Newsletter of the
ESSENDON
BUSHWALKING CLUB INC.
P.O. Box 32, Moonee Ponds, 3039
From the Editor
Welcome to the December 1998 edition of Old Man Emu. Many thanks to the contributors, including first timers Lucy and Italo Padovani, and Lucy Hayward. In this edition you will find articles on past and future events, track closures from Parks Victoria, the Undara Lava Tubes, a walk in New Zealand, and more. Read on and ENJOY!
Chris Jarvis, Editor
Article Deadlines
The newsletter is distributed concurrently with each new walks program. Articles must be submitted by no later than the LEADERS MEETING PRIOR TO IT'S INTENDED ISSUE. Articles received after that date will be held over to the next issue. Preferably, they should be submitted as early as possible.
Submitting Articles
Articles can be sent to Chris Jarvis,
E-mail: cjjarvis@pa.ausom.net.au
Short articles (<500 words) can be sent in hard copy form.
Long articles (>500 words) should be on floppy disk, accompanied by a hard copy, or sent by e-mail.
Photographs are most welcome, and can be sent to Stephen Bocquet for scanning to enable easy insertion into the newsletter.
WANTED
PHOTOGRAPHS
for the front cover of future editions. Preferably taken on club walks.
PRESIDENT'S COLUMN
I write this having just returned from our leaders' training weekend, held at Boho South (near Euroa). We had a good turn out for the weekend, with 15 participants and 10 instructors. Going by the box of empties, a good time was had by all. Seriously though, I felt the weekend was a success, although I haven't yet had the chance to read the evaluation sheets. The real test is whether the club gains new leaders from the group of participants. On that subject, I would like to urge members to support our new leaders, most importantly by signing up for their walks. It's easy to go along time and again with our 'old faithful' leaders, because you know they will turn on a good walk. But please ... be adventurous - give our new leaders your support, and go on their walks.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to the leaders' training weekend: Martin Doyle, who chaired the organising subcommittee, and fellow subcommittee members Chris Jarvis, Ian Tovey and Neil Campbell; instructors Dave Forster, Noel Hayward, Geoff Sadler, John Widmer and Dave Wren. And thanks also to the participants, for their willingness to be involved, and potentially put themselves forward as walk leaders.
In January the general meeting (13 January) will be at Riverside Park on the Maribyrnong River (Melways 28B6). Come early and bring a picnic if you can. (Please note that we don't intend to lay claim to the barbecues, but if you get there early enough you may be able to!) After the meeting we will walk down to the Boathouse Cafe for a coffee. If it rains, the meeting will be at St. Thomas' hall as per usual.
Next March we intend to hold navigation training; this is planned for Friday 27th (evening classroom session) and Saturday 28th March (all day practical exercise in the bush), but check your program in case these dates change. Several participants on the leaders training weekend asked about navigation, and although we had a short navigation exercise on the weekend, there wasn't time to cover the subject properly. The navigation training will be open to anyone who would like to learn; it's not limited to prospective leaders.
Happy Christmas, and enjoy your summer walking.
Stephen Bocquet
POSITION VACANT
EMERGENCY CONTACT
The committee would like to appoint an Emergency Contact for the club. We are looking for someone who is normally home on the weekend, and/or has other responsible adult members of their household who are home and don't mind taking occasional phone calls. The name and phone number of the Emergency Contact will be printed on the club program, so that anyone trying to contact someone who has gone on a club walk can telephone that person for further information. Walk leaders will either 1) Leave details of their walk (where they are going, and who is on the walk) with the Emergency Contact or 2) (this will probably be the usual practice) Tell the Emergency Contact the name and phone number of the person they have left the walk details with, so that the Emergency Contact can call that person in the event they get any enquiries about people on the walk. The idea is to provide a way for friends and family members to find out if someone has gone on a walk if they are trying to contact that person urgently, and also to provide a point of contact in the event that someone is late back from a walk, ie. their friends or family can check with the Emergency Contact in the first instance rather than the Police. If you would like to take on this job, please get in touch with one of the committee.
Stephen Bocquet
WALK REPORTS
SPRING GULLY 12.7.98, 12 km, Easy. By Sylvia McLean
Following Bill Casey's 1997 Marathon on the Dry Diggings Trail through this area, we decided that this area contained so much gold era evidence and history that it needed to be explored in some depth. Therefore we invited a local, Doug Ralph, along to provide us with local and historical facts. Doug was also involved in the planning and development of the Dry Diggings section of the planned three pronged Great Dividing Trail; so he definitely knew "his stuff" and shared it with us.
Twenty seven adults and two children attended this walk on a perfect sunny day. Doug reflected on the original inhabitants and geology and gave us a continued commentary on the mines that we passed through, explaining what we saw and how it would have operated. Later we wandered through the remains of "Cornishtown" with Doug explaining where and what building ruins we were passing and any other peculiarities.
We stopped for a leisurely lunch, bathed in beautiful sunshine on a dry stone wall. From there we continued to a grapholite quarry. This is a slate quarry, but in the course of extracting the slate in the 1930's they discovered many different worm and fern like creatures in fossil form, hence known as Chewtonian and Castlemainian grapholites. We did find some to prove they do exist.
From there it was a pleasant walk through ironbark and box forest, passing more gold era evidence, back through farmland and on to our cars to a pleasant afternoon tea to reflect on a lovely day.
Our thanks to Doug for his wonderful help.
CHEWTON 16.8.98, 12 km, Easy
Somehow we always tend to end up with more walkers than booked! This was no exception and considering Bill Casey had a popular easy walk on the day prior, this surprised me. We came away from the meeting four days before with nine walkers and ended up with twenty three on the day! Perhaps I should warn walkers that in other cases walks may be cancelled due to lack of numbers if walkers don't book and confirm at least four days prior to the date of the walk. Perhaps the combination of late news and good weather prospects and a high proportion of new walkers / visitors influenced the late bookers.
At any rate it proved to be another perfect sunny day. We started after morning tea at the Pennyweight Flat Children's Cemetery where over 200 children were buried between 1852 and 1857 due to water contamination from the diggings, resulting in dysentery and typhoid along with diphtheria and influenza. As the name suggests, Pennyweight Flat was one of the poorer diggings. Golden Wattle was well in bloom and filled the many gullies we passed.
One of the highlights was our lunch spot, the Welsh Village at the secluded head of Golden Gully where several remains of stone houses and outbuildings exist. The whole area is carpeted in clover and moss, giving a very majestic and enchanted atmosphere. Here we had an hour lunchbreak to give walkers opportunity to explore the many remains and mine workings on the ridge above the village. This included shafts and a large open cut mine along with quite extensive slate quarrying areas. In the 1850's the Welsh found it more profitable to mine slate rather than gold in this area. We then moved onto picturesque Sailors Gully which revealed stone ruins of a sailor's hut, a blacksmith's hut with his forge, a puddling machine and well preserved concrete water race with ruins.
This led us into the rich Garfield mine site (now sealed) with all it's relics including the well known remains of the Garfield Water Wheel, which was 72 feet in diameter with 220 five gallon buckets. The water was diverted through a 7 km water race from Expedition Pass reservoir to the wheel via a square wooden channel called a flume. This was 240 metres long and supported by sapling trestles six to fifteen metres high along the slope of the hill. The wheel powered a fifteen metre stamping battery to crush the quartz which contained the gold. The Garfield mine was about 1 200 feet deep, and yielded approximately 950 kg of gold.
Other points of interest around this mine are the coppice regrowth from the residual tree stumps, fine white sand heaps remnant from the crushed quartz, and the cyanide tanks which were built in the 1930's to extract any remaining gold previously missed.
Our route then took us past Forest Creek Flats where Chinese market gardens grew and supplied vegetables to the diggers and surrounding populations. Our next challenge was over Elephant Hill, which should be renamed Camel Hill due to it's two humps divided by yet another picturesque gully. This gave us some good views of Castlemaine and also our cars, which everyone was glad to reach. Afternoon tea was heartily enjoyed by all in the Malmsbury Tea Rooms.
Thanks to all who attended to help make it such and enjoyable day for all.
Sylvia McLean
BRISBANE RANGES Nov. 8
Led by Bill Casey, Reported by Lucy Hayward
Fourteen started on a walk that was full of surprises.
The first came at the start, when the leader informed the party that they would be walking not 20 km, but 24 km.
But before the end of the day, many were wondering whether he got those digits the wrong way round.
Of course, alarm bells should have rung when the question arose "Did anyone go on this walk last year?" No-one had. By the end of the walk, the reason became clear.
The next surprise was the wildlife. Most saw the half dozen koalas - including one low down on a branch, and another with a baby - two echidna and a couple of wallabies and grey kangaroos. The cliffs, escarpments, flora and birds added further surprises, as did the magnificent Iron Bark.
Talking of wild things, the wildest of all were the leader's announcements. "This is the last climb!" Quite a few lost track of how many last climbs there were.
Dictionaries and thesauruses are still being used to come to an understanding of terms used in bushwalking.
Did I say fourteen started. Well, 12 finished. The lucky two, who by the way did more than the 20 km in the program - so no disgrace- finished the trip in the luxury of the leader's limousine.
Bill Casey - This was your walk!
STORM & FLOOD DAMAGE TO PARKS IN EASTERN VICTORIA
The following information was extracted from a Parks Victoria update sheet.
Storm and flood damage to parks in East Gippsland and North East Victoria in June and September will affect access and limit recreational use for up to twelve months while damage is repaired.
Many areas have sustained major damage to access roads, bridges, tracks, camp grounds and picnic areas. There has also been significant environmental damage.
Areas affected include Mt.Buffalo National Park, Howqua Hills Historic Area, West Kiewa area of the Alpine National Park, and parts of the Mitchell River National Park.
Parks Victoria have requested that before planning a visit to any of these areas that you contact them first to confirm safe access.
Parks Victoria can be contacted on
13 1963
or visit their website at
www.parks.vic.gov.au
And on the subject of track closures .........
In the GRAMPIANS, many tracks have been temporarily closed. The following information is reprinted from the November '98 edition of VicWalk News.
"Recent risk assessment by Parks Victoria of the walking tracks in the Grampians National Park has revealed that some structures are not up to suitable safety standards and, as a result, some of the structures have been closed for upgrading at a later date. Current closures include Rosea Track (Grand Staircase), Mt.William Track (Wild Sheep Hills), Jimmy Creek to Teddy Bear Gap, Buandik to Cultivation Creek Falls, Old Silverband carpark to junction of Bellfield-to-Delleys Dell Track, access to toilets at Strachans, Halls Gap to Devils Gap, and track to McKenzie and Fish Falls. In many cases there is old handrailing which is broken and no longer safe, or unstable cliff lines where rocks are dropping onto the track. For more information call Parks Victoria Information Centre on 13 1963"
VicWalk News, November 1998
Compiled by Chris Jarvis
FUTURE EVENTS
LITTLE RIVER GORGE
Sunday April 18, Medium, 12 km
Ian & Sylvia McLean
75 km south west of Melbourne; Petrol cost approx. $6; Sturdy footwear with good grip is essential for this walk.
This is a circuit walk which commences at Little River Picnic Area in the Brisbane Ranges. The Little River cut quite a significant and picturesque gorge, which we follow. This is a medium grade walk involving mainly foot tracks and rock scrambles. As there is approximately 3 - 4 km along the river bed, rock hopping skills are required. There are some very short off track distances, but do not let this deter you, as it is well worth the effort.
A leisurely lunch is planned at one of the deep rock pools with a chance for a dip. After following the river gorge downstream past Peregrine Falcon nesting sites, and guaranteed Koala sightings, we head uphill for spectacular views across the Werribee Plains to the You Yangs, Mt.Anakie, Mt.Macedon and the Melbourne skyline towering over the edge of the surrounding countryside.
We continue our circuit back to the cars through forests of grasstrees, wildflowers and the rare plant species that the Brisbane Ranges are renowned for.
BYO afternoon tea.
WANDILIGONG Base Camp, Easter April 2 - 5, Ron Bell
Enjoy the Autumn colours of the Ovens Valley. Activities include a sunrise walk across the Razorback from Mt.Hotham to Mt.Feathertop and down the NW Spur, plus other walks around Wandiligong and Bright. Cost approx $12 per night and good facilities.
TWILIGHT WALKS
JANUARY - MARCH 1999
By Ian & Sylvia McLean
WILLIAMSTOWN, Tuesday Jan 19, 10km, Easy
Meeting 6.30 pm in Greenwich Reserve Carpark (corner of The Strand and North Street, Williamstown). Tea either BYO or buy en-route; we will be stopping in Commonwealth Reserve at Gem Pier to eat tea. The walk will encompass the sights and atmosphere of Williamstown at night, capturing the Melbourne skyline and its lights together with the yachts along the waterfront on Hobsons Bay. Return is via the streets where the shops and cafes are, for which Williamstown is renowned.
YARRA - FAIRFIELD Tuesday Feb. 16,
10 km, Easy
Meeting at the Western Side Carpark at Fairfield Park (Boathouse vicinity on Heidelberg Road) at 6.30 pm. Unfortunately there are no shops en-route, so we suggest BYO in Fairfield Park before we set out.
We commence along Merri Creek to Dights Falls where it flows into the Yarra River. We continue along to the Collingwood Childrens Farm, and return via the Yarra Boulevard through Studley Park to Fairfield Park.
CITY PARKS - ZOO & RETURN Tuesday March 16, 10 km, Easy
Meeting at 6.30 pm at Royal Park Railway Station carpark (Poplar Rd.) This walk will traverse the Zoological Gardens, Melbourne University, Exhibition Gardens and Spring Street, and onto the Treasury Gardens. Return may include Lygon Street for supper. Again, we suggest BYO tea pre-walk.
CALL - OUTS
This year the EBC has provided personnel to two call-outs (I'll be finicky here by not calling them searches, as we didn't actually do any searching ......).
On the night of Sunday March 15 Pam McHardy was contacted by one of the FVWC's Police Liaison Officers (the FVWC person who is contacted by Police to conduct a call-out of FVWC volunteers). A young, slightly retarded boy was missing near Lily Pilly Gully on Wilson's Promontory. Pam then did a ring around of the EBC searchers, with Stephen Bocquet, Martin Doyle, David Forster and myself responding.
We joined a contingent of fifty eight searchers from other clubs, who assembled in the early hours of Monday morning at various pick up points by Police bus.
In 1987 many of us on the bus, including David and myself, had been involved in a long and unsuccessful search in the same area and nearly identical circumstances, and there was a feeling of deja-vu, even questioning whether this was a bad joke when the call came.
We arrived at the search base at 0800, and while the troops were being fed and preparing to go into the field, the four Field Organisers consulted with the Police field commander on the task required, and prepared the FVWC members for work. Four line search groups were assigned, while the three spare FO's were to form a reserve search party.
A minute before the groups were about to be despatched, the boy was spotted from a media helicopter. Line group 1, which included Dave Forster, went and collected the boy, with David returning with the boy on his shoulders, with much media coverage.
It was a good result.
One of the outcomes of this call-out was a change of name. Our old name, "Search & Rescue Section of the Federation of ......." has often been too much of a mouthful for the media, and they have very rarely got it right. Following this call-out, the magnificent publicity, and our name never once correctly mentioned, the S&R Committee changed it's name to match our logo, "VicWalk Bushwalkers Search and Rescue".
The second call-out involving club members was on August 4, when Rodney Williams and myself attended a call-out for a missing snow boarder at Mt.Buller. We were part of a thirty five person FVWC group. The missing person was found by a party from Police S&R, again within minutes prior to our first groups going into the field. We remained on standby to assist with the evacuation if required, as winching by helicopter was not possible. He was assisted out on foot to a point where he could be collected by oversnow vehicle, and was in reasonable condition, despite having spent two nights out in the open.
Once again, Pam McHardy conducted the call-out of club members late the previous night. Well done, again, Pam.
Chris Jarvis
Club S&R Delegate
Your Committee
for 1998/99 is:
Stephen Bocquet (President)
Paulene Sunderland (Vice President)
Des Sunderland (Secretary/Treasurer)
Ron Bell (Club Contact)
Russell Christensen
Michael Howes (Walks Coordinator)
Nicole Lowe
Ian McLean
Sylvia McLean
Members Discount
Don't forget that members can obtain a discount at Bogong Equipment, 374 Little Bourke Street. They offer a 10% discount on all non sale items.
CONTACTING THE CLUB
General Enquiries
(Snail) Mail: The Secretary, Essendon Bushwalking Club Inc., P.O. Box 32, Moonee Ponds, 3039
E-mail: Russell Christensen trekker@netspace.net.au
Internet: www.netspace.net.au/~trekker
Club Meetings: Held on the second Wednesday of each month, at Hall 3, St.Thomas Church (behind the church), Mt.Alexander Road, Moonee Ponds Junction (corner of Mt.Alexander and Pascoe Vale Roads. Meetings start at 7.30 pm.
Hire Equipment
| Hire Rates |
W/End |
Week |
| Tent |
$10 |
$20 |
| BackPack |
$6 |
$10 |
| Sleeping Bag |
$5 |
$5 |
| Japara |
$5 |
$5 |
| Stove |
$5 |
$5 |
| Sleeping Mat |
$1 |
$2 |
Maximum hire rate $25 each week. Each additional week a further $25 fee will apply.
Club Fees
Annual Membership $ 30
Visitors Fee (per event) $ 5
Annual Membership fees apply from June 1 to May 31. Membership fees not paid two months after June 1 renders the member un-financial.
An un-financial member is required to pay the visitors fee for every event they attend until they have paid their full membership fee.
Un-financial members and visitors attending more than three events in a club year are required to pay the full membership fee.
UNDARA LAVA TUBES
In July and August, Lucy and Italo Padovani travelled through Queensland, and during this period they took a commercial tour through the Undara Lava Tubes, West of the Atherton Tablelands. Here is their report.
At Ravenshoe, a charming little town which boasts the honour of being the highest in Queensland at 904 metres, and is surrounded by rain forests and waterfalls, we booked a 1.00 pm tour from the local service station. We drove west on the Kennedy Highway towards Mt.Surprise, through Mt.Garnet, site of an old copper mine, and through the Forty Mile Scrub National Park, which is covered by thousands of termite hills. We found the turn-off just past Lynd Junction and 15 kms of dirt road we got to Undara Lava Lodge.
We boarded mini buses manned by Savannah Guides, and we travelled through the bush to the tubes. They were formed when about 23 kms of lava from a volcano which erupted about 190 000 years ago spilled over the land and travelled along a river bed. The water in the river ensured the lava formed a vast cylindrical tunnel. There are two branches, one about 16 kms long, and the other about 28 kms. In some places they have collapsed, some places are as high as 10 metres, and have a maximum width of 21 metres. Nearby is the Undara Crater, some 48 metres deep and 340 metres across. That is a considerable walk from the tubes.
To get to Undara from Cairns it takes about four hours travelling through Kuranda, Atherton, and Ravenshoe. From Townsville it takes six hours through Charters Towers, well worth visiting.
If anyone is interested: Bookings for guided tours are essential, there is plenty of accommodation in converted railway carriages, tents, and they have tent and van sites. It can be booked c/o Undara Experience, P.O. Box 6268, Cairns, 4870.
Lucy & Italo Padovani
Apologies, dear Leader .....
Apologies dear Leader,
For not confirming my intentions
Until just three days before the walk,
For how was I to know that
You were to be out ALL night,
And not at home to take my call!
Apologies dear Leader,
For how was I to know that while
Your answering machine took my call,
You would not get home until too late
To return my call until next day,
On the very night that I was out!
Apologies dear Leader,
For not calling you earlier
To express my interest in your walk,
Before you cancelled,
Through lack of interest before we all
Decided to book at the last minute!
Greetings dear Leader,
For I am confirming much earlier,
And if there is a change of plan,
YOU can let me know in time,
For now we both know when we can
Communicate in plenty of time.
Written by Chris Jarvis on behalf of all Leaders, and with apologies to all poets and the English language!
Reminder to all members: The club policy states that members should confirm their intentions at least three days before the event. Taking that further, the policy hints that you should confirm earlier if possible. This gives leaders and participants multiple chances to communicate in case either is not able to take a call. Early confirmation also encourages leaders, who may be tempted to cancel if no early interest is expressed.
HIKING GREAT BARRIER ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND
By Stephen Bocquet
In planning my trip to NZ in September I had agreed with a friend from Wellington, William Jenkins, that we would do a hike together somewhere in the North Island. But where to go? Being early spring, the prospects for good weather in the mountains seemed poor. Eventually we settled on Great Barrier Island, which neither of us had visited before. Great Barrier bars the mouth of the Hauraki Gulf, off Auckland.
It is quite a large island (285 sq. km), with a small population spread amongst several small settlements. This is one part of Auckland which wouldn't have been hit by the power crisis - the residents generate their own. Being on the coast and about the same latitude as Wodonga, we hoped for mild weather.
We flew over from Auckland on a Monday afternoon - about 25 minutes flight in a small twin engine commercial plane, landing at Claris airfield. A perfect day, with fine views of the island as we came in. We took a shuttle bus to a backpackers lodge for the night, after waiting for some time at the airfield while two locals found out what had become of their luggage - it had been bumped onto a later flight due to weight restrictions.
Next morning the proprietor of the backpackers dropped us off at the start of the track. The weather was overcast and threatening rain. We set off, and walked until morning tea time. A feature of the track was the multicoloured soil, a patchwork of purple, red, brown, yellow and grey. We took in the views from Maungapiko hill, and puzzled over how we'd missed the track to the hut where we intended to spend the second night of our walk. We were making good time, so we decided on a side trip to see a large Kauri tree.
Much of the island is covered by Kauri forest which was logged heavily between 1925 and 1941. The forest is regenerating, but Kauri trees take several hundred years to reach maturity. There are only a few mature trees left on the island, and they are an impressive sight so our side trip was well worthwhile. After our side trip and a stop for lunch, we descended into Kiwiriki Bay, where we paused to admire and photograph the Kowhai and Pohutokawa trees on the waters edge. The Kowhai is NZ's national flower - the trees were covered in the bright yellow bell-shaped flowers. Next we ascended a ridge and then dropped back down to Coffin Creek. Didn't see the coffin, but the water was about the clearest I've seen. After climbing another hill the track became an old logging tramway, which took us in to Kaiarara hut, crossing Kaiarara creek several times, just as we thought we'd end the day with dry boots. On the way we spotted a large Kowhai with several Tuis feeding on the nectar in its flowers. The Tui is also known as the bellbird because of its call. It is all black apart from two white tufts on its throat. We also surprised some wood pigeons (Kereru), large birds easily recognised in flight by the slow whump, whump sound of their wings.
We shared the 24 bunk hut with one other, a young guy who'd been spending a few days fishing and living in a bush shelter at one of the beaches. He'd heard on the radio that the weather was about to change, so he decided to spend the night under a proper roof.
The next day it was raining. We set off for Mt. Hobson, the highest point on the island, leaving our friend to relax at the hut. On the way up, we stopped to look at a Kauri dam .
Kauri dams were an ingenious, but destructive, way of getting logs out of the steep, inaccessible country. Logs were positioned in the creek over a period of several months. Once all the logs were in place and the dams full of water, a gate in the bottom of the dam would be tripped, releasing a flood which would sweep the logs down the creek to the sea, scouring out the valley in the process. Often there would be two dams on the same creek, with the lower dam being tripped just as the flood from the upper dam reached it.
We carried on to the summit, and a perfect 360_ view of ... cloud. The last half kilometre or so of the track consisted of wooden steps, built to prevent erosion and protect the nesting burrows of the black petrel, a threatened sea bird. Descending the other side was quite slow and tiring - long stretches of the track consisted of slime-covered limestone, difficult to walk on in the wet with a heavy pack. We stopped for lunch at a creek, and then pressed on to the Kaitoke hot springs, a short diversion from our path to the hut. After a half hour soak in the springs we carried on to the hut, the last hour in pouring rain. We had it to ourselves, with a choice of 24 bunks. Coming back the other way, it was easy to see how we had missed the track to the hut the previous day - the sign was well hidden in scrub beside the main track. This time we were looking carefully for it, and had no trouble finding the turn off.
The next day the rain had stopped, and we retraced our steps to the hot spring for another soak. The water was warm enough to be pleasant, but it would be much hotter in summer when there would be less cold water coming down the creek. On the way to the spring we spotted a pair of North Island Kaka, a type of parrot. Quite hard to see in the bush, as they are a dull green colour. Another 45 minutes walking took us back to the road, where the guy from the backpackers was waiting to take us to the ferry. By now it was a perfect fine day. About an hour into the four hour trip back to Auckland we hit rain again.
Altogether a very pleasant walk. You could easily spend longer on the island
than we did, particularly in summer when the beaches would be more appealing. There are several other possibilities for walks - you might need a tent, as the two huts we stayed in are the only ones.