ESKIMO SCROLL Newsletter of Manning River Canoe Club Inc. P.O. Box 511, TAREE 2430 [email protected] Issue: March 2006 Next Meeting: AGM 1st June 2006, Taree (BBQs Galore) Camping Shop 6:30pm including pizza night President: Ian Winkley 6550 9051 Treasurer: Judy ward 65525837 Secretary: Mick O’Brien 6551 2531 Editor: Geoff Songberg 6557 0052 [email protected] Trip Convener: Geoff Martin 6552 5255 Taree Snowgum (BBQs Galore) Camping Shop Attention ANNOUNCEMENT Attention The club now has an email address just for the club, it is [email protected] So if you have anything for either the web site or the Scroll you can send it in to the email address. If you wish to send things for the newsletter directly to me that is still OK as I will accept anything as long as I can read it, scan it, copy/past or insert it for the next newsletter. We have also been working on a web site but there are still a few hurdles to get across. REPORTS If anyone would like to have a trip report or advertisement etc published in the newsletter, I would be grateful to receive them. You can post any material to the club address, give it to Geoff Martin at the Taree Camping shop, email to me or deliver to 1 Apple Tree Street Wingham 2429. Keep everyone informed, let people know how good the trip was so that other people will attend and make future activities even more rewarding for all. Geoff (Ed) Wild Cattle Ck, Nowendoc – November 05 What an unbelievable and unpredictable place! Rugged, pristine wilderness so close to home with so much to see – shame about the weather. I found God! He tried to blast me from a mountaintop with lightning, and then drown me with torrential rain whilst making a very good attempt of disorientation, which thankfully was seen through and righted before any harm could be done. QUICK QUIZ: Q1 How many lightning strikes WILL occur whilst waiting for a GPS to get a fix? ANS Too many! Gave up counting after 20. Q2 Is it wise to shelter under a tree in a storm? ANS No! But the more the merrier – it’s thick scrub up there. Q3 When is a trip leader at their most vulnerable? ANS When they’re temporarily “geographically misplaced” during a wild storm. (May lead to mutiny & murder!) This particular creek gully in the Nowendoc N P reminded me a lot of the South West rainforests of Tasmania, lush, cool and at times difficult to traverse. Saturday was a perfect day for trekking and the rain during the preceding week made for moist conditions. Down in the bed of the creek our pace was slowed somewhat resulting in a change of direction in order to find a suitable campsite. Up the side of the gorge we climbed, over the top of a ridge and then descended via a spur onto Watts Ck where a nice clear spot was found not too far from water. The night’s entertainment of joke telling was abruptly halted by the onset of rain, which grew steadily heavier as we listened from the shelter of the tents. 2 Sunday arrived with the promise of more rain but fortunately abated long enough for breakfast and the break up of camp. Venturing upstream we found several more waterfalls and cascades before deciding to head back to our vehicles by way of a previously un-named high point. (Now known as GPS hill or Stormy Mountain, take your pick Ian). As we slowly ascended the spur the storm developed from light drizzle to a full-blown cumulo-nimbus thunderhead, frightening the proverbial out of some of us and totally drenching everything we owned. Eventually the fire trail thankfully appeared leading us to the warm comfort of cars and dry clothes. An interesting but demanding trip, not for the faint hearted. Mick Tia Falls – December 05 A total of six members turned out for this relaxing trip to the best kept secret of the New England area. Not a bad roll up considering it was just one week before Christmas but we all felt quite happy to be away from the maddening crowds around Taree. Tia is a great place to take advantage of several short walks with excellent gorge and waterfall views, so when Pam and myself arrived after lunch on the Saturday it was no surprise to find that Jen, Stu, Geoff and Ian had been exploring the reserve and planning an east rim walk for the afternoon. Tia Falls & Gorge are the result of a watercourse following a series of fault lines created during the massive uplift that made the Great Dividing Range. Below the rim it is virtually impossible to negotiate the rugged terrain safely and so the visitor must console himself with long distant views of many alluring falls and cascades. There are a multitude of outlooks along the various walks providing opportunities for the photographer but at this point in time the NPWS is currently upgrading the Tiara Rim section. Hopefully in the near future it will once again be open to the public as it is probably the best walk in the whole area. Never the less we found plenty to occupy ourselves including a reconnaissance to the Apsley for a future expedition. (the 10km return trip in 1.5hrs was a bit harsh Mick – Ed) Always great to get away and enjoy the company of like-minded companions around a nice campfire, though the wood was a bit pungent on this occasion (took a couple of washes to fully remove the smoke). Many thanks to all who attended. Mick 3 Snowy Mtns Sojourn 1-7 January 2006 Participants, Geoff, Dean, Ian, Jennifer, Stuart and Mick. The original plan for the trip was to start at Charlotte Pass, head out to Kosciuszko, then turn north up passed Mt Twynam, Blue Lake, through the Rolling Ground finishing at Guthega Power station. Unfortunately we found out at the last minute that National Parks had closed off half the area we wanted to go through because it still had not recovered enough after the 2003 bush fires. Everyone still wanted to go so the plan was changed to walk in a loop from Guthega Power station towards the north. So on New Year’s Day we headed off in 45 heat in two vehicles for Jindabyne. Ian, Dean and I travelled in air conditioned comfort while Jennifer, Stuart and Mick sweated it out. We eventually met up at Island Bend to camp the first night out of the back of the cars. Fortunately a change came though bringing the temperature down to the more pleasant high twenties. There was a little rain that night but fortunately the next day dawned bright and sunny. With little formality it was break camp, drive up to the power station, don the heavy packs and head on up the trail. Rather than follow the main power line road that leads over the range to Geehi we followed a secondary trail up the east side of the Munyang River to a viaduct trail. The viaduct pipeline picks up the water from small creeks and takes it back to Guthega pondage. After the initial steep climb up to Disappointment hut the trail levelled out for a few kilometres until it came back onto the main road. Normally this trail would be shrouded with a snow gum canopy however the 2003 bushfire had killed off the canopy. Although the trees were regrowing from the base the forest would take a long time to get back to where it was. Apart from the ground cover much of the area looked like a graveyard of dead trees. There were still some parts that had not been touched by the fire and these stood out in dark green contrast. Just on lunch time we topped the Munyang valley terminal moraine of the high plains glaciated region to reach White River hut and more open country. After inspection of the hut we sat under the shade of a nearby green snow gum for lunch. It was not so much the flies that pushed us on but with the lower temperatures, and cool westerly breeze it soon got cold in the shade so it was back into the sun to warm up. Climbing the last 100 metres of elevation to Shlink Pass at 1804m quickly warmed us up. It did not take long after lunch to reach the top for an obligatory rest stop and photo under the sign to prove that we were actually there. Where next, I was asked, as everyone assumed that I was leading the trip and had everything planned. Having never been in the area before and only chose to head in this direction at the last minute I had nothing planned so simply said north and lets see where that will take us. Looking at the map a nearby elevated spot called Gungartan looked like a good place to visit from which we would get a good vista of the country and decide where to from there. So leaving the road behind, we headed straight up hill through the bush to the first ridge. The climb that faced us up to the top through rocks across the gully looked steep but negotiable. A short section of moraine made for interesting rock hopping. With a few rests we made the top but not with Mick. He had decided to head around the top of the gully rather than cross it and ended up on the rocky outcrop to the south.