Canberra g o r F e e r o b o r r o Bushwalking C it Club newsletter Canberra Bushwalking Club Inc GPO Box 160 Canberra ACT 2601 Volume: 48 www.canberrabushwalkingclub.org Number: 2 March 2013 GENERAL MEETING 8 pm Wednesday 20 March 2013 In this issue 2 Canberra Bushwalking Camino Trail: Many Paths, Many Ways Club Committee Presenters: Margaret Ryan and Moya Homan 2 President’s prattle 2 Where’s Bob? Margaret and Moya will compare their two journeys: one stayed in albergues/refugios, carrying all luggage, and the other stayed in cheap 2 Found! hotels and had luggage looked after. 3 Walks Waffle 3 Membership matters Main hall, 3 Training Trifles 4 Review: Surveyors at the Hughes Baptist Church, Snowline: Surveying the 32–34 Groom Street, Hughes ACT–NSW Border 4 1910–15 6 Kiandra, Tabletop Mountain area, – Wildflowers, huts and gold diggings 8 Northern Kosciuszko weekend 8 From the Archives 9 Shooting in NSW national parks 9 Centenary of Canberra ‘Stretch your legs’ events 10 Activity program 15 Your Duty of Care Responsibilities on Canberra Bushwalking Club activities 15 Bulletin Board Important dates 16 Feeling literary? 16 Wednesday walks 20 March General meeting 27 March Committee meeting 27 March Submissions close for April it Committee reports Canberra Bushwalking Club Committee President’s President: Phillip Starr prattle [email protected] 0419 281 096 ecently Alan Vidler had to cancel what was to be his Treasurer: Julie Anne Clegg R300th walk as leader. His next advertised walk will be 13–14 April: Tullyangela Clearing - Wineglass Tor - Tims [email protected] Gully – M/R. This walk looks like a cracker with spectacu- 0402 118 359 lar views, waterfalls, great scenery and historical sights. I encourage you to join Alan, one of our most experienced Walks Secretary: Linda Groom leaders to celebrate his cracking 300th event. [email protected] Other current members to have surpassed the 300 mark are 6281 4917 Stan Marks and Jeff Bennetts. Actually Stan has topped the 400 mark. Special congratulations to Stan, Jeff and Alan, General Secretary: Tim Wright but also many thanks to all walk leaders who continue to [email protected] give of themselves so that we all can enjoy our time in 6281 2275 the bush. An update on recreational shooting in National Parks is Membership Secretary: Roger Edwards included later in this newsletter. Further updates will be [email protected] provided as information becomes available. 6288 7863 or 0406 378 217 Also in this newsletter you will find details of a couple of Training and Safety Officer: John Evans challenges to encourage you to ‘Stretch Your Legs’. Your committee have organised these in the spirit of celebration [email protected] of Canberra’s Centenary Year. 6288 7235 or 0417 436 877 At last count our membership stood at 371 and new Conservation Officer: Nathan Holt members are joining regularly. One newcomer recently commented ‘I had a great time yesterday, everyone was [email protected] very friendly and welcoming. You will definitely see me 0414 628 429 again on future walks.’ Please keep up the good work of encouragement and let us see further increases in Web Manager: David Briese membership. [email protected] Finally, congratulations to George Carter on being awarded 6286 3479 life membership. g o r F e e r Editor: Alison Milton Phillip Starr o b o r r o C [email protected] President 6254 0578(h) or 6289 2717(w)) Assistant Walks Secretary: Keith Thomas Where’s Bob? [email protected] his is Bush Bob. Besides hiking, Bob likes 6230 1081 or 0421 607 667 Tto hide; behind photos, banners, notices, anywhere he can find space. Each month Bob Social Secretary: Quentin Moran will be hiding somewhere in the newsletter. If [email protected] you find him email the Editor with the page number and his hiding place. The first person 6288 9840 to find him may receive a prize if they come Publisher: Gabrielle Wright along to a General meeting to collect it. But be warned, Bob is tricky. You may only see [email protected] his feet, backpack or head poking out. 6281 2275 All members of the Committee can be contacted in one email to Found you! [email protected] hree astute readers emailed the Editor, stating that they Thad FOUND Bob. Yes, Bob had stowed away on Meg CHECK IN: Ring Keith Thomas on 6230 1081 McKone’s trip to the MacDonnell Ranges and was hiding WEB SITE: www.canberrabushwalkingclub.org under the banner to the sequel of her trip report. Not surprisingly, Meg was the first to find Bob, but since she was not able to be present at the February general meeting, g o r F the prize went to the runner-up, Janet Edstein. e e r o b o r r o C Page 2 – Canberra Bushwalking Club it March 2013 g ro F e re o b ro r o C Committee reports locally and the current program there may be unforeseen difficulties. certainly illustrates the fact. Easter, A R(ough) walk may well have a in particular, has a good choice of track entry and exit to a short area Walks options and it will be interesting to of R terrain, so the walk may be see how many get out and about. within your capabilities. Again, look for further information in the Waffle Matthew Higgins gave an updated walk description and contact the presentation of Surveyors on the walk leader if in doubt. Snowline at the February monthly t the last monthly meeting it meeting. I remember the previous As members of a peer group club, Awas wonderful to see George one in 2000 delivered to the Club at we should keep an eye out for each Carter awarded Life Membership of Dickson library. He speaks well and other. Walk leaders have an added the Club. It was well deserved and both were most interesting. Predict- duty of care – that’s why they’ll George obviously greatly valued ably, attendance at the meeting was write a good walk description (see the occasion. quite good. During their survey, 1910 the February it for a ‘good’ walk The rain has been quite heavy lately to 1915, surveyors Harry Mouat and description), provide you with a and some trips have been cancelled. Percy Sheaffer both described some pre-walk briefing, appoint a ‘tail end One would need a certain state of of r the borde country as the most diffi- Charlie’, schedule adequate breaks mind to walk the high country in cult scrub and terrain they’d seen. The and do many other things to ensure strong winds and horizontal, wet speaker referred to a certain pastor’s a safe and enjoyable walk. Party sleet: I’d call it ‘true mindlessness’. present-day passion for searching out members should ensure they main- So while a leader might report a their border markers. tain group cohesion (don’t wander or stop without telling someone!) trip cancellation due to lack of In the meantime, good walking. starters, an associated forecast and be willing to ‘follow the leader’ g o in all respects. When you sign the r F e e r o b o r r o of 10 to 20 mm of rain, better Rob Horsfield C describes the matter. Meg McKone Temporary Walks Secretary Acknowledgment of Risks and wisely cancelled her trip to the Blue Obligations form, have you really? Mountains. Conditions turned out to It reads: ‘I have advised the activity be extreme and four bushwalking leader if am taking any medication or groups had to be rescued. have any physical or other limitation that might affect my participation in In the program there is a wide variety Training the activity. I will make every effort of trips coming up. Linda was grate- to remain with the rest of the party ful to receive most of these before and accept the instructions of the she went away. She, Peter and Keith Trifles leader of the activity’? report finishing their first walk in the north of the South Island of NZ. Duty of Care guidelines are pub- ‘A good trip and perfect weather’. et’s look at the walk grading lished in this it and are available via I’m sure they won’t want some of Lsystem, designed to provide a the Club’s web site. our recent weather systems drifting somewhat quantitative measure of a Want to know more about Duty across the Tasman. March and April walk and to allow you to assess if your of Care and Risk Management? are very popular times for walking capabilities are matched to the trip. Check out what our peak body You’ll find a full explanation of the Bushwalking Australia has to say at grades at the beginning of the Activity http://www.bushwalkingaustralia. program in every it, and also associ- org/walkers-info_rm.html ated with each walk description. Membership A handy smart phone app (iOS and The first letter indicates the walk Android) called Fires Near Me is distance, S – Short – under 12 km/ available for free download. The matters day; M – Medium – 12–20km/day; L preferred strategy may be to check – Long – over 20 km/day. Note that with the land manager (e.g. National it’s a ‘gradable’ distance with 1km Please ensure that you keep the Park visitor centre) prior to a walk, added for every 100m climbed. So but the app may provide some use- Membership Secretary informed don’t be caught out – a (S)hort walk of any changes to your email ful information during a walk if you may well have a 300 m climb in it! have mobile phone reception.