at the Roper Bar airstrip, 30 miles away. |
- | Supplied with nylon cords and overlapped doors. | + | |
- | BUNYIP RUCKSACK | + | We offloaded all the packs to offset his weight and packed him in among the passengers (a tight squeeze for me in the gap between seats). Then, following his pointing arm, soared out 60 miles and came spot on target. It was an ancient range weathered down to a mass of spires and pinnacles with maze-like gaps between. We circled it many times and photographed it from all angles. An astounding sight! Then we returned and duly offloaded our guide at Roper Bar. |
- | This ' | + | |
- | SENIOR RUCKSAdk | + | Next day we flew to Rockhampton, |
- | A single pocket, shaped rucksack. Suitable for overnight camping. Weight 11/21bs. | + | |
- | BUSHMAN RUCKSACK | + | Rain greeted |
- | Has sewn-in curved bottom | + | |
- | . for extra comfort in carrying.' | + | Dennis is already making plans for another trip next June. Worth keeping in mind. The cost was $225 plus food. |
- | Will hold 30113s. 2 pocket | + | |
- | model 11/41bs. 3 pocket | + | ====SOCIAL NOTES==== |
- | model 116Ibs. | + | by Spiro Ketas |
- | PIONEER RUCKSACK | + | |
- | Extra large bag with four external pockets and will carry about 40Ibs of camp gear. Weight 2Y4lbs. | + | On 17th September Ian Saltmarsh will hold his Assam Tea Planting night assisted by an attractive sarong-clad Assam maiden who will serve tea to all present. Come along and learn how tea is made from planting to the pot. |
- | 69 LIVERPOOL ST. SYDNEY 26-2686 61-7215 | + | |
- | Page 10 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKER August, 1975. | + | The Federation Ball will be held at 8.30 p m. on Friday, 19th September at Petersham Town Hall. Two bands and supper. Prizes. Tickets $4.00 single. |
- | days, following | + | |
- | Following a river should not be difficult, but we soon found that unless you kept the water of the main river in view you could be lured | + | Then on 24th September Wade Butler is to show a few slides on Antarctica and tell us all about his 15 month job at Mawson with the Australian Antarctic Scientific Expedition. Wade occupied his time in various ways including fishing, |
- | away even more than 90 degrees off course following one of the anabranches, | + | |
- | or the long billabongs that arc off in mares' tails over the flat country. It took a little bit of sorting out for the first few hours, when some crossed a billabong while the others remained on its near bank. I had | + | ====THE JULY GENERAL MEETING==== |
- | cliMbed | + | by Jim Brown |
- | couldn' | + | |
- | call and there was the lost party, sitting by the riverbank. From then on we all kept ,together, although Libby kindly gave me a tin of sardines | + | Your reporter is pleased to record that, in the absence of a walks report, the notes for the July meeting will be quite brief. In fact he believes the July meeting should be kept to a minimum each year, which means that the transcription of the notes into a (more or less) readable summary will take only 20 minutes instead of the usual 1 - 1 1/2 hours, and one can complete one's taxation return in the remaining time (I hope). |
- | in case vi should have become separated again when the next meal came around. | + | |
- | Arnhem Land is buffalo land. You meet them everywhere. The | + | Well, having offered this preliminary padding, it can be said that Vice-President Neville Page occupied the chair, there were about 30 folk present, and the business began at 8.25 p.m. with greetings to Robyn Preston and Dick Winthorpe, also to a last month' |
- | mothers are formidable foes if separated from their young, so whenever we | + | |
- | came upon them unexpectedly we took good care that they were all | + | Correspondence contained as well as the usual crop of journals, a request for reinstatement to full membership by Graham Hogarth, and advice that the Electricity Commission was offering $280 for an easement along the transmission line (Dapto to Canberra) crossing our property. It was thought that a higher figure might be obtained in view of the necessary destruction to bushland and wild life that could follow. There was advice too from Ed Stanton on the adjoining Quakers property of some damage resulting from the June downpour |
- | galloping together, heads thrust forwards and horns back, and of course away from us. | + | |
- | Our first night' | + | The Treasurer told us June had been a healthy month financially, |
- | Being on the banks of the river made us ea.: | + | |
- | mind, everyone was remembering the story we had heard of the woman who was recently eaten alive. We lit a big fire between us and the water, and Denlas | + | It remained |
- | focussing | + | |
- | the wood. Sometimes we climbed up and made camp away from the water, just to be sure. | + | ====COMING WALKS==== |
- | New country is always fascinating. Besides the buffalo there were wild pigs wallowing in the black mud, and wallabies, dingoes, emus, lizards, not to mention brown snakes and taipans | + | by Bob Hodgson |
- | There were the usual Bushwalker adventures of route finding in unknown country. Once, rather than swim a billabong, we had to climb up through a small range, then back again to the river. Pretty rugged going 127) among the rocks, but very interesting. | + | |
- | On OUT second day the. river spread out into a lake about a mile wide with many water birds - ducks and jabirus and magpie geese with | + | September |
- | Page 11 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKER August, 1975. | + | |
- | legs Ali them like fc) b ba,llers, and white egrets and herons, and darting over the banks were russet and blue kingfishers. Whirring flights of | + | September 5, 6, 7 - Just as spectacular but in more familiar territory is Bob Younger' |
- | quail rose at our approach. At night curlews wailed in rising crescendo | + | |
- | of panic. It gave Dave the shivers - like a woman being strangled, he said. We wondered whether he spoke from first-hand experience. | + | Sunday 7 - See the upper reaches of Cowan Creek in the early spring with Mary Braithwaite. Easy tracks all the way with lots of wild flowers, a very pleasant trip. |
- | When we left the river we took a compass course across low country, finding water when we needed it wherever the paperbarks and pandanus | + | |
- | grew. The last day was a long one. We had hoped to get back to Jabiru | + | 12, 13, 14 - Malcolm |
- | by dark, but were still steering our course by starlight, and eventually tried to home in on the generator' | + | |
- | Libby and I spent the night with the Rancor | + | Sunday 14 - Real native rose territory. This is David Ingram' |
- | 60 ft. caravan. Next day he drove us out to Mt. Brockman, a place sacred to the aborir; | + | |
- | as to what may happen to this priceless treasure when the mine is finally established (its working has been held up for four years while an environment impact study is being conducted). The mountain is only two miles away from the boundary of the company7s | + | Sunday 14 - Neville Page is leading his valiant followers down from Hartley Vale station into the spectacular upper reaches of the Grose Valley. A little scrubby and slow at first but well worth the effort. |
- | Mt. Brochman | + | |
- | the Kakudu National Park. We climbed around its base, looking at the beautiful rock paintings on the red walls of the bat-filled caves and feeling the spirit of antiquity upon everything. We had to leave | + | 19, 20, 21 - Plenty of good clean air and exercise on Peter Harris' |
- | sooner than we would have liked as we had to reach Gove Peninsula before sundown. | + | |
- | Gove Peninsula is the northernmost tip of Arnhem Land. We stayed | + | Sunday 21 - Today it's the Blue Labyrinth with Jim Brown, into the green wonderland of Glenbrook Creek, A really great days outing. |
- | the night with a pleasant young couple, the husband being one in charge of the bauxity | + | |
- | diggings to the process plant. (We could do with something like that to carry pebbles from the Kangaroo River to OUT hut building site!) | + | Sunday 21 Walk the unspoilt coast of Royal National Park with Roy Braithwaite. Good tracks with plenty of ocean and spectacular coastal scenery. |
- | Our next destination was Urapunga and the Roper River Mission. One of the elders of the tribe, who spoke quite good English, met our plane and offered us the hospitality of his house for a cup of tea and use of the toilets. His pump was not working, so the boys repaired it | + | |
- | for him. An interesting aspect of the toilets was that when you pulled | + | Sunday 28 - Plenty of wild flowers on Sheila Binns' Uloola Track National Park walk. Congenial company and easy tracks go together to make the day pass very pleasantly. |
- | the chain a large green frog came swimming out of the dwindling surge | + | |
- | and clambered up again to his damp home in the cistern. | + | Sunday 28 - If you have seen the coastal displays of flowers come with John Holly who has been saving this walk up all year just to show you the display around Bargo. |
- | Lots of photographs were taken of the little aboriginal children | + | |
- | on the beach. Libby bought a bark painting from the store. She asked | + | ====FEDERATION NOTES==== |
- | an artist on the beach would he touch up a spot on it. He looked at | + | By Jim Vatiliotis |
- | it in some disgust, dismantled all the trimmings and set to and repainted the whole thing. | + | |
- | Page 12 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKER August, 1975. | + | |
- | *xxxx*************** M OUNTAIN | + | |
- | ******************** | + | |
- | ********************** | + | |
- | EQUIPMENT | + | |
- | ***************** | + | |
- | IF YOU ARE | + | |
- | BUYING OR HIRING HIRING OR BUYING | + | |
- | BUYING OR HIRING HIRING OR BUYING | + | |
- | GEAR FOR | + | |
- | WALKING ...... CAMPING Opoo000 CLIMTING ...... CANOEING 0 0 0 WALKING ...... CAMPING ...... CLIMBING ...... CANOEING o4doe | + | |
- | THINK OF | + | |
- | MOUNTAIN_EQUIPMENT | + | |
- | 17 Alexander Street, Crow's Nest, 2065 (On the corner of Falcon Street) Telephone 439-3454. | + | |
- | for | + | |
- | FAIRYDOWN SLEEPING BAGS | + | |
- | HIGH LOAD PACKS (Weight 3 ib 10 oz) | + | |
- | AND ALL THE OTHER THINGS YOU COULD POSSIBLY NEED | + | |
- | * * * * * * * * * | + | |
- | Page 13 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALICR August 1975., | + | |
- | . . | + | |
- | That night we went to a b, | + | |
- | large fillets of barramundi to take away with us. | + | |
- | We had been making enquiries along the way as to the whereabouts of a mysterious "lot city" of Arnhem Land, recently shown on T.V., but no | + | |
- | one was sure of its location. At Roper River, however, we struck pay | + | |
- | dirt; a huge aboriginal offered to show it to us if we would afterwards drop him off at the Roper Bar airstrip, 30 miles away. | + | |
- | We offloaded all the packs to offset his weight and packed him in | + | |
- | among the passengers (a tight squeeze for me in the gap between seats), | + | |
- | Then, following his pointing arm, soared out 60 miles and came spot on | + | |
- | target. It was an ancient range weathered down to a mass of spires | + | |
- | and pinnacles with maze-like gaps between. We circled it many times | + | |
- | and photographed it from all angles. An astounding sight! Then we returned and duly offloaded our guide at Roper Bar. | + | |
- | Next day we flew to Rockhampton, | + | |
- | a most beautiful place, threatened by sand-mining. We swam in the ,blue, blue ocean and lazed on the beach, then reluctantly headed for home. | + | |
- | Rain L' | + | |
- | Dennis is already making plans for another trip next June. Worth keeping in mina. The cost was $225 plus food, | + | |
- | ************** | + | |
- | SOCIAL NOTES. by Spiro Ketas. | + | |
- | On 17th September Ian Saltmarsh will hold his Assam Tea Planting night assisted by an attractive sarong-clad Assam maiden who will serve tea to all,prosent. Come along and learn how tea is made from planting to the pot. | + | |
- | The Federation Ball will be held at 8.30 p m. on Friday, 19th | + | |
- | September at Petersham Town Hail. Two bands and supper. Prizes. Tickets $4.00 single. | + | |
- | Then on 24th September Wade Butler is to show a few slides on Antarctica and tell us all about his 15 month job at Mawson with the Australian Antarctic Scientific Expedition,. Wade occupied his time in | + | |
- | various ways including fishing, | + | |
- | the Antarctic! If you don't believe me come and see and hear for yourself before Wade heads off to Hobart next month. | + | |
- | Page 14 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKER August, 1975. | + | |
- | THE JULY GENERAL MEETING. | + | |
- | by Jim Brown. | + | |
- | Your reporter is pleased to record that, in the absence of a walks report, the notes for the July meeting will be quite brief. In fact he believes the July meeting should. be kept to a minimum each year, which means that the transcription of the notes into a (more or less) readable summary will take only 20 minutes instead of the usual 1 - 14.41 hours, and one can complete one's taxation return in the remaining time (I hope). | + | |
- | Well, having offered this preliminary padding, it can be said that Vice-President Neville Page occupied the chair, there were about 30 folk present, and the business began at 8.25 p m0 with greetings to Robyn Preston and Dick Winthorpe, also to a last month' | + | |
- | one disputed the contents of the June minutes, and arising from them we | + | |
- | were told Shoalhaven Shire Council had replied to our request to build on Coolana with a massive document setting out the " | + | |
- | Correspondence contained as well as the usual crop of journals, a request for reinstatement to full membership by Graham Hogarth, and advice that the Electricity Commission was offering $280 for an easement along the transmission line (Dapto to Canberra) crossing our property. It | + | |
- | was thought that a higher figure might be obtained in view of the necessary destruction to bushland and wild life that could follow. There was | + | |
- | advice too from Ed Stanton on the adjoining Quakers property of some damage resulting from the June dounpour | + | |
- | The Treasurer told us June had been a healthy month financially, | + | |
- | with a good excess of income over outlay, and finishing with ' | + | |
- | It remained | + | |
- | be advised that the Water Board' | + | |
- | was then time to chatter awhile before we dispersed. | + | |
- | **************** | + | |
- | Pagb 1 THE - SYDNEY BUSH,WALKER August, 1975. | + | |
- | , | + | |
- | September | + | |
- | 5, 6, 7 - It seems quite Obvious | + | |
- | 59 6, 7 - Just as spectacular but in more familiar territory is Bob Younger' | + | |
- | Sunday 7 - | + | |
- | 12,13,14 | + | |
- | See the upper reaches of Cowan Creek in the early spring with Mary Braithwaite. Easy tracks all the way with lots of wild flowers, a very pleasant trip. | + | |
- | Malcollm | + | |
- | Sunday 14 Real native rose territory. This is David Ingram' | + | |
- | Sunday 14 Neville Page is leading his valiant followers down from Hartley | + | |
- | Vale station into the spectacular upper reaches of the Grose | + | |
- | valley. A little scrubby and slow at first but well worth the | + | |
- | effort. | + | |
- | 19520921 | + | |
- | Sunday 21 Today it's the Blue Labyrinth with Jim Brown, into the green wonderland of Glenbrook Creek, A really great days outing. | + | |
- | Sunday 21 Walk the unspoilt coast of Royal National Park with Roy | + | |
- | Page /6 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALIM August, 1975, | + | |
- | .SepteMber. | + | |
- | Braithwaite. Good tracks with plenty of ocean and spectacular coastal scenery. | + | |
- | Sunday 28 Plenty of wild flowers on Sheila Binns' Uloola Track National Park walk. Congenial company and easy tracks go together to make the day pass very pleasantly. | + | |
- | Sunday 28 If you he seen the coastal displays of flowers come with John Holly who has been saving this walk up all year just to show you the display around Bargo. | + | |
- | FEDERATION NOTES. | + | |
- | . by Jim Vatiliotis. | + | |
Annual Goneral Meeting 15th July, 1975. | Annual Goneral Meeting 15th July, 1975. | ||
There were no nominations or volunteers for President, Senior VicePresident, | There were no nominations or volunteers for President, Senior VicePresident, |
197508.txt · Last modified: 2014/03/14 17:42 by apaddock2