CANBERRA BUSHWALKING CLUB INC. -(B NEVVSLETTER P0
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CANBERRA BUSHWALKING CLUB INC. -(b NEVVSLETTER P0.. Box 160, Canberra City, AC'2601. .... L_. Registered for posting ' s a penoclacal, Category B Price 20c .,_-;. U, ''-•. ....... I I 1979. .............. Wednesday, 17 JãAuary IIALKS PLANN.NG EVENING & BBQ (instead of a general 3 meting),at$oq Peter' s,? Brooks StreetMac4uar.ze,, 7 p m onwards Tuesday, 23 January. COMMITTEE MEETING, 8 p m "at Henry Burmester's, 4. 32 Castlereagh Cres., !Jaãquarie. Thursday., 1 February IT CLOSING. Contributions to Reñë Lays, 281137Blazray Crescent; CampbelL (663310 - work). Jkiesday, 13 rebruary IT COLLATION - comsrenc.xng with a BBQ at 6 p in at FraLr and: Meg kcKone'S, 22 L6ngworth Place, Jiolt. All helcome. Wcdnesday;"2l 'February GENERA.ç MEETING at .Iand- Use .Researàh Buildincj',CSIRO, - .. Black Mbuntain, 7.45 p.m. .........- eL .' . :' EDITORIAL This week came the trgign.ews.that Terry Jordan and Ma'tb Weinstein •, U, had çbeen' killed By h àkthl tazche in New Zealand. The sense of loss, and shock felt' by their friends, both inside and outside the clu'b,'.is'beUdit&'word. We can.only record our, deepest sympathy; for-Ann, and for Terry and Marc'.s parents and clos.ost friends ) I • - ' : - This màñth the editors have turned their bends to thxafty club crosswords. -' See if you can unravel the clues - first prize is a copy of the 'Times.' cross- word. , . -.'.- ' . , ' Both the editors are heading oterseas in January - Linda, with Peter Conroy, Jobn and Ally Strce'f - , and ?ene and Charlie Leed.man, to New Zealand for a c taste of mountaineer)ing, and Jenny' is off to Indonesia for somb hiking and 1-' a touch of culture WMlst we are gallivanting gallote overseas 1. Rene Lays tas'bstensibly of'fcVred 10 act as editor (Note.Rene's phond number and a44res'sTaabbèfl3 tLThdà'Ii 11 be bck..on 20 -- February and -Jehn!f will be back on fl March? Apologies for the typing errors in last month's IT. We can guarantee that Mr. Finlay is in no danger of having a radio tower erected on his summit! 1 .1 IT 2 January 1979. T R I P REPORTS DANAE BROOK -. 213 December. Panae Brook is situated in the Southern Blue Mountains and runs eastward from the Kanangra Road into Kanangra Creek dropping some 3000 feet. On Saturday morning, rather tardily, four of us, Stan, Pat, Charlie and I, decided to brave the chilly wind and cloudy sky and "do" Danae Brook. After a bit of a scrub bash we arrived at the point of departure. The creek dropped dramatically over the cliff disappearing into deep clefts. After the first 100 foot abseil yaall felt better. The second abseil is inte±eS.ting wit.h.siippery rocks, huge chockstones and a pervading gloom, all adding to its charm. Ahdthen came the highlight of the trip. Stan went off down the rope. 2weñty minutes later he was still on the rope hanging in space under the waterfall. With the aid of dumars and Charlie's encouragement, Stan managed to free himself and.continue down to iihe pool at the bottom of the waterfall. The rest of us came hollering down. Have you ever tried a few tons of icy cold water hitting you on the head while abseiling free? It's a mind-blowing experience. We had a long lunOh in the sun, which fortunately took this opportune moment to shine, to warm up Stan. - We continueddown the canyon doing roughly six more abseils and some tricky traversing. By 6.00 p.m. we had done ti.e.last abseil, plus a swim. The view back up the canyon was impressive with the boulder:-shute leading upt&:Mhe narrow canyon section marked by a gendarme. Our exit was made via Murdering Gully.. Darkness fell onethird of the way up and we comkleted the walk by torchlight. On Sunday, another party of four - John, Keith,Fred and Russ, also corn- 'pleted:the trip,successfully. John informsme that the rainforest at the bottom is full of red cedars and that our "tricky traverses" can be avoided by doing a few more abseils. They did twelve altogether. Danae Brook is to be well recommended as a spectacular and thrilling trip. However it should not be undertaken lightly. Competence at setting up belays, tying knots and abseiling is essential. There is no easy method of e$cape and a stuck rope means sittingand waiting for the next-party to come along. We learnt a few lessons: I.. To take an extra rope to provide help for an abseiler who is in difficulties. - 2. For each person to have prusslck 1oO.pnd Jcnow hQW to .usetbem. - Alison THE BR000 TRIP - 9110 December. N After one incorrect turn, a dubiOus creek crossing which Henry described as àlightly familiar, we had to retrieve Alan's .car from the edge.of the embankment as he slightly misjudged a multiple paint turn on a . 11 4 ikhçl.drivo" track. Eventually, the trip was off and I was glad to be up front The S'alkang was really pleasant thtua magnificent forest with its bird and animal life in abundance. WheEl the road ended there was a slight .reshuffledf positions as people sought the "last" position for the scrub. Actüélly there was no scrub to talk of and when it did become a bit thick, a con- ;venient bridle track was located. This led to our first swimming hole and lunch. Henry could already see that we all intended t&have an easy, enjoyable week-end (a rest from the excitement of abséiliag for some?) IT 3 January 1979. Yaniceys £reeicis. really-nice. Apart from the abundance-of clear deep poois and easy rock hopping, there are small cliffs, grassy banks and interesting vegetation. To get to the Brogo, we departed from these pleasant surroundings and climbed over a ridge thru fairly thick mountain holly. This was not everyone's idea of an enjoyable afternoon - nor was the confrontation.with a 3m upset brown.snake - but swimming in the Brogo was. After more cups of tea, it was decided to wander downstream and look for a suitable campsite. The party became a little spread out at this stage, but no one worried because, individually, we were all just enjoying this wilderness. Nothing but the best would do for a campsite so we enventually chose one with plenty of trees (too many for Frank), soft grass, flat ground (2), a sandy beach sloping to a swimming poo1. While some swam, others got the fire going and others read the Canberra Times (nothing ever worries Jenny). Rdwever Henry is an experienced newspaper reader and he was able to entertain us by reading the humorous extracts. The evening drifted by assisted by after dinner drinks and supper of fruit cake. Eventually we wandered off to our respective flys to sleep and to listen to some overnight rain. I particularly remember the chorus of birds at dawn but returned to sleep until 8 a.m. when we were all urged to rise by Henry - not often one can sleep in longer than Henry. Actually Sunday wasn't the sunniest of days, so rather than splashing all the way down the Drogo, we ridge walked back to Yankeys for an extended lunch on flat rock slabs under an overhanging cliff (good for abseiling), with a deep pool nearby. Despite the overcast sky, Jenny, Russ and Alan proved that the water was enjoyable. As usual, the two day weekend was too short. A "minority" call for an extended trip was defeated so we started back to the cars. The climb back to the saddle at the top of Yankeys Creek was more exhausting than anticipated (ask Frank) but after recovering and regrouping it was all down bill - a leisurely skip back to the cars. B. Bone. WHALLP1NIA CRASH via ETTREbA? - 16117 DECEMBER. On Thursday night, we found we had some transport problems and a dis- inclination to drive once again all the way to the Blue Mountains, so we ended up going to Ettrema. Meg, Bob, peter and I fitted comfortably into John I'ons station wagon, and met Wan.'ick at Tullyangela Clearing. We wandered North along the road for about 2 k. then turned rightish (whoops, unprofessional); then left the road on a bearing of 60 not allowing for variation, wind speed, inflation or V.A.T.) We joined Tullyangela Creek via L,jst Gully. About ten minutes below their junction is an interesting canyon section, which can be bypassed, or swum. Being an intrepid, decisive party who relished the thought of that invigorating mountain water, we mumbled and gruttered for ten minutes, then bypassed it high on the true left. Then came a less interesting section of the creek, ended by Dungeon Canyon with its spectacular cliffs, pools and cascades. There were some compulsory swims for those unwilling to follow Harrison on his aerial acrobatics routes (one handhold every three metres and much flapping). We camped at the junction of Tullyangela and Ettrems, on the only remain- ing flat area left after the March floods. IT 4 January 1979. On Sunday we rock-hopped up Ettrezna to Transportation Spur (about two hours) where a deep clear cliff-edged pool induced jumping and diving and a certain amount of showing off. The spur looked steep, scrubby and thirsty, so we decided to try the creek next to it, called Gallows Gully. This proved to be the most interesting part of the week-end. About five minutes from Ettrema, Gallows Gully turns into a just- negotiable canyon. We just-negotiated it with the aid of Peter's bit of àtring (15 metres), and one stretch of high sidling.