Canberra Bushwalking Club Newsletter
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it Canberra Bushwalking Club Newsletter February 2020 Canberra Bushwalking Club Inc GPO Box 160 Volume 56, Issue 1 Canberra ACT 2601 www.canberrabushwalkingclub.org GENERAL MEETING INSIDE THIS ISSUE 7.30 pm Wednesday 19 February 2020 Presentation .......................1 Weston Creek Uniting Church, 16 Parkinson Street, President’s Report ...............2 Weston Editorial ..............................2 Walk Secretary’s Report ......3-5 Murramurang South Coast Walk Membership Secretary’s Report Frank Gubler ’s love affair with the South Coast of NSW started in .............................................6 the early 70s when he travelled with his mates in a Kombi van Training and Safety Officer’s Report laden with surfboards down to the Bawley Pt area. They drove down from .............................................6-7 Sydney on Friday nights listening to ‘The Who’ on a portable cassette CBC Committee ..................9 player. Free camping was easy in those days with a choice of a number of headlands near great surf breaks. Facebook admin ..................9 Motion for February general During these trips he could not help noticing the many intriguing features meeting................................9 inland which were part of the Budawangs. This led to a number of memorable walks in the Budawangs. Moving to Canberra in 1986 made it Club items for sale ...............10 easier to further explore the coast from Batemans Bay down to Eden. For Bushfire Crisis condolence speech over 30 years they have been annual campers in Ben Boyd National Park, to the Senate ........................11-12 enjoying its beaches and walks. His favourite wilderness coastal walk is Fire Debrief and Namadgi Recovery from Mallacoota to Merrica River. Since he joined the CBC with his wife .............................................13 Anna, in 2018, they have both gained an immense appreciation A Bushwalker Fights Fires ...14-15 of the local Namadgi National Kosciuszko Huts ..................16 Park and other local areas. Bulletin Board .....................17 His talk will report on the Link to Bushwalking NSW development of New Zealand publications .........................17 inspired ‘Great Walks’ on the CBC Publication Policy link to NSW South Coast focusing on a website ................................17 new walk being developed between Batemans Bay and Activity Program .................18-26 Bawley Point, the Murramarang Coast walk. In December last year, he led a CBC walk covering the Northern half of this IMPORTANT DATES proposed walk. • 19 February— General meeting He will also mention proposed • 25 February—Committee developments in the Light to meeting Light Walk. Tragically, since then, the areas have been • 25 February—Articles for severely impacted by the inclusion in March 2020 It close bushfires and he will report on the extent and implications of this damage. Canberra Bushwalking Club It—February 2020—Page 1 President’s Report Welcome to a new year of bush walks and expression of interest form to collect other outdoor activities. What a summer it contact details of those who are interested has been, and is sure to be etched into our in volunteering for Namadgi bushfire collective memory banks for a very long recovery in the coming months. Please time. The enormity of the devastation of keep in mind they are still planning, our beautiful Namadgi is something we will organising and waiting for more all be coming to terms, yet as many of us information; and it will be some time who experienced the 2003 fires can attest, before we are allowed into the park, as this the sheer beauty of Nature expresses itself crisis is ongoing. If you would like to from a whole new perspective. That of register your interest for volunteering regrowth and regeneration. As the Parks opportunities, here is the link: https:// and Reserves are once again deemed safe forms.gle/F7BckaqmMe5AMjSX9 and are opened to the public, so too will our walk schedule provide many While our region was ravaged by fire and opportunities to experience the beauty and smoke, I managed to escape most of diversity within our region and January with a trip to Kenya and Tanzania. surrounding areas. For those members who The absolute pinnacle was trekking the really don’t like the bush bashing, fear not, Shira route of Mount Kilimanjaro over as you will now have a few years to enjoy eight days, through five climate zones, parts of the Parks that were previously culminating on summit day with nine inaccessible to you. The road to recovery hours up to the highest point - Uhuru Peak will be a long and yet familiar one for many at 5895m. It was a long and arduous 12 of us in the bushwalking community, and hour day, with a three hour scree slide back I’d encourage anyone that has the capacity down to base camp. Success = 90% to volunteer in any way, to reach out and mindset, and I can certainly attest to that. lend a helping hand in the recovery It was tough, but definitely worth it. I look process. The Southern ACT Catchment forward to seeing you out on the trails in Group is in the initial stages of gathering the coming weeks. volunteer support for biodiversity recovery: * potential working bees or other support actions for Namadgi once it’s safe to do so. Kind regards As a start, they have launched an Diana Terry Editorial You will notice that most of the articles in and region. I am sure many of you will want this issue of It relate to bushfires, influenced to help in some way when the call goes out by our summer of 2019-20 bushfire crisis. to join in work parties and similar which will This has been such a mammoth event in our be organised in the future. region that it is not surprising that our Some of the articles overlap in a minor way, residents need to take time to comprehend but I have decided to leave all articles as the implications of what we has been lost in they have been presented. these relentless fires. I hope you can all draw comfort from the positive perspectives of others in our club Gabrielle Wright Canberra Bushwalking Club It—February 2020—Page 2 Walk Secretary’s Report Dear members. to recover. There will be opportunities for None of us could have failed to notice the us to show our appreciation to all the devastation wrought upon our beloved volunteers, parks officers, firies and country these last few months. Now, right countless others who have worked so hard in our own backyard, so much of our to protect heritage sites and keep us safe. beloved Namadgi National Park is also I want to thank you all for your patience being heavily impacted. and understanding at not being able to get Our fabulous Leaders have had to cancel or out and about. For those of you impacted postpone so many walks over this past by the fires, who may have lost property, summer but, I know, they're busily making friends, family and animals I want you to plans for some exciting adventures ahead know that our thoughts are with you. when this disaster is finally at an Our Club is strong and full of members end. Many areas previously so scrubby, with big hearts, broad shoulders and open and almost impenetrable after the 2003 ears should any of you feel the need for a bushfire regrowth, will be more accessible. friendly chat. There will be views many of us will not Looking forward to better times ahead. have seen before. There will be the heartening signs of new growth as fresh Your Walks Secretary, shoots emerge and our native animals start Terrylea." someone who happens to be a member of Discussion Paper on Joint Trips with another Club, that does not make the trip a Other Clubs joint trip. CBC leaders who are members of more than one club occasionally list trips that are joint What about Wednesday Walks? with other clubs. CBC welcomes joint activities Wednesday walks are excluded from these as an opportunity for CBC members to meet guidelines – they have their own set of other bushwalkers and for leaders to find procedures. sufficient participants for more challenging or remote trips. What about collaborative programs? Collaborative programs are also excluded from these guidelines. Collaborative programs are DEFINITIONS programs specifically endorsed by the committees/management of each What is a ‘joint trip’? collaborating organization – for example the A joint trip CBC-Hobart Walking Club collaboration of • is advertised in two clubs’ programs, and 2016 or the CBC-Greening Australia weed • has a leader who is a member of both clubs surveys. These programs are so varied in (or, more rarely, has co-leaders, one from nature that it is not practical to set guidelines. each club) The Committee recommends that leaders in collaborative programs consider the What is not a joint trip? procedures listed below for joint trips, and If a trip is advertised only in the CBC program, adapt them to the circumstances. and the leader accepts a booking from Canberra Bushwalking Club It—February 2020—Page 3 A’s check-in procedures and to Club B using PROCEDURES FOR JOINT TRIPS Club B’s procedures. For joint trips, leaders should generally apply Transport on joint trips the procedures of Club A to participants from Whilst members on joint club trips are Club A and the procedures of Club B to generally subject to their own Club’s participants from Club B. The exceptions are guidelines and procedures, to avoid transport and emergency procedures, see confusion and ensure equity, the procedures below. for arranging transport and calculating transport costs on such trips should be jointly Specifically, the leader or co-leaders should agreed by the leader(s) using either one of follow each Club’s standard procedures for the Club’s methods of calculation.