Volume 34 No 2 Autumn 2009
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Volume 34 Ironstone formations, Issue 2 Koorowall Knife Edge, Blue Mountains NP Autumn 2009 Sea cliffs near The Waterrun, Photo: Peter Vaughan Royal National Park Contributions of interesting, especially typical and spectacular bushwalking photos are sought. you don’t want the same photographers all the time, do you? The old Four Mile Hut, Photo: Graham Wright KNP Walk Safely—Walk with a Club T h e Bushwalker The Official Publication of the Confederation of Bushwalking Clubs NSW Volume 34, Issue 2, Autumn 2009 From the ISSN 0313 2684 editor’s desk. Editor: Roger Caffin [email protected] Graphic Design & Assembly: he last issue featured a photo-essay on Barrington Tops, and Barry Hanlon feedback was good. So this issue features two photo essays. Confederation Officers: THowever, I have to sound a note of warning to all confederation President: Wilf Hilder members. We are getting very short on contributions! If you don’t want Administration Officer: The Bushwalker to be just a Keats/Caffin effort, then YOU are going to [email protected] have to contribute some more articles, trip reports and photos! Get with it! Website: www.bushwalking.org.au Address all correspondence to: Articles for Publication PO Box 119, Newtown, NSW 2042 Clubs and members are encouraged to submit relevant articles, with a very strong preference for those with good pictures. Both the author and The Confederation of Bushwalking the author’s club will feature in the Byline - this is a good way to Clubs NSW Inc represents advertise YOUR club. We will also accept articles from outside bodies approximately 66 Clubs with a total where the articles seem relevant to members. membership of about 8,700 bushwalkers. Articles may be edited for length and content to help fit into our page limit. Pictures should be sent at maximum available resolution: at least Formed in 1932, the Confederation 300 dpi, preferably in their original unedited form. JPG, PDF or TIFF provides a united voice on behalf of all formats are preferred. The text should be sent as a plain text file bushwalkers on conservation, access (*.txt), NOT as a Word file (*.doc). I repeat, please send the pictures and other issues. separate from the text file; do NOT send them embedded in a Word doc file. Pictures taken from a Word doc file are simply not good enough and People interested in joining a bush- walking club may write to the won’t be published. And, of course, the Editor is always interested in Confederation Administration receiving bushwalking books and maps for review. All enquiries should [email protected] be sent to [email protected] . for a list of Clubs, but a far more Please note that opinions expressed by authors may not represent the useful on-line list is available at the official opinions of the Confederation or any Club. The Editor’s opinions Confederation website are his own. www.bushwalking.org.au, broken up into areas. There’s lots of Roger Caffin other good stuff there too, including Editor the bushwalking FAQ. Index Subscribe to The Bushwalker Keep up with all the news and developments happening in the NSW bushwalking scene for Don’t you wish you were here? 2 only $10 per year. This is to cover posting and handling: the magazine itself is free. From the Editor’s Desk 3 Send your name and address and cheque or Wave Hill Station Weekend 4 money order to the Confederation of Bush- walking Clubs NSW Inc, PO Box 119, New- Wet Wild Wilderness 5 town NSW 2042. The new phone number is Kosciusko National Park—The Northern Half 8 9565 4005. Make the cheque or money order payable to the Confederation of Bushwalk- A Looming Nightmare—Adventure Activity Standards 13 ing Clubs NSW Inc as well: please do not ab- breviate the name! Navshield 2008—Nerriga 14 Please indicate which issue you want your sub- Errata and Omissions 15 scription to start with. We don’t want to dupli- cate copies you already have. Volume 34, Issue 2, Autumn 2009 The Bushwalker | 3 Walk Safely—Walk with a Club were small pools with pink orchids flowering. From there we traversed Wave Hill Station westerly back to our ascent ridge and returned down towards our vehicles, Anne Falkner deviating a little to the east when Weekend practical to view into the lightly forested minute 4WD from the homestead. This gully. It was a comfortable 5 hour hike. grassy site offered a number of possible Evidence of some earlier gold mining tent sites and a timber-stocked campfire efforts were viewed down near the place, a long drop toilet and river access, vehicles before returning to set up camp although the vegetation limits the view. and enjoy campfire meals and yarns. Hastily we partook of morning tea, Our Sunday walk was southeasterly then lazily carpooled back up to the via an alternative smaller campsite with saddle adjacent to the easiest Mt Carnham wonderful views of the upper Clarence Gaping Gill,ascent where a side track afforded us Gorge. From there we ascended along the convenient parking space on this obvious ridge with numerous photo November 2007 otherwise steeply graded country. Starting opportunities, this time of a number of at 200 m we quickly ascended, beginning waterfalls between foreground trees. along a fence line then following a After reaching the summit at 260 m we natural ridge. Views to the south of the headed south and then towards the lower Clarence River Gorge country were end of the Gorge. This involved some quickly obvious, allowing a good excuse steep lantana scrambling back down a for numerous breathers and photo gully to the river. Lunch was eaten while opportunities. The climb was rocky in closely observing the river views and a places but not dangerous. A range of number of sizeable cod fish; it was greatly vegetation including an attractive yellow appreciated. A little further to the north pea flowered medium shrub added colour was a natural sandy beach offering to the landscape. The Mt Carnham trig tempting swimming opportunities which was an obvious first destination at 531 m. none of our group could resist. Perfect! This offered no views, being well covered The return from there was a rock ushwalking at the Clarence River by tall eucalypts. scrambling maze with river and close Gorge and at Mt Carnham while We headed north-west down a small waterfall observations, imaginings of the Bcamping at Wave Hill Station is ridge to a saddle and over a small hill power of water flowing through here at certainly to be recommended. Our until the upper Clarence River opened flood times and the hardiness of the Clarence Valley Bushwalkers group chose itself to viewing. A magnificent vista. We clinging clusters of vegetation. Beyond to camp at the upriver Back Channel returned via the trig and then deviated the last of the waterfalls another campsite north-east of the Gorge, a 45 slightly to the east of our ascent and into swimming pool beckoned, this with its a small rocky gully own natural spa. This was enjoyed along with afternoon tea, then we returned to terminating in a t cliff edge. There pack up camp. Scenes along the walk at Wave Hill Station 4 | The Bushwalker Volume 34, Issue 2, Autumn 2009 Walk Safely—Walk with a Club Wet Wild Wilderness Michael Keats The Bush Club the log was a ‘wet tails’ job. By now I did not really care. I was fully wet [Editor's Note: the country de- from the waist down, valuables scribed here is not easy, and that needed to be dry were safe in the walkers involved have con- a dry bag, the camera is water- siderable experience. Much proof to 10 m . Let’s go. caution is advised before ven- turing into this region.] We came to a great overhang (on The Australian bush is re- the eastern side) where the creek nowned for being dry, harsh and has cut deep into the rock strata. uncompromising. This abridged It had a sandy bed with scattered collection of three off-track, wet, small pebbles of red, orange and wild, wilderness exploratory yellow sandstone. The water We stop and ponder our options. bushwalking trips is about a speed was racing and the volume Ahead were more logs and water- Tom takes a step into the Wol- very different face of the bush in huge. I think we each did mental langambe proper. It is up to his the Greater Blue Mountains na- calculations about what the Wol- falls- nothing too alarming and all very pretty. Water volumes kept waist and moving at great speed. tional Park. It is all about water langambe experience would be To go upstream is to commit to - lots of water. Rain, mist, rap- like later on . increasing as side creeks and gul- lies added their contribution. A swimming and we are not ids, waterfalls, wet walking - The overhang continued for tens of equipped to do that, at least not through canyons, dark pools, larger side creek that joined from metres. There were deeper sec- the west proved disappointing. for any distance. Tom is disap- slippery cliffs, being totally wet tions in the creek bed and there pointed, as this is a section of the and enjoying it all. Tom was hoping that it would also were minor sand banks. An in- have ‘interesting’ features. Wollangambe that he (and indeed tense greenness was exhibited by I want to explore). all the ferns and other epiphytes As we are climbing the cliffs in adorning the walls.