It CANBERRA BUSHWALKING CLUB NEWSLETTER
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XDR4XDR4 CANBERRA BUSHWALKING CLUB NEWSLETTER it Canberra Bushwalking Club Inc. GPO Box 160 Canberra ACT 2601 Volume 54 Number 3 www.canberrabushwalkingclub.org April 2018 GENERAL MEETING 7.30pm Wednesday 18 April 2018 Weston Uniting Church 16 Parkinson Street, Weston The AAWT Adventure Guest Speaker: Mac Kirby Last November, Mac Kirby, Cynthia Burton and Carl walked the Australian Alps Walking Track, taking 6 weeks for the 650km trek which mostly follows the Great Dividing Range. Several other walkers joined them for sections of the walk. The group experienced all the ‘ups and downs’ that go with the terrain – glorious days with breathtaking views from mountain tops, beautiful snow gum forests and alpine environments, thunderstorms, hailstorms, ‘interesting’ river crossings, and new friendships formed with fellow walkers. Join us to watch a video of the stunning scenery, the walkers and the walk. Carl, Cynthia and Mac on Mt Howitt Photo supplied Contents CBC – A Success Story The Club’s 400th member The benefits of slow walking Notice of Motion – April Club Meeting Membership update Defying Cyclone Gita Bushwalking NSW – a win for CBC Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail CBC Committee members Protect yourself from sun damage Leading a Wednesday Walk Contributions to the newsletter This month’s it Janet’s encounter with ants Activity Program Bulletin Board Canberra Bushwalking Club it April 2018 page 1 The CBC – a Club to be proud of Our Club has had many successes in recent months. Club members have been recognised for involvement in environmental activities. The Club’s practices have been awarded by Bushwalking NSW, a result of our Walks Secretary, Linda Groom, contributing Club-running tips. Our membership has grown to an all-time high of 403. We have also made progress in the area of privacy with a new Privacy Policy and refined Guidelines for Leaders and Guidelines for Participants. Our goal is to balance the convenience of organising walks and the joy of participating in them with the privacy desired by members in a digital world. In another step forward, the committee has formulated advice for those wishing to acknowledge Aboriginal traditional lands at the start of activities. You may use this at the start of activities and we will use this at AGMs. My thanks go to all who have contributed to activities and organisation in the Club. I hope to catch up with you on a walk soon. Michael de Raadt President Notice of Motion At our Committee meeting on 25 March 2018 it was recommended that the Club make a donation of $200 to the Colong Foundation to support its work in opposing the raising of the Warragamba Dam wall (see article in March it Page 4 ). The raising of the wall will threaten the integrity of one of the most protected natural landscapes in Australia – it will drown 65 kilometres of wild rivers and 4,700 hectares of National Parks surrounding the dam. Further information can be found at wildrivers.org.au As this donation was not included in the budget approved at the AGM in September 2017, it is necessary to have it approved at a general meeting, in accordance with the Club’s rules. Club members will be asked to vote on this motion at the April Club meeting. A quote from Bushwalking NSW newsletter March 2018 “We are delighted to announce that the Canberra Bushwalking Club won our February Prize for the best club-running tips! From formalities to fun, the CBC has it covered. Check out their website for loads of tips and ideas. And join them on a walk to experience the result of all their great work!” Canberra Bushwalking Club it April 2018 page 2 Protect Your Skin from Sun Damage Autumn is an ideal period to get into the Aussie bush. The heat of summer has (largely) passed, and the bitter cold of winter is yet to arrive in earnest. We do need to beware of the sun however. Ultraviolet radiation (UV) can still be very high in autumn, particularly with the clear days that we seem to be having a lot of. I am starting to sustain some pretty serious skin damage from 40 years of weekend bushwalking. Solar keratoses and disfiguring blemishes on my face are the price for having been outside a lot. Some other walkers (and folks in general) have developed more serious skin conditions than me. Apparently, Australia has one of the highest rates of melanoma diagnoses in the world. Two in three Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer by the age of 70. A friend recently reminded me of the risks of UV, and the apps that are now available to provide UV readings. He showed me his app, which led me to finding Sunsmart. Jointly funded by the Cancer Council Victoria and VicHealth, the Sunsmart program is a leader in skin cancer prevention. I recommend a visit to the Sunsmart website, to increase your understanding of how UV works, and how to better know and protect your skin. I have downloaded their Sunsmart app and now take note of what the UV is doing on any given day. Whenever the UV goes above 3, as it does by mid-morning most days, I apply sunscreen, and put on a hat and sunglasses. I notice that the UV is quite low in the early morning, and in the late afternoon. We should get some sun, which is a great source of Vitamin D. As we walkers walk right through the high-UV part of the day (the late morning, noon and afternoon period), we need to manage the plentiful sun exposure with judicious protection. As Sid the Seagull wisely advised in 1981 - slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen and slap on a hat. Or as Baz Lurhmann said, even more succinctly - 'wear sunscreen'! David Dedenczuk Training and Safety Officer Welcome to the April edition of it. There is a smorgasbord of delights this month, and many issues to think about in each of the articles featured here. There is Janet Duncan’s encounter with ants – not such a delight for Janet but something for us all to take warning from. We have Robin Cayzer’s strategies for organising Wednesday walks, with many useful tips for potential leaders who are encouraged to have a go as Robin did with great success. Matthew Higgins reflects on slow walking in the bush to explore the sights and sounds not usually available to noisy parties of walkers. Elizabeth Moore’s description of Janet’s Depot Beach camping trip is one example of a slow walking experience – an article filled with the sensations of the sea, beaches and headlands as the party explored the coastline around Depot Beach. Mike Morriss has done a superlative job summarising Meg McKone’s talk about her Kangaroo Island trip – another coastal exploration. And we meet our Club member number 400 – Bill Binks. 400 is a milestone for the Club. Greet Bill with reverence when you encounter him on a walk sometime. Thank you to everyone who has sent me these wonderful articles for all to share. Enjoy your reading. Meredith Hatherly Editor Canberra Bushwalking Club it April 2018 page 3 Featuring our 400th Club Member, Bill Binks I found out about CBC by googling walking groups in Canberra, driven by my desire to explore the bush around ACT and NSW with my family. I'd like to share my passion for bush landscapes with my young son Nicholas I haven't been in a bushwalking club before, but have a background in caving with CEGSA (the Cave Exploration Group South Australia). I’m from Adelaide and one of my most favourite places anywhere is walking the limestone parts of the Flinders Ranges, where I’ve found both caves and tranquillity. I have quite a thing for mountains: looking at, reading about and climbing them (not quite a peak-bagging type though!). My wife Heidi and I did a 3 day trip in the cool forests up around Careys Peak in Barrington Tops NP in 2015. About 10 years ago I had a daunting 2 nights caught in a blizzard on the side of Mount Anne in Tasmania. Lots of my longer bushwalks seem to have happened overseas. Some of my favourite places have been overnight hikes in the Cederberg mountains in South Africa, Mount Kinabalu (Malaysia), missing the sunrise but sliding down scree on Mt Fuji (Japan), Mount Kenya, and in the Peruvian Andes surrounded by 6000m+ peaks. Future-wise I’m really keen to see more out of the way places in Namadgi and Kosciuszko NPs, maybe some snow camping or snow-shoeing, and go hiking in Tasmania. One day I would love to do a trip to the Himalayas. Bill Binks Photo supplied The Club would like to welcome the following new members who joined the Club during March 2018: Bill Binks, James Volk, Kirstin van Wijk, Mohamed Rageeb, Stuart Wiscombe and Tim Woolmer. Roger Edwards Membership Secretary Canberra Bushwalking Club it April 2018 page 4 Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail A review of the talk by Meg McKone featured at the CBC meeting on 21 March 2018 The party for this trip included: Meg McKone (Leader). Michael Bentley, Kerri-Ann Smith-Bentley, Cynthia Burton, Lynette Finch, Christine Francis, Esther Gallant, Chris Roper, Mike and Annette Smith, Helen Stevens (with support from Frank McKone). We were treated to a thought provoking and entertaining talk by Meg McKone about a walk she led in March 2017 in the Flinders Chase National Park on Kangaroo Island. The walk went through the southern ocean- front region of the Park on the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail.