THE NEWSLETTER itit OF CANBERRA BUSHWALKING CLUB Volume 41, Number 5 June 2005 Canberra Bushwalking Club Inc PO Box 160 Canberra ACT 2601 JUNE GENERAL MEETING – 8pm Wednesday 15th Sir Eric Rein- hold von Matter- horn Part 1: The Club is fortunate to have as its distinguished guest at its June meeting the famous environmentalist, scientist and explorer, Sir Erich Rienhold von Matterhorn, in conversation with popular CBC radio broadcaster Margaret Frisbee. Part 2: Yarns from the fl oor. Members will have the opportunity to win a bottle of quality red wine, as the prize for the most entertaining yarn for the evening, on the theme CBC walks: monumental stuff-ups or plans that went awry. To help our arrangements, please inform Cynthia Burton or Chris Roper (6232 7448) as soon as possible if you wish to provide such a yarn. Main meeting room, St. John’s Church Hall Constitution Avenue, Reid Canberra Bushwalking Club IT June 2005 – page 1 Some years ago, the Club published en route to or from work. Yesterday President’sPresident’s a booklet entitled Finding Your Way it was having a hard time with four in the Bush by George Carter. Stocks or fi ve magpies mobbing it. Inter- PrattlePrattle are almost exhausted now and it is estingly, there was another magpie proposed to produce an updated nearby that had just caught a mouse. version. See page 9 for the formal I spoke to it asking whether its It is three months to the Annual notice of motion to approve funding. parents were raptors but it ignored General Meeting. There will be new Also, see page 14 for details of the me. The size of the resident mob offi cers. I won’t be one of them as Xmas in July dinner on 9 July. of kangaroos, almost always in the club constitution limits a presi- Stan Marks view, seems to stay around twenty, dent to two consecutive terms. This President despite the obvious infl ux of joeys. is a good rule as it brings new ideas A club member refers to them as forward and stops people getting “grey penguins”. too possessive of the offi ce. Other WalksWalks offi ces will become available too. As part of our Safety and Train- Think of nominating. This club WafWafflfl ee ing program we have been very contains many talented people and fortunate to have as our guest Sir we need some to run the club. Too Jenny and I have enjoyed some Erich Reinhold von Matterhorn in many chiefs and not enough indians great walks lately. interview with distinguished CBC is a problem but so too is the reverse. broadcaster, Margaret Frisbee, for The gourmet meal on the Castle was our June meeting. It should be very It is interesting to imagine the re- a splendid evening: the food, wine, interesting. action of people years ago when, weather, venue and camaraderie for the first time, they saw im- were all fi rst class. Don’t forget the opportunity to win a bottle of quality red wine at the ages of themselves and their friends Fishing Gap to Smokers via Billy emerging on photographic plates. meeting, for the best yarn on the Billy Rocks was an interesting theme, “CBC Walks: monumental I suppose there has been a similar day-trip. Whilst the country can be if lesser reaction every time a new stuff-ups or best laid plans that demanding, it is not too diffi cult and went awry”. photographic technology appeared. the view- points en route are spec- I have known since his last presen- tacular. Regrowth after the ’03 fi re Rob Horsfi eld tation to the club that Nic Bendeli is isn’t too much of a problem either. Walks Secretary a good photographer but he turned In the Naas the main creek is still up at the last general meeting with fl owing, Sheep Station Creek is dry his computer gear and turned the and further over, there is water in MembershipMembership wall into scenes of beauty and in- Grassy Creek next to Water Holes terest that those who saw them will Hut. Our weekend there was at the mattersmatters remember for quite a while. end of May — perfect weather at Nic recently did a trip to Cho Oyu, 1200m with a chill wind on Sentry Prospective Members: Annmaree a mountain of over 8,200m in Tibet. Box at 1700. This was part of the O’Keefe; Stephen Owen, Anna Any attempt to describe his pictures Navigation Refresher activities and White, Jenny Trudinger, Jacqui in words would do them an injustice the weekend went well. Rosier, Darryl Prague, Tracy Prague, Kerry Pearce, Helen Kaye. and I won’t try. But if stunning Some of our new members are visuals are your thing, you would looking at the purchase of gear. New Members: Lyn Chapman, have enjoyed the presentation. In place of a one-night auction as Nerida Wyatt-Spratt, David Green, Look at the cover of your May It in previous years, we will put a Mary Hannan, Phil and Leonie and imagine that picture in light “gear for sale” table out at General Bubb, Wendy Smith, Julie Bakalor. orange as it refl ects the colour of Meetings for a while. Hopefully this New Members in May: The May the sky and you will get an idea of will give some the opportunity to issue of It omitted new members what we saw. get rid of equipment and others to for that month. They were: Therese And, back to earth, there are still buy it. Mutual favours perhaps. An Bourke, Patti Wilkins, Dick Rowe, a few spots available for people advertisement to this effect follows George Polubinski, Maxine Pitts. wanting to do subsidised fi rst aid in “The Bulletin Board”. courses. Contact me as soon as One of my neighbours is a fox that Allan Mikkelsen possible. I meet occasionally on the hill-side Membership Secretary Page 2 – Canberra Bushwalking Club IT June 2005 Photo: Terence Uren Photo: Terence Ros Woodward and and Virginia Buring scramble up to Pink and White Pools (Piccaninny Creek) the maximum shade temperature was quite varied – in some places Purnululu,Purnululu, WAWA was over 35oC on every day of the fl at and easy going, in other places (The(The Kimberleys)Kimberleys) trip (and much hotter in the sun or steep and scrambling with narrow when exposed to radiant heat from ledges that some found intimidat- 1717 AprilApril -- 77 MayMay rocks or sand). Unfortunately, ing. Much of the walking was in walking in such hot conditions is stunning gorges, with plenty of unavoidable in Purnululu, given the opportunities for swims in shaded Full Trip: Warwick Blayden, Vir- diffi culty of fi nding water at milder pools tucked well into the cliffl ines. ginia Buring, Kathryn Graham, times of the year. The lowlights of the week were Ron Harris (guide), Pete Tedder, hyper-abundant kangaroo ticks, Week 1 Terence Uren bushfl ies and grass seeds. The fi rst week of the trip was spent Weeks 1-2: Cynthia Burton, Mark on Aboriginal-owned land in the Week 2 Hopkins, Galina Polekhina, Chris Osmond Range, to the north of At the end of the fi rst week, we Roper, Mark Waltham the Bungle Bungle Range. The moved to the Piccaninny Creek Week 2: Graham Krisenthal, Ros Osmond Range is an ancient and trackhead, at the southern end of Woodward angular sandstone and dolomite the Bungle Bungles. This is the massif, tilted at about 30oC. Our tourist ‘heart’ of the Bungles, Weeks 2-3: Lynn Atkinson, Patrick plan had been to climb from the offering short walks on marked Barley (guide), Ann Grattidge, Osmond Valley to the southern rim trails, shade structures, toilets John Harvey, Raylee Harvey of the range for sweeping views and (at times intrusive) helicopter Western Australia’s Purnululu Na- of the northern Bungle Bungles. overflights. Fortunately, most tional Park and Conservation Re- However, a drier than normal Wet visitors don’t move more than a serve is best known for the beehive- Season meant that there was little few hundred metres from their shaped domes of the Bungle Bungle water available on the tops and cars, making the area beyond their Range. It is, however, much more we were forced to limit our walk- reach a bushwalking paradise. than a domed landscape, as a group ing to day trips from base camps From the trackhead, we walked of club members discovered on a at the bottom of and part way up past the ubiquitous sandstone and recent three week trip to the area. In the range. During these trips we conglomerate domes, along the bed some respects it was a tough walk. explored the catchments of Big of the (mostly dry) Piccaninny tir- Although distances covered each Brim, Little Brim and an unnamed ing with full packs, over soft sand day were not great and much of the creek to the east of Little Brim. The and loose pebbles. From a base walking was done with day packs, terrain through which we walked camp well upstream, we then spent Canberra Bushwalking Club IT June 2005 – page 3 several days exploring a series of Uren Photos: Terence side creeks known collectively as ‘The Fingers’ and individually as ‘Hypothermia’, ‘No Name’, ‘Palm Valley’, ‘Pink and White Pools’ and ‘The Coalmine’. ‘Hy- pothermia’ was a 600m each way swim through a narrow sunless slot, which left most of us cold and shivering, despite our thermal tops. ‘No Name’ was a short tunnel that ended in a boulder block-up. ‘Palm Valley’, ‘Pink and White Pools’ and ‘The Coalmine’ each required a steep scramble over massive conglomerate boulders to, respectively, a grove of Livis- tona palms backed by a resonant, vaulted chamber (thanks again to Cynthia, Pete and Virginia for the stirring recital); a series of small, Above: View from The Rim (East Piccaninny).