NEWSLETTER February 2002
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
No: 92 NEWSLETTER February 2002 Sunday 3rd February Mt. Hedlow Saturday 9th February Funzone Sunday 10th February The Caves Pub Sunday 17th February Moore’s Creek Sunday 24th February Canal Creek Sunday 3rd March Clean-Up Australia Day Sunday 10th March Serpentine Lagoon Sunday 17th March Long Island Nature Reserve Sunday 24th March Kemp Beach Weekend 29th March to 1st April Riversleigh Sunday 7th April The Berserkers Weekend 13th & 14th April Blackdown Tableland Sunday 21st April Woppamunga Sunday 28th April Alton Downs Weekend 4th to 6th May Great Keppel Island Sunday 19th May Mill Hill Weekend 25th& 26th May Mt. Nicholson 2 PROGRAM DETAILS Closing date for nominations normally several days prior to the walk. Some walks may have a limit on numbers per group. If you require transport it is doubly important to nominate well in advance. If travelling with someone else it is common courtesy to pay your share. Walk Legend D/W Day Walk T/W Through Walk or Car Shuttle required. O/N Overnighter H/W Half Day Walk 4WD Access by 4WD only! X/T Extended Trip TRN Training B/C Base Camp N/F No Facilities / No Water, Showers or Toilets. SOC Social Walk Grading Fitness Distance Terrain (select 2 or 3) E Easy. Suitable for Beginners. A Less than 5 km 1 Trail / Graded Track Moderate. Reasonable B 5 to 10 km 2 Off-track / Cross-Country M fitness required. C 10 to 15 km 3 Not Pre-Walked H Hard. Fit walkers only. L 15 to 20 km 4 Minor scrub X Over 20 km(same day) 5 Medium or Heavy Vegetation Total uphill sections 6 Creeks / Rock hopping Alt Expressed in meters 7 Steep scrambles Date: 3 February Location: Mt. Headlow Type: D/W M A 247 Alt 217 Contact: Joe Mt. Hedlow, swimming afterwards. Good views of Hedlow Creek flood plain. Date: 9 February Location: Funzone Type: SOC Contact: Maxine Date: 10 February Location: The Caves Pub Type: Meeting Contact: Dot All interested and Keppel Island May long weekend committee members will meet at The Caves Pub for lunch and a meeting will follow to organise the walks and activities for our May combined clubs get-together. Date: 17 February Location: Moore’s Creek Type: H/W TRN E B 1 Contact: Bevan Come for a nature-walk combined with a navigation class. An easy walk, ideal for new members. Date: 24 February Location: Canal Creek Type: SOC Contact: Maxine BYO picnic, a quite day swimming, canoeing or just doing nothing. Date: 3 March Location: Clean-Up Day Type: Contact: Allan Date: 10 March Location: Serpentine Lagoon Type: D/W E B Contact: Ron An easy introductory walk to serpentine lagoon for lunch. 3 Date: 17 March Location: Long Island Nature Reserve Type: D/W TRN E B 123 Contact: John Come along for some navigation and plotting training, this is a club community project to mark and plot another walking track on Long Island. Date: 24 March Location: Kemp Beach Type: H/W SOC E A 1 Alt 110 Contact: Margo Join us for a BBQ and an easy walk to the Lookout. Date: 29 March – 1 April Location: Riversleigh Type: D/W B/C N/F M B 235 Contact: Dot Come along and camp over at Riversleigh Crossing on the Fitzroy River for the Easter break. Date: 7 April Location: The Berserkers Type: D/W T/W M L 1267 Alt 450 Contact: John A walk for the energetic, walk down the walking track to waterfall creek, rock hop to the falls and climb to the top for lunch, drop off into another creek and meet up with the main walking track for the walk out to Frenchville School. Hopefully the creeks will be still flowing and a possibility of a swim near the end of the walk. Date: 13/14 April Location: Blackdown Tablelands Type: B/C T/W Contact: Allan Allan will be leading a overnight through walk for the more energetic. John Rideout will be leading a couple of day walks for those who don’t feel like carrying a heavy pack on an overnighter. Date: 21 April Location: Woppamunga Type: GM Contact: Dot Join in for a Sausage sizzle at midday, thereafter the General Meeting at 2pm. Date: 28 April Location: Alton Downs Type: D/W E B 1 Contact: June An easy introductory walk for those who want to start some cross country walking, lagoons, floodplains, flora and fauna, birdwatching. Date: 4/5/6 May Location: Great Keppel Island Type: D/W H/W B/C & SOC Contact: Dot Combined Clubs Weekend. Date: 19 May Location: Mill Hill Type: D/W Contact: Barbara An easy walk to Mill Hill for smoko & traverse Camp Hill Rock to the butterfly grotto for lunch, with a very easy walk back to the cars. This walk is suitable for beginners, bring a hat, sunscreen, lunch and water. Date: 25/26 May Location: Mt. Nicholson Type: T/W O/N M B 12 Alt 260m per day Contact: Jeff An easy through walk for beginners in the Berserkers National Parks, with an overnight camp on the pretty Mt. Nicholson Plateau. Please keep those walk stories coming in to us for inclusion in our newsletters, everyone would agree that we all wit to read the past walk stories and without them coming in we can’t print them. You can email us, save them to disc or hand written letters are acceptable. 4 Southern Byfield Ranges Having viewed the Byfield Ranges the previous weekend from Yeppoon I was anticipating a weekend of tremendous views and, (after being informed from a reliable source) scrub bashing, I wasn’t disappointed! John Dick Alan and I started walking at 8:30 Saturday after we left Alan’s vehicle at Stoney Creek. The first hill we climbed was only 268metres but each hill became progressively higher, culminating at Mt. Ganter, 592 metres. Each peak seemed to defy our attempts to scale them. Dense stands of cycads, grass trees, acacia and stunted brush box on hill 329. Dick can testify to this, blood trickling down his arm whilst leading the group to the summit of this peak. Progress was painfully slow, dense vegetation, steep climbs and heavy packs (Alan’s pack 26kg, John’s 24kg) resulted in us averaging around 1 km/h. We arrived at our campsite at 4:30 pm, gathered our water bottles and obtained water from a nearby creek. With our water supply assured for the remainder of the walk, we returned to camp for a well-earned cuppa. The only comment I will make about our campsite was that it was secluded. Dick managed to clear enough ground to pitch his tent. The rest of us camped under the stars. We wondered how the ladies were enjoying their weekend at Lake Mary, what a contrast to our walk. We were glad to be on our way by 7:30 Sunday. Most of us had little sleep, thanks to the mosquitoes, uneven ground, grass trees, etc. We reached our first 500m peaks, just after morning tea. Navigation was straight forward throughout the walk, it was reassuring to have an experienced walker such as Alan in our group, who has walked part of the range before and climbed Mt. Ganter 4 times. Approaching Mt. Ganter we disturbed a sow in the middle of delivery, she had constructed a shelter from grass trees for the piglets. We marvelled at this rare experience for a brief time before pushing on to Ganter. After pushing through more dense scrub we arrived at the base of Mt. Ganter. We rested here in pleasant rainforest before tackling our final climb of the weekend. A light shower had some of us donning raincoats but was soon removed once we started climbing. The climb is straightforward; some short cliffs are encountered which were easily negotiated. We arrived at the first of the lower peaks on Mt. Ganter. We scrambled over to the higher peak and enjoyed the views; our exit ridge was spotted and spurred us on. We clambered down cliffs and enjoyed lunch on granite slabs with views of Mt. Archer and ranges to the north –east. We continued down to the creek, appreciating more open vegetation before arriving at a delightful tributary of Stoney Creek. We followed this down to a road and our vehicle, arriving around 3:00 pm. Overall an enjoyable weekend. We visited a part of Byfield few people have been to, although having endured thick scrub and difficult terrain I can understand why! Nether less, from Mt. Ganter I was attracted to the ranges of the of the Shannon Creek catchment and relish the opportunity to traverse them next year. Richard The Tasmanian Excursion Expressions of interest are sought for a trip to Tasmania sometime during 2003. Please contact Sharyn 5 MORE ON SAFE WATER IN THE BUSH With Purifiers and Filters What's the difference between a Purifier and a Micro-filter? A water "filter" generally claims to reduce or eliminate protozoan parasites and bacteria. A filter is adequate for remote wilderness seldom visited by people. A water "purifier" also removes or inactivates viruses and is therefore ideal in any situation. In both cases water is ready to drink without boiling. What types of places would I need to use a Purifier? Places to use a purifier: - High traffic destinations - Travelling abroad - Floods and Earthquake environs - Anytime the water source is unknown Remember: Waterborne viruses are species specific. Only humans carry those that cause disease in humans. All of these organisms enter water through fecal contamination and are transmitted via a fecal/oral path.