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198208 [2019/02/06 12:02] tyreless198208 [2019/02/06 12:46] tyreless
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 +===== Eleanor Bluffs Revisited. =====
  
-ELEANOR BLUFFS REVISITED.  
 by Jim Brown. by Jim Brown.
 +
 Said Don Matthews "I was out last Sunday on the trip to Eleanor Bluffs. Except we didn't get there. That's the fourth time now." Said Don Matthews "I was out last Sunday on the trip to Eleanor Bluffs. Except we didn't get there. That's the fourth time now."
-"What's the catch?" I asked. "The bush grown up a lot?" Then I tried to be consoling, "Never mind, you'll probably make it on the fifth try."+ 
 +"What's the catch?" I asked. "The bush grown up a lot?" Then I tried to be consoling, "Never mind, you'll probably make it on the fifth try." 
 "Oh, I've been there once, a good while ago. But I've never managed to get back again." Then, answering my first question, "The bush? Yes, I suppose it may be a bit thicker. But the main trouble is lack of persistence. They won't keep on long enough." "Oh, I've been there once, a good while ago. But I've never managed to get back again." Then, answering my first question, "The bush? Yes, I suppose it may be a bit thicker. But the main trouble is lack of persistence. They won't keep on long enough."
 +
 "Ah, well," I said, trying to sound knowledgeable and (what's the "in" word?-) "pragmatic", "Ah, well, when you know you've got to come back the same way, there's a big incentive to call it a day and retreat." "Ah, well," I said, trying to sound knowledgeable and (what's the "in" word?-) "pragmatic", "Ah, well, when you know you've got to come back the same way, there's a big incentive to call it a day and retreat."
-he agreed, "And when it gets around to one o'clock It and trailed off. + 
-I pondered and said, "It's a long time since I.was out along that ridge." +"Yes," he agreed, "And when it gets around to one o'clock..." and trailed off. 
-"Oh!" exclaimed Don, "and we found a metal plaque on a rock, a sort Of + 
-memorial to a woman member from another Club. It dated back to 1948, I think." +I pondered and said, "It's a long time since I was out along that ridge." 
-"Maybe that puts a date on my last trip out," I told him. "I don't + 
-remember any memorial Plates." +"Oh!" exclaimed Don, "and we found a metal plaque on a rock, a sort of memorial to a woman member from another Club. It dated back to 1948, I think." 
-"Not necessarily," with a shake of the head. "It wasn't in a very obvious place. We just happened to see it." + 
-After we drifted apart in the Clubroom, I found myself wandering - +"Maybe that puts a date on my last trip out," I told him. "I don't remember any memorial plates." 
-when did I last go out along that ridge east from Cowan to Cole .Trig, Edwards Trig, Cliff Trig and Eleanor Bluffs - and of course Gunyah Bay, the sandy cove + 
-just south of Gunyah Point? A long time, surely. But there was one trip out there that is indelibly imprinted in my mind, just as "Calais" was said to be engraved on the heart of Queen Mary (the one that preceded Elizabeth I). +"Not necessarily," with a shake of the head. "It wasn't in a very obvious place. We just happened to see it." 
-It was my first walk with the Club after I became a full member. In those deplorable days we used to meet on Friday evenings - the very worst day + 
-for bushwalkers - and so, after a prospective membership in which I had contrived about twenty Friday night starts, I had to stay in town to front up to the Committee. It was 6th June, 1947, three years to the day after the opening of the Second Front in Europe - not that that has anything to do with it - and as I had to miss a Friday night start, I did my first day walk with the Club on Sunday, 8th June, two-daya after admission to membership. +---- 
-At this length of time a lot of the details escape me. However, I think we went out past the three trig points and dropped down to the Hawkesbury Estuary at Gunyah Bay. On the way back one of the members left her + 
-pack behind when we halted briefly at Edwards Trig, and some of us scuttled +After we drifted apart in the Clubroom, I found myself wandering - when __did__ I last go out along that ridge east from Cowan to Cole Trig, Edwards Trig, Cliff Trig and Eleanor Bluffs - and of course Gunyah Bay, the sandy cove just south of Gunyah Point? A long time, surely. But there was one trip out there that is indelibly imprinted in my mind, just as "Calais" was said to be engraved on the heart of Queen Mary (the one that preceded Elizabeth I). 
-back to retrieve it. This didn't really come as a surprise to me - the same member had somehow managed to walk away from a 30 lb. pack at the top of Cascade Spur in the Snowy Mountains just over two months previously. + 
-In the train on the way home one of the "old hands" (as they seemed to me then) asked me, "Now you've got your badge, I suppose you'll give up +It was my first walk with the Club after I became a full member. In those deplorable days we used to meet on Friday evenings - the very worst day for bushwalkers - and so, after a prospective membership in which I had contrived about twenty Friday night starts, I had to stay in town to front up to the Committee. It was 6th June, 1947, three years to the day after the opening of the Second Front in Europe - not that that has anything to do with it - and as I had to miss a Friday night start, I did my first day walk with the Club on Sunday, 8th June, two days after admission to membership. 
-Page 12 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKM. August, 1982. + 
-walking with the Club?" I replied, firmly but peaceably, I think, that I hoped to go on walking for a couple of years yet. Later I realised that the question was probably asked as a gag: on the same trip was Alex Colley who, as current magazine editor, had been making some critical remarks about "badge hunters" who gained membership of a Club never to be seen again. -I seem to recall that the question was asked with a raised eyebrow in the direction of Alex. I also have a recollection that someone asked Alex if Ie felt that the trip should be graded as a test walk. In fairly typical Colley fashion, he thought andreplied, "I think enough blood was drawn to justify it." +At this length of time a lot of the details escape me. However, I think we went out past the three trig points and dropped down to the Hawkesbury Estuary at Gunyah Bay. On the way back one of the members left her pack behind when we halted briefly at Edwards Trig, and some of us scuttled back to retrieve it. This didn't really come as a surprise to me - the same member had somehow managed to walk away from a 30 lb. pack at the top of Cascade Spur in the Snowy Mountains just over two months previously. 
-I think it must have been two or three years later that I conducted an Instructional Weekend at Gunyah Bay, going out with weekend packs on the Paturday afternoon and returning on the Sunday with some practice in bush navigation for the prospectives present. Two memories remain from that weekend. In one disgraceful episode one of the cooking fires "got away" in grassy growth behind the sand dune. Our fresh water had been brought with considerable effort from the small, almost dry gully behind the beach, and there was a patent reluctance to toss the contents of the water buckets on to the conflagration. Finally the blaze was put out without much damage, apart from the leader's equilibrium, and the last embers were thoroughly quenched with sea water. + 
- The other incident of the weekend was a protracted discussion around the Saturday night camp-fire, describing how muddy water could be purified +In the train on the way home one of the "old hands" (as they seemed to me then) asked me, "Now you've got your badge, I suppose you'll give up walking with the Club?" I replied, firmly but peaceably, I think, that I hoped to go on walking for a couple of years yet. Later I realised that the question was probably asked as a gag: on the same trip was Alex Colley who, as current magazine editor, had been making some critical remarks about "badge hunters" who gained membership of a Club never to be seen again. I seem to recall that the question was asked with a raised eyebrow in the direction of Alex. I also have a recollection that someone asked Alex if he felt that the trip should be graded as a test walk. In fairly typical Colley fashion, he thought and replied, "I think enough blood was drawn to justify it." 
-by straining it through the legs of a pair of drill trousers. Unfortunately, the water under notice must have been very dirty, so that it had to be Strained several times, and the process was explained in infinite detail. After this we woke up the pro spectives to tell them that muddy water was quite O.K. for extinguishing bush fires - you didn't have to strain it first. + 
-Do you know, I can't recall having gone out along that Gunyah Bay ridge +I think it must have been two or three years later that I conducted an Instructional Weekend at Gunyah Bay, going out with weekend packs on the Saturday afternoon and returning on the Sunday with some practice in bush navigation for the prospectives present. Two memories remain from that weekend. In one disgraceful episode one of the cooking fires "got away" in grassy growth behind the sand dune. Our fresh water had been brought with considerable effort from the small, almost dry gully behind the beach, and there was a patent reluctance to toss the contents of the water buckets on to the conflagration. Finally the blaze was put out without much damage, apart from the leader's equilibrium, and the last embers were thoroughly quenched with sea water. 
-since that time. Except that, having remembered all this, I did go out there on 10th June this year - the nearest date I could manage to the original 8th June journey 35 years before. + 
-No, Don, I didn't get to Eleanor Bluffs this time.either. In fact, +The other incident of the weekend was a protracted discussion around the Saturday night camp-fire, describing how muddy water could be purified by straining it through the legs of a pair of drill trousers. Unfortunately, the water under notice must have been very dirty, so that it had to be strained several times, and the process was explained in infinite detail. After this we woke up the prospectives to tell them that muddy water was quite O.K. for extinguishing bush fires - you didn't have to strain it first. 
-I didn't get quite as far as Edwards Trig. But then, I started from Cowan at 10.0 am and I wanted to be back early that afternoon. + 
-The bush is somewhat grownup, Don. At least, I think so. Maybe it's just anno domini, which makes the contours get,closer together and the rivers get colder. Anyway, as I had the foresight to say, "When you know +---- 
-you've got to come back the same way r/+ 
 +Do you know, I can't recall having gone out along that Gunyah Bay ridge since that time. Except that, having remembered all this, I did go out there on 10th June this year - the nearest date I could manage to the original 8th June journey 35 years before. 
 + 
 +No, Don, I didn't get to Eleanor Bluffs this time either. In fact, I didn't get quite as far as Edwards Trig. But then, I started from Cowan at 10.0 am and I wanted to be back early that afternoon. 
 + 
 +The bush __is__ somewhat grown up, Don. At least, I think so. Maybe it's just anno domini, which makes the contours get closer together and the rivers get colder. Anyway, as I had the foresight to say, "When you know you've got to come back the same way..." 
 Never mind, I'll try again, with more time up my sleeve and perhaps long trousers over my shins. Have no fear, Don, like Brideshead, Eleanor Bluffs WILL BE REVISITED. Never mind, I'll try again, with more time up my sleeve and perhaps long trousers over my shins. Have no fear, Don, like Brideshead, Eleanor Bluffs WILL BE REVISITED.
-* * * * * * * * * * * + 
-Page 13 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKER August, 1982.+---- 
 + 
 SKIING - AUSTRALIA AND U.S..A.  SKIING - AUSTRALIA AND U.S..A. 
 . by Dcrothy Stitt. . by Dcrothy Stitt.
198208.txt · Last modified: 2019/02/07 12:47 by tyreless

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