Bushwalk Australia
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Bushwalk Australia Summer Swelter Volume No 20, December 2016 2 | BWA December 2016 Bushwalk Australia Magazine An electronic magazine for http://bushwalk.com Videos Volume 20, December 2016 5 The Great South West Walk “We acknowledge the and The Wheely Big Bushwalk Traditional Owners of this vast land which we explore. We pay our respects to their Elders, past and present, and thank them for their stewardship of this great south land.” Cover picture Image by Goodluz Desert Discovery Walk 6 The endangered Malleefowl habitat Editor Matt McClelland [email protected] Design manager Eva Gomišček [email protected] Sub-editor Stephen Lake [email protected] Please send any articles, Conondale Range Great Walk suggestions or advertising A raw and rugged, up close and enquires to Eva. 14 personal nature experience BWA Advisory Panel North-north-west Mark Fowler Brian Eglinton We would love you to be part Falls Creek to Hotham of the magazine, here is how to contribute - Writer's Guide. 18 Alpine Crossing The copy deadline for the Draft Plan February 2017 edition is 31 December 2016, earlier preferred. Warning Like all outdoor pursuits, the activities described in this Sutherland Bushwalking Club publication may be dangerous. 24 Undertaking them may result in All about the club loss, serious injury or death. The information in this publication is without any warranty on accuracy or completeness. There may be significant omissions and errors. People who are interested in walking in the areas concerned should make their own Rewilding enquiries, and not rely fully on the information in this publication. What is rewilding and how The publisher, editor, authors 26 or any other entity or person will does it apply to Australia? not be held responsible for any loss, injury, claim or liability of any kind resulting from people using information in this publication. Please consider joining a walking club or undertaking formal training in other ways to ensure you are Photo Gallery well prepared for any activities you Beautiful images are planning. Please report any 30 errors or omissions to the editor or in the forum at BWA eMag. that will amaze you Travers Falls, Nelson Lakes National Park, New Zealand Competition: Australia December 2010 Tom Brennan BWA December 2016 | 3 Sun Clothing 48 General sun safety tips and precautions Emma's challenge 50 A keen bushwalker facing melanoma Ten Tips for Safer and 54 More Enjoyable Wild Swimming Maximise the fun on your wild swimming adventure Blue Mountains Best Bushwalks 58 A book and a website about these beautiful walks Pokécology 62 People will never put down their phones, but games can get them focused on nature Wrap It Up 66 With Fireless Food Salad and falafel wraps 4 | BWA December 2016 From the Editor Wow, it is summer again. How quickly the year shoots past. What a crazy year is has been, but at least we can head bush to escape the madness. I want to say a big thanks to Stephen and Eva. They do an amazing job pulling each edition together. I have been very busy with other jobs for the last few editions and without hesitation they keep everything running smoothly. Thanks also to the authors and photographers; we love the great articles and images. Thanks for the time and effort in sharing your experiences and expertise. In this edition, we have showcased two wonderful and vastly different walks, and a last-minute addition details the Falls Hotham Alpine Crossing status. We also have articles on sun protection, rewilding, a club's adventures, photos that will inspire you, a free bushwalking book to download and so much more. I hope you enjoy this edition. Please keep the feedback coming - we read it all and it helps us to refine each edition. We want this magazine to continue to inspire and equip, more and more, for your next adventures. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and awesome New Year. Happy walking Matt :) Matt McClelland (aka Wildwalks) [email protected] Declaration The bushwalking community is a small world and paths often cross. To improve transparency I thought it would be helpful to list my associations within the outdoor community. In many cases I approached the authors of the articles included in this edition and suggested the topics. The opinions stated in articles are those of the authors and not of those involved in the production of this edition. The authors are mostly people I know through Bushwalk.com. I operate Bushwalk.com and Wildwalks.com and have written several walking guide books, published by Woodslane, I have also written for Great Walks. I contract part time to National Parks Association NSW on an ongoing basis to coordinate their activities program. I have had a partnership with NPWS NSW and have hosted advertising for Wild magazine. I have also partnered with a large number of other organisations in environmental campaigns and have a regular bushwalking segment on ABC regional radio. There is some commercial advertising through the magazine. I have probably forgotten something - if you are worried about transparency please either write to me or raise the issue on Bushwalk.com. BWA December 2016 | 5 Videos The Great South West Walk The Friends of the Great South West Walk (GSWW) have a promotional video. The GSWW is 250 kilometres of forest, river, beaches, and cliffs. This track has a remote wild feel while being surprisingly close to roads and towns, with good campsites. See BWA February 2016 for more details. The Wheely Big Bushwalk - a fun bushwalk for people in wheelchairs Saturday 3 December 2016 at 10am, walks leave from 10.30am Join the fun at Narrabeen Lagoon. This awesome day is run to help people in wheelchairs connect with nature. Please share this with anyone you know that might be interested. Check the flyer and sign up here: http://www.wildwalks.com/events/wheely-big-bushwalk/ For more information about the event or volunteering please contact Helen Smith on (02) 9299 0000 or [email protected]. 6 | BWA December 2016 Desert Discovery Walk Kevin Moss In April 2016 I decided to head up to Little Desert National Park and revisit the Desert Discovery Walk (DDW), I did this walk around five years ago but started the walk with a flat camera battery ... greaaate! This time all gadgets were charged before leaving. I'd walked for around thirty seconds before stopping to take this photo of the Yellow Gums Kevin Moss BWA December 2016 | 7 Little Desert National Park stretches from Now I suppose I could have carried water for the Wimmera River to the South Australian two days and 45 kilometres but you know, border just to the south of the Western I'm old and broken so I figured that the better Highway. The park was gazetted in 1968 option would be to drop some water. Yeah, largely to preserve habitat for the endangered what could go wrong with that plan? Malleefowl, which nests in the sandy soil among the scrubby Mallee Trees. The After driving along Dahlenburghs Mill Track park comprises hundreds of low dunes until Mt Arapiles was starting to tower above interspersed with sandy heathlands, clay me I reluctantly admitted to myself that I pans and the odd salt lake. As I'm not partial may have missed the point where the DDW to crowds I decided to drive to Kiata on the crossed the track, hmmm. A fifteen point Thursday night and start the walk on Friday turn later I headed back the way I'd come, morning, the theory being that I'd miss keeping a close eye out for my intersecting any long weekend crowds. So after having walk. Arriving at Centre Track I'd overshot dinner with Sam I jumped into the ute and in the other direction - bugger me! Another headed towards Adelaide, arriving at the fifteen point turn and I'm heading back in my large, almost deserted Kiata Campground original direction, with good news that as the just before 1am. I soon had the tent up and rutted sandy track was now familiar I was drifted off to sleep. able to scan the scrub looking for the elusive DDW. I managed to locate my walking track Day one - to Yellow Gums Camp near the top of a small dune and headed into 21.9 kilometres, 203 metres ascent Yellow Gums Camp with my water and tent. I emerged from the tent blinking into the The end result of all this faffing about though sharp light of a stunning morning. Before the was that I didn't actually get back to Kiata walk started I had to stash water at Yellow Campground and start walking until 1pm. Gums Camp - the tank is out of action due to an infestation of bees trapped inside and So my cruisey first day was now not so polluting the water.* cruisey; over 20 kilometres in five hours is a solid walk even in the flat desert landscape. *Parks Victoria advises that the bees The DDW leaves Kiata Campground on a soft have now gone, but could return. It would be sandy track and basically stays on it for the useful to have a tank with mesh, like in the duration of the walk. The route soon forks Barry Mountains on the AAWT. A tank that to the right (the left hand track is my return cannot be relied on is not much use. Parks route in a couple of days) and heads towards Victoria suggests that walkers place their a long low ridge that heads south. The own water drops.