THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKER is a monthly bulletin of matters of interest to The Sydney Bush Walkers Inc, Box 4476 GPO Sydney 2001. To advertise in this magazine, please contact the Business Manager

Magnificent natural 98 acres two hours drive northwest
of Sydney surrounded by Yengo National Park. This
property takes up one complete private valley, enclosed by lovely sandstone escarpments.
Includes 3 acre spring & creek-fed lake stocked with native fish (murray cod and perch). A lined colorbond dwelling with quality Australian wood stove.
Varied flora (includes rainforest)….and fauna.
$149,000 ono
Phone owner: Chris
(02) 289 9560 B/hrs
(02) 534 5972 A/hrs

From Confederation representative Ken Smith Wilderness Rescue. Practice - lst/2nd April 1995 On the 1st and 2nd of April over 100 people attended a practice at Camp Courts Scout camp, Waterfall. The weekend was an instructional training exercise on various aspects of our operation designed to give participants an increased understanding of what they may be called on to do. This is in line with our practice recently of having an instructional weekend in March, navigation practice at the June exercise and an exercise putting together all these skills in October. Most people would have left the practice with increased knowledge of our bush Searching requirements, Excellent training on helicopter safety and winching requirements was provided by Doug, a crewman on the NPWS helicopter, and afterward everyone had an opportunity to experience being winched in a real “horse collar” courtesy of our rock squad who rigged up an artificial helicopter of about fifteen person power. We received some criticism Of “too natich talking. Whilst we can try to eliminate unnecessary talk, unfortunately this type training. is necessary occasionally to Maintain all participants ,knowledge of our operation: Remember, our group is a member of the VRA and, when called on to provide our services we must be able to do so in a professional manner. To this our field skills must be augmented with a working knowledge Of search procedures. See you in October to put your skills to the test Steve linvin - Field Officer. ” October Practice This exercise: will he ,held iin the Newnes State Forest on the 14th and 15th October, 1995. The aim': Of the weekend will be to practice navigation and other Search. skills in realistic mode. walkers need to come prepared to camp out overnight, however, it is possible that two'One day. eXOrcises will be arranged. The field officers will be seeking attendance numbers from the contacts to enable planning for proposed exercises over the two day period. Contact is via Steve Erwin 828-8412 W or Mike Merrett 523-6632 H. Mountain Poets By. D.Edgar (submitted by Ray Hookway) Reprinted from January 1973 English 'Rockhopperi magazine with minor changes to make it locally relevant Poets have always found inspiration in mountains and I have found references to mountains and walkers in the works of all major poets. William Blake for instance wrote - Tyger, Tyger, burning bright On the ridge this hour of night What immortal hand or power. Got ye here this bloorriirir hour?, Wordsworth, famed:for his first ascent of Poets' Cbmer, penned the famous lines - I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er hill and trees When all at once I saw ,a crowd A host of Sydney Bushies fluttering in the breeze And as they passed I heard them say “Does ariOody know the way?” Then there was Robbie Burns, the well known Scottish poet and climber and'his 'Ode to a 'reluctant climber.' Ye sleekit, cowrin, timirous beastie, 0 What a panics in thy breastiel Why do you shout at me so testie? I've tied the rope around your chestie And let you dangle. there, to restie -:Anither time I'll think it bestie To leave ye in your tent to festie. Finally was it not Robert Browning who wrote - Oh, to be out camping, now that spring is here And whosoever Wakes whilst camping, finds some morning unaware That the raging stream and the freshening breeze Have dispersed their tents round:the jagged trees And the kookaburra laughing oir a high giun bough. Out camping now. My apologies to the aforementioned poets if I have not translated them correctly. PAGE 10 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKER JULY 1995 . A RrOCNT.,) TRIP,Ijk 034 R01. TNI.). M T OUNAIN TO ROUND MOUNT UN by David 'hinder. As she decided on a small grassy field with clover flowers for her first nights camp site, Morag said”jhis,is as good as a flitton, but it has a better view“. After the drive to Round Mountain, a. three hour walk was a good introduction to this six day trip. The first houreop fire,trails was,necessary to learn the new body balance, heavy packs had doubled the weight of the top one third of their bodies, they were top heavy, and looked like Ninja Turtles. They Walked as far as the Tumut River, crossed it, then turned left along the river and were introduced to vk alking in trackleSs- vegetation. Beside the river there was irregular array of granite rocks and snow grass. The snow grass has fine cylindrical blades, coming out of The ground like a horses tail and it forms a lump under foot. Most ofetheegrouncl, Though, was covered with low hard bushes and the ground underneath was irregular and hidden, secret streams sometimes forined a leg length below the normal surface. When the foot goes down it may land at any angle and at , any depth. To quote ,Banjo Paterson writingabout This area. “The wild hop scrub grew thickly, and the hidden- ground was full Of wombat holes. and any slip WaS death.” Walking was slow and they stopped at a pleasant campsite beside the river. At night the moonless sky exposed the stars brightly, and to quote again from the same sourCe, vVhefe the air is cleat as ciystal, and the bright stais fairly blaze At midnight in the cold and frosty sky” They were wondering how the conditions and the company would pan out, but to the well prepared SmA7 walker arty conditions are not a problem_ Whether they can weather the Weather and conditions is not the question, they are out there for adventure and to experience uncorrtipted'alpine wilderness. Day 2 was an explo!atory of Doubtful Creek, Doubtful Gap and Clear Hill, good vegetation hut hard Y4 ork and on return in the fire trail after a short days walk the Ninja Turtles were ethausted. and made camp. In the morning. one who had gone to bed early and slept vk ell. was heard to say, “Did anybody notice whether it got dark last night?” Day 3 was a produclive day , firstly on a fire trail past O'Keefes hut, last year's shelter from The snow and rain, to the rain gauge, where they left the track for an ascent of Mount Jagungal. at 2060 m. From Mount lagupgal a whole new field is opened up towards the south. the Main Range in the distance. enormous and with snow drifts. \i the same time in the SBW Maurie Bloom group, Bar. bara broke her arm and they were going througkcommunicatios traumas in the slime area; but by coincidence, did not make contact. .Every.. _square. metre !..f- This' vast ,alpine area has-been landscaped, with manicured lawns of soft snov,q, grass, grey , granite, rocks, and large areas of flowering bushes. Amongst the snow grass are yellow buttercups, white, yellow or purple daisies, orange pea and many other wildflowers. In some places there are tiny plants a few centimetres high with flowers a few millimetres wide and they might be one in twenty different varieties in a square metre.. In moister areas there are large thick sponges of Sphagnum Moss mixed with trees, snow grass and other plants. Fascination is often expressed with the ubiquitous snow gums because of their twisted. multicoloured structures, obvious age and chequered histories, and the remains of dead trees and bushes, which may be still standing or lying as logs on the ground. The cycle of many years of snow and summer have turned them almost white and their low sheen texture makes them appear lo be metallic silver, but they still have grotesque sculptural JULY 19,95 shapest It has beeP. landscaped. by nature, and these scenes are the ones that landsCapers try to copy. Each day Dick was able to point out the planet Venus in the day, PAGE 1-I

, Day 3 ended at Tarn Bluff, a good place for a rest day, and day 4 was a rest day. -It was a.Clay to repair, sleep, wash body and clothing, and explore and record Tarn Bluff. Mautice, Bob and Dick took a part day walk to Valentine Falls. On day“- 5 they were niovinp,.., again. and freshly. they lunched at Grey -Mare Hut, then stumbled up a hill behind the hut eastwards to the Strombo fire trail, which they followed as far as th,_. 18' in Strombo Range (on the map). then the Ninja Turtles followed the Bullhead Creek to Pretty Plain Htit. This was New Year's:eve and happy hour extended until 'alter midnight (with watches turned forward three hours). The group was joined by. 't Victorian -female walker. 'Val, who was going to introduce rum and lemon barley to Vi ctoria, Recitations were made of Banjo Paterson and other poems including' Keith's 'Pete the Piddling Pup- and some limericks and Bob read some Yukon stories. J . On day 6 they were fit enough, and followed Hell Hole Creek past Mount Toolong and put in some more heavy bush bashing. ,.The camp site was in a_small dry cleating above Ogilfves' Creek, “11 was surrounded by the black and white remains of Snow gums that had been burnt by bush fire twenty or so years ago. The timber is hard and brittle and has weathered many years. At the base twenty year old new growth of Snowgums and other varieties were full of colour, a range of bright greens and the new tips were orange and red, they were in stark contrast with the uncoloured skeleions above. ….,..,: ,_ wc :. After two hunts of walking on day'7flie'y found the remains-of Cool Plains Hut, that -5::_,- ,;A-,,,,, ', ,' ?; ..4, .,.,:.,, . ; ';,, r, . ,. ' ':',”- :..' had been burnt down in the last two Years. Sasha found an old brown bottle bottom :.,_:.;,..t hat had a strange character that he thought might be a Chinese character, so he asked Japanese Nlastirni4-fiethef She.:could-recognise it. She said it Was an English “A”. After passing Cool Plain and Roundw:,:Wuntain this six day walk ended at the cars. , The walk could have been covered itricougle5of days on fire trails which cuss-cross. -.. the area and are always close bv. bu t.;OiNbeatitv of the:countr, can only be fully ., appreciated off tracks- -” From the pallet of available weatIkr.'and:conditions for this time of year which varies from clear and hot through dull, ind. rainy to a blizzard vtith snow, Maurice chose clear hot days for ,every day for us. he had to work to keep it that way. On day 7 , his concentration' gipped and going across Cool Plain the weather- turned quite dull and cool. Maurice you will hav eito try next time. Of course, insects like the same weather and titcy came out iii abundance. There was a continuous swarm of flies around each person: they varyingfrom 747 March Flies to jet fighter flies. At a rest stop part wa'k'up Nlount JagOgar,,',Dick was geen to slap his leg and say “thirty three-. This indicated that he was cOurifing his daily March Fly kill After another two days his total Was 462, well done Dick. you the playing your part in causing the extinction of IVI#ch 1ics In certain- places there were mosquitoes mixed in the swarm.. and some times ants swat-thing, on the ground and legs. At rivers and streams the Ninja Turtles fed dead and disabled flies to small trout, the record fly kill' in:–one slap was seven and they were thrown to the fish. Congratulations to Masurni. who is a' visitor and whose -only previous bushWalking experience was one day walk, she handled this oUgh, long walk with strength and perseverance. We hope she takes home good inemories'of this country. Thanks go to George \ lawet for organising the trip, 41.id to Maurice Smith who, took oVer When Georoe-became ill,. and ably led the walk:. The other walkers were Carol Lubbers, MoragRycler. Masilnri, Bob HOrderf,–bliver CrasAford, Keith Perry, Brian Bolton. Sasha Litvak, Dick WeSion, David Triiicfer..

:M 9OO' ; 9:OO - - 5. (i)z) 9.00JC - 9)Op” 9iW'- 5 - 1 :3'' ('L(.)SII) macpac :nastercard bank card visa ameiican express cheque lay-by eva '-I V -dmc VICTORINOX rwl t' U !*l I '4ri :. Mouda': Tuesdar: Wedncda: Thursda: Friday: Saturday: Sunda': / HfrTEC fleet ~tr ft 3 Trelwny Street Eastwood' NSW.2122 Telephohe (02) 8583833 C Australian and World environment e:astwb.,od cam ping centre Ti SPORT SANDAL. 111/1/ toodi, rr4 -,- , t rangia SOURCE 1 - V-\(A4 .\ U tradin hours IUDJ&JM - - ..- . .-,: — - - - '.;-: : . i.. - botciL iB1ueWater LDERNESS Realistic prices for everyone. . :-“ SP3RT A I J. pLNEjJ 6. JULY 1995 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKER PAGE 13. THE JUNE GENERAL MEETING. Barry Wallace What's this?. The President with an injured hand? But Wait, that's not contusions and bandages, iit's a' large icing, sugar dusted almond and custard pastry she's holding in her right hand, while dexterously removing, icing sugar from cheeks arid nose. with :-a :paper napkin. Ah yes, and there's the styrofoam cup of coffee. The Membership slowly accumulated until at 2010, PaStrY ancf coffee all' gone, the President called' the 18 6ts members t6 order and commenced proceedings. The call for apologies : broUght forth a single response and' that for Maureen Carter. The minutes of the April general meeting were read and received, with no matters arising. There was passing mention that the company that had been seeking to establish, a mushroom, fertiliser plant in the Wollongambe catchment has decided, to withdraw the proposal. Someone else thought they. were going to establish in Mudgee, Correspondence was limited to incoming commercial entreaties and outgoing letters to two new members.. The treasurer's report was next. It seems we acquired inC6me of 55,759 arid closed the Month with a balance Of $6,642. Welcomingthe new members was next, with Bill Smallwood, Gail and John Siccardi, Ted Kelly and Weimar Teng called, but only. the first four responding: Eddie was going to be late so Bill. Holland presented the walks reports in his stead. We began at the weekend of '12, 1.3, 14 May with Greta's Kanangra area walk leading off with a party of 13 and rain on Saturday evening. Ken Smith's Saturday day walk had 15 starters and was described as a good trip. Tony Maynes led a group' of 26 on his Mount Hay to Neates Glen car swap: trip on the Sunday and Frank Sander- led, 24 on his trip in the wilds of the Northern Suburbs. Oddly enough they managed to stay on bushland almost all the way, The :weekend of 20, 21, 22 May saw Eddie Criacanel leading his Saturday morning start trip to Tootie 'Creek and the Cob. We were a little short on details, for this bile, but a usually reliable source, indicated that the ,written ,.report Eddie had submitted was. safely at, home at Bill's place. Morag Ryder had the 20 starters on her Heathcote to Bundeena Saturday walk moving to jig time by the look of it. They caught the 1600 ferry. Yes Virginia, 1 know, that's not so early at this time of year but I think it's more interesting putting it that way. John Hogan's two day cycling trip in the Southern Highlands only went on the Sunday due to logistic difficulties exacerbated by certain failures in train schedules in that part of the world. Nevertheless the 7 riders enjoyed a pleasant trip. Bill Holland's Sunday walk in Kuringai Chase attracted 26 starters. Bill Holland was out there doing it again the following weekend 26, 27, 28 May. The 8 walkers on his Bungonia area walk enjoyed a pleasantenOugh trip but were appalled at the damage being done to Bungonia Creek by limestone quarrying operations on the northern wall of the lower gorge. It seems huge boulders and other spoil are being dumped down the bank into the creek. Paul Knight ended up. as the undisputed leader of the party of 12 who turned up for his and Marion's scheduled Saturday walk from Blackheath to Leura. Morrie Ward had the 34 walkers on his Watiagan Mountains Sunday. 'walk resUpplied by 4WD for a lunch' including inethode champagnoise wine, mud cake, sparklers, and Other luxuries. The walk happened to 'coincide with Mortie's birthday. Ken Smith had no such fripperies on his trip in the Glenbrook area but the party of 8 enjoyed the walk in any case. David Rostron's extended walk in the Northern Flinders ranges attracted a party of 8. They were surprised to encounter a member of Span doing a solo walk in the same area. Water supplies were more than adequate, ,due to rain that fell just two weeks before they had to decide on the area, and perhaps for that reason bird life. was prolific. The party were not so keen on the. high winds that prevailed during most days and overnight temperatures were considerably warmer than expected. They had a car problem on the way back to Adelaide when a large rock punctured the fuel tank. This, together with the discovery that hire car insurance only applies while the vehicle is on sealed roads, tended to take the shinesoff things a little. Morrie Ward was out again, over the weekend, of 2, 3, 4.1une with a party of 6 on his.,”great views“ tour of Paralyser and Gouagang Fog and, mist reduced the views somewhat, but they were spared the rain. The party was ,reported as fast. Sasha Litvak's walk from Pierces Pass to Perrys LookdOwn was postponed due to the leader's absence overseas. AlanMewett led a party of 12 on his Saturday walk in Kuringai Chase.. They had overcast and threatening weather most of the day but there was only one shower, r> cont' p14 PAGE 14 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKJER JULY 1995 frorri p13 Theltine General Meeting and that when they were ensconced under an overhang for Morning tea. The lace monitor failed to appear at iwichtirrie, due no doubt to the cooler conditions, but there…Were Wildflowers and various birds including one remarkabIY friendly. magpie faMily. Maureen Carter had ; 16 Or 18 on her ;Sunday walk in the Royal depending on when -yoU counted. 'There. -, were murmurings about no Devonshire Tea but the Gyrnea Lilies. 'wereereported to bespectacular in recovery from the bushfirese, There was no -report of Brian Holden”s cycling, trip from The Oaks near Picton. -.. . .. . The Queen's BirilidaY. Weekend saw Ian Rennard presiding over trip Marked. by numerical uncertainties. in the MYall ;Lakes 'National 'Park.It seems : people dropped in and out over the weekend as they were able Or fancied. the..Carripsite was relocated to Mungo Brush duetothe water 'stiPplY at chosen spot h2i. suffered a' brush with vandals.' Tony-Holgate Jed 'a, party -of 5, on his W.ollemi Wanderings ;walk. Things. started well with some, 40 minutes of track walking before harsh reality intervened. - 'Saturday was hot, the water in the Colo was cold, and the scrub - nobody wanted to talk about. They had some rain over. Saturday night, but this cleared by morning and after some problems with Barrakee Pass all was going well, until they came across the' 40 metre cliff in Pinchgut Creek. This so stowed progress that the majority of the party were not going to be able to get out on Monday night. Morrie Ward and Ken Clacher volunteered to play iron men and made their way oUt to Morrie's car by around 2220. They Used the mobile phone to advise concerned parties who may not yet have known enough to be Concerned.' -MOrrie also went back the following day to 'retrieve the Wanderers as they emerged from some of the ruggedest country in the state“ as the papers usually say When Bill Holland first began receiving; calls about an overdue party he thought it referred to Tony's party. ; It soon emerged however, that there was another,' uni-eported,;SBW.'party 'out there in the wilds of the upper. reaches of Widden 'Brook who were also overdue. Ric King appears to have been at least the notional head of the ;Committee of five who were separately and severally responsible for the variables of the walk. After enduring Storms on Saturday afternoon they thought the 'Worst was ;over. At least that's how it Seemed until they realised. late on Sunday that What they. had taken to be Razorback creek was some other' strewn. -The/ retraced their steps but:ranout of time. When they emerged onto the nearest available fire trail they came across a departing 4WD Party who had room for one in the vehicle. Fazeley was chosen as passenger and eventually returned home by train from Newcastle. On the way out she contacted Ray Hookway who drove up from Sydney to transport the rest of the party back to their. cars. Jim River's walk from Quiera Clearing in the Budawangs went, but there were no details available to the meeting. Alan Doherty had 14 on his Widden Valley base camp. Of the day walks, Errol Shealy led 20 on his Sunday walk from Waterfall to Engadine and Ken Smith had 8 or 5, depending on when you counted them, enjoying uncommonly clear views up and down the coast on his Monday walk from Heathcote to Otford.. Conservation report indicated that the complaint about damage to Bungonia Gorge was significant, given that the area concerned is either part of, or borders on, a State Recreation Area and a Geological Heritage Site (?). The Jenolan Caves Trust has sent us a copy of the plans for future development options for the Caves area. Alex will review these and advise the next meeting. Confederation report brought mention of the installation of new signs at the boundaries of the Warragarnba Storage Exclusion Area. You will probably have noticed that Confederation is seeking details of the earlier agreement between The Board and The Federation of Bushwalking Clubs of NSW regarding permitted access through the Exclusion Area along traditional walking routes or the modifications to them caused by inundation by the stored waters. If you know details of the agreement please contact Confederation, Enquiries have continued into the closure of sections of the Benowie track near the firing range at -Hornsby. The meeting with the director of NPWS ended up being a meeting with the deputy director, There are reports of the release of material into creeks- around the site of Clarence Colliery. The NSW -EPA has been asked to investigate and to ensure that colliery waste retention storages in the area are meeting their performance specifications. General Business saw mention of the coming upgrading of the Royal NP coastal track. It seems some federal government moneys are involved and there is a suspicion that the upgrading may be targeted at future use by the international tourist industry. Then came the announcements and the President closed the meeting with a near miss on the gong at 2128.