Walk Safely­—Walk with a Club The Bushwalker “Where Am I” Competion The Rules Just saying that a photo is of ‘Grose Val- check with your Club membership secre- ley’, or even ‘Blue Gum Forest’ would not tary to make sure you are financial, so you • Each Issue has four photos taken some- be enough. However, something like ‘Blue must also include the name of the Club to where in NSW in places where bushwalk- Gum Forest from the start of the descent which you belong as well. You should also ers go. These will NOT be obscure places. down DuFaurs Buttress’ would qualify. It include your snail-mail address in case you • You have to identify the scene (what the is not enough to just say where the pho- win! photo is of) and roughly where the pho- to was taken from: you must specify the The Editor’s decision is final. After all, he tographer was standing for any one of the scene: what the photo is of. In short, you took the photos. This does mean that some photos. need to provide enough information that areas of NSW may not appear in the com- • Send your answers (up to 4 entries per someone else could navigate to that spot petition for a while. My apologies to Clubs Issue) to [email protected] as and take a close approximation to the pho- in those areas. quickly as possible. to. Of course, if you want to give a map name and grid reference, that would be Results from Autumn Issue • Usually only one prize per person will be awarded in each Issue of The Bushwalker, fine too. Photo 21: Kedumba Valley from Solitary but you can score for different Issues. The prizes? Pass (not from Mt Solitary) Identified by Colin Wood from Armidale. Deadline for entries Three companies well-known to us all Photo 22: the long pool at the end of Wol- have donated cash vouchers redeemable The Editor may start allocating prizes as langambee section , before the exit. in their stores. The Paddy Pallin group and when sufficient entries arrive. The Identified by Dave Noble from SUBW. competition remains open for unguessed has donated two $50 vouchers, Mountain Photo 4: Bridal Veil Falls from the foot photos. If several correct entries arrive for Equipment has donated one $100 voucher of the Govetts Leap Pass (not just ‘Govetts a photo, the Editor will make an arbitrary and their allied store Trek & Travel has Leap’!). selection of the winning entry. donated one $100 voucher. Identified by Ian Partridge from NPA. The answers will appear on the Confedera- Other rules Photos 6 and 23 remain open for tion Web site when the awards are made. Any financial member of an affiliated your guess. Entry Requirements Bushwalking Club can enter. We may | The Bushwalker Vol31 Issue 3, Winter 2006 Walk Safely­—Walk with a Club T h From the Editor’s Desk . e Bushwalker Welcome to the winter 2006 edition of the magazine of the Confederation of The Official Publication of the Bushwalking Clubs NSW. This issue may­ not look quite so good as the previous Confederation of Bushwalking Clubs NSW ones as it has been prepared on a rather lean time budget. The Editor was away­ Vol 31 Issue 3, Winter 2006 in Central Australia on the Larapinta Trail for a while, and got back just in time to ISSN 0313 2684 assemble this. Our Graphic Designer, Barry­ Hanlon, is still away­ in Europe, walk- Editor: Roger Caffin ing and rogaining. Please forgive any­ errors and inconsistencies in the format: the [email protected] editor is still learning. Graphic Design: Roger Caffin What this shows is two things: Confederation members don’t sit at home, and (Because Barry­ Hanlon who we need some more volunteers to help fill in the gaps when one of us is away. normally­ does it is away­) Please, volunteer if y­ou can. We especially­ need people to help with advertising and marketing for both this magazine and the web site. Confederation Officers Clubs and members are encouraged to submit articles. There is a strong prefer- President: Margaret Covi ence for articles with good pictures. We will also accept articles from outside bod- [email protected] ies where the articles seem relevant to members. Articles may­ be gently­ edited to Administration Officer: help fit into our page limit. Contributions should be sent to editor@bushwalking. [email protected] org.au . Our thanks to the contributors who have sent in articles, and our apologies to Website: those who haven’t seen their article make it into print y­et. Sometimes we have www.bushwalking.org.au too much for the page limit, and have to keep some articles back, hopefully­ for the next issue. Address all correspondence to: The number of entries to the Photo Competition varies by­ issue. We have some PO Box 2090, GPO, Sy­dney­ 2001 regular entrants who usually­ manage to score a few hits - and win some prizes, but we would love to see more entries. The Editor might even exercise some The Confederation of Bushwalking discretion in favour of new entrants. In addition, y­our attention is drawn to Photo Clubs NSW Inc represents approxi- 6, still unidentified. It’s on the web site in the publications area. Surely someone mately­ 65 Clubs with a total member- can recognise this area? ship of about 10,000 bushwalkers. Please note that opinions expressed by authors do not always represent the offi- Formed in 1932, the Confederation cial opinions of the Confederation or any­ of the Clubs. The Editor’s opinions don’t provides a united voice on behalf of all represent any­thing at all ... bushwalkers on conservation, access Roger Caffin and other issues. Editor It runs training courses for members, provides a free wilderness search and rescue organisation, and helps runs bush navigation competitions. People interested in joining a bushwalking club may­ write to the Confederation Administration (below) for a list of Clubs, or to go to the Con- federation website at www.bushwalk- ing.org.au for a list of Member Clubs. Index A Py­renees Tasting Pack 4 Distress Beacons 7 Engineers Track Heritage Infrastructure Committee News 8 Dunns Leap: an intriguing name in the Blue Mts 8 SUBSCRIBE TO THE My­les Dunphy­ & William Cuneo 9 BUSHWALKER Two misguided nomenclaturists of the Blue Mountains Gear For Sale 10 Keep up with all the news and developments happening in the NSW bushwalking scene for only $7 per year. This is to cover National Wilderness Conference, 2006 10 posting and handling: the magazine itself is free. A Wombat in the Desert 11 Send your name and address and cheque or money order to Confederation of Bushwalking Clubs NSW, PO Box 090, Mt Dromedary­ 13 GPO Sydney 001. Make the cheque or money order payable to the Confederation as well. Book Reviews 14 Also please indicate if you are a member of a bushwalking Cradle Mt Lake St Clair & Walls of Jerusalem club, and if not whether you would like a copy of the list of Hunter Valley­ Bushwalks our clubs. Pathway­s to History­ Vol31 Issue 3 Winter 2006 The Bushwalker | Walk Safely­—Walk with a Club Group organizers chapel is in a rather sad state, now being and hosts Bob and mostly used for storing agricultural items. Sue Taffel were at This was where we had lunch. Some ate station and airport outside but the heat drove three of us into to welcome us the undercroft area where large squared and provide trans- beams now lying on the floor improvised port to Etchers. as seats. Whether it was the location, the We were a mixed heat, the bizarre carved symbols in the lot – compris- stonework or just the right moment but I ing non-walkers, recall the conversation being very philo- moderate walk- sophical, deep and meaningful. ers and addicted As we passed through the south-west sec- walkers. It was tion of the Bois d’Ostabat, near Haram- Bob’s task to run beltzko Erreka, there were improvised Tread on a path in the Pyrenees and you a program that made everybody happy. He ladders fixed to very large trees that led step into rich and varied history. Preced- did a remarkable job. to hides, for pigeon shooters. The climb- ing the walks of our Bush Club (Group ) Part of the charm of the visit was to in- ing was good fun and provided excitement in June 006 were not only other groups dulge in the local cuisine. Our cook Sally and photo opportunities of Australian walkers but also some of the was, surprisingly, English but through her After crossing another Erreka – the Ithur- most bloody invasions and expeditionary craft as a ‘cuisenaire’ had developed all the riberriako, we joined the Chemin de St. forces of recorded history and religion. The skills necessary to ‘cook like a local’. Her Jacques de Compostelle where time and line up includes Roman, French, Spanish meals used local recipes made with fresh feet have lowered the track level by nearly and Moorish Empires, and Catholic, Prot- ingredients bought in the local markets, a metre, resulting in a tunnel like effect. estant and Islamic waxings and wanings. served with local wines. Emerging from the tunnel we were soon The indelible mark of mankind is ubiqui- To the walking. Bob chose fairly local in the village of Ostabat. Here were some tous in the Pyrenees. walks to suit the varying abilities and high 17th century buildings still in use includ- Pilgrims of the Chemin de St Jacques de temperatures.