Border Bushwalking Club, Inc Affiliated member of
P.O. Box 857, Wodonga, 3689
Association No. A5665B
Website:
www.borderbushwalkingclub.com.au
Note: All email addresses
have been altered by replacing the ‘@’ with ‘-AT-‘ to deter spammers
September 2008
Committee
Position Name Home Email
President/Footprints Pauline
McLaughlin 6021 3767 mcpaulin-AT-bigpond.com.
Vice President Rick Pickering 6035 0565
Secretary Sandy Kaitler 6024 1793 secretary-AT-borderbushwalkingclub.com.au
Treasurer Marie
Maguire 03 5753 5280 mkmaguire-AT-bordernet.com.au
Walks Coordinator Cindy
Marsh 6059 7618 cindy05-AT-optusnet.com.au
Data Base Maintenance Alison Wellard 6027 1622 rawell-AT-bigpond.net.au
Historian/Maps/BSAR Paul Schirmer 6026 7358 paul.schirmer-AT-westnet.com.au
Equipment Officer Ron
Hammond 6040 1233 rham9352-AT-bigpond.net.au
Librarian Bill
Myers 0408 688
492 william.myers-AT-defence.gov.au
Suppers Maureen
Williams 6059 1190
Technical Advisor Tony
Marsh 6020 8668 greencomputing-AT-gmail.com
Publicity Allan
Van Damme 6059 3737 ajvand-AT-gmail.com
Club Night
Tuesday 2nd September
7.30 pm (The room will be open from 7.00pm)
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It’s time for
the annual photo competition. So come along and see the photos taken by club
members when they’ve been out on the track and listen to judge, Vivienne
Harvey’s, comments about the photos and those she’s chosen as the winners.
Where: Senior Citizens’ Meeting Room, Civic Centre Complex, Hovell
Street, Wodonga (Havelock Street end of car park).
Club nights are regularly held
on the first Tuesday of the month (except December and January) at 8pm during
months of daylight saving, and 7.30pm during months of Eastern Standard Time.
The room is opened half an hour before the start so that members can socialise.
Visitors are always welcome at all
meetings and supper is served after proceedings.
The next Committee Meeting will be held on Tuesday 8th
September at 7.30 pm at Cindy’s home.
(If you have any matters you would like the committee to discuss, please
let a committee member know.)
Deadlines for next
edition of Footprints:
Walks to Cindy on 6059 7618 or cindy05-AT-optusnet.com.au
by Wednesday 10th September
All other items to Pauline at 6021 3767 or
mcpaulin-AT-bigpond.com by
Sunday 21st September
Welcome
to new members:
Marianne Haughton, Peter & Ineke
Sharman, Marianne & Bernard Bartram, Kerrie & Richard O’Connell and
Colleen Beven. We hope you’ll enjoy what the club has to offer for a long time.
Electronic
Trip Reports
Some members are busy converting hand-written trip reports to an
electronic format. If there are other volunteers for this, please contact Paul
Schirmer at 6026 7358 to arrange to pick up some forms. Over the last few
years, some leaders have presented their trip reports in hard copy form after
setting them up in electronic form. If leaders still have those forms on their
own computers, could they please send them to Paul at paul.schirmer-AT-westnet.com.au.
Trip reports will eventually be available electronically to help
future leaders in their trip planning.
Hire of Club
Equipment
Friends of Mount Buffalo
Recently the newly formed “Friends of Mount
Buffalo” group held a planting day as part of “National Tree Day” and two of
our club members went along and worked alongside people from Melbourne and
others from surrounding areas of the mountain. The planting was near the park
entrance so next time you visit the mountain, look out for the new plants on
the left before you reach the gate. The group plans to be quite informal and
will send emails when there is to be an activity. There will eventually be a
web site as well. If you would like to be kept informed about the group, email
Louisa Mot at lou.mot-AT-gmail.com to be
added to the email list.
Walking and
Talking with the President of Bushwalking Victoria
Funding
It is my pleasure to advise you that I have received a
letter from Hon James Merlino, Minister for Sport & Recreation, approving
support to Bushwalking Victoria for 2008 – 2010. The funding comprises two
parts:
Organisational Support Grant which helps us to promote
bushwalking and improve our business and administration.
Special projects funding to continue with the next stage or
our Go Further project aimed at getting more people to extend their walking
into natural areas.
Advocacy for
Bushwalking Amenity
One of the key roles of Bushwalking Victoria is to represent
the interests of all bushwalkers when decisions are being made about the use
and management of parks, reserves and forests. This involves detailed analysis
of draft management plans and other proposals and then responding on issues of
importance to us. Recent submissions have included the proposal for the
national parks along the Murray River, Kooyoora State Park and very recently
the Great Otway National Park and Forest Park.
To help you to become aware of the threats and opportunities
associated with the management of the public land we will in the near future be
posting Bushwalking Victoria submissions on our website. This will help you to
appreciate the issues we face and if you so choose, to support our efforts at
the local level.
Mapping
Most walkers will be aware of the dramatic changes that have
occurred to the topographical map system in recent years. Such things as the
datum change, the wide use of GPS and of course the digitising of map data.
To try and get a handle on all this we have formed a small
working group to identify the changes, plot where the map system is heading and
how this is likely to affect recreational walkers. The intention is to prepare
a status paper on maps which will be a guide for leaders and others when
accessing map information and using the latest technology. If you would like to
participate in this group or just provide information please contact Tony
Walker at
strategy-AT-bushwalkingvictoria.org.au
.
In the meantime don’t throw away all those old paper maps
that are held together with lots of sticky tape; some of them have great
information.
David
Reid
Timing
your walk—advice from Echuca Moama Bushwalkers
Here are some guidelines which are particularly
helpful for leaders who are trying to estimate travelling time in a ‘new’ area.
The following guidelines are a general guide to
calculating trip times. It is sometimes known as ‘Naismith’s Rule’ (rather than
Murphy’s Law) and assumes an average walker with a medium pack of 12-13 kilos.
Allow 1 hour for every 5km of easy travelling
1 hour for every 3km of easy
scrambling
1 hour for every 1.5km of
extremely rough country, deep sand, soft snow or thick bush
Plus 1 hour for every 500m climbed
1 hour for every 1000m
descended
For every hour over 5 hours add
1 hour for fatigue
(reduced by 1/5 if the group is
fit and experienced)
Barber's Laws of Backpacking
(Hans found these “Laws” on an
internet site. Do these “laws” sound familiar?)
1. The
integral of the gravitational potential taken around any loop trail you chose
to hike always comes out positive.
2. Any
stone in your boot always migrates against the pressure gradient to exactly the
point of most pressure.
3. The
weight of your pack increases in direct proportion to the amount of food you
consume from it. If you run out of food, the pack weight goes on increasing
anyway.
4. The
number of stones in your boot is directly proportional to the number of hours
you have been on the trail.
5. The
difficulty of finding any given trail marker is directly proportional to the
importance of the consequences of failing to find it.
6. The
size of each of the stones in your boot is directly proportional to the number
of hours you have been on the trail.
7. The
remaining distance to your chosen campsite remains constant as twilight
approaches.
8. The
net weight of your boots is proportional to the cube of the number of hours you
have been on the trail.
9. When
you arrive at your chosen campsite, it is full.
10. If
you take your boots off, you'll never get them back on again.
11. The
local density of mosquitos is inversely proportional to your remaining
repellent.
Bush Telegraph
The Bush Telegraph Service began on the Anzac
day long weekend. This service enables Victorians to report behaviour that
could damage our environment or is antisocial through a single, easy to
remember number, 13 2874 or 13BUSH on your keypad.
Parks Victoria will provide the reporting
facility through its 7-day-a-week Information Centre. Car stickers and further
information about the Bush Telegraph service are available from the Parks
Victoria Information Centre on 13 1963.
Trip Reports
Heathy Spur
Ski Tour & Snow Camp 19th & 20th July
With
none of us qualifying for World Youth Day we headed off on our own soul
searching snow camping pilgrimage. Having heard the weather forecast, we were
seriously led into temptation by the generous offer of much more salubrious
accommodation in a unit. We resisted & were safely delivered to a protected
campsite with heavenly views. A peaceful & enlightening night was had until
the wind arrived & the skies opened early Sunday morning. The flock
retreated back to Windy Corner, with Ian having had his baptism, Marijke
returning to the faith & Suzanne converted!
Su
Suzanne, Marijke, Rick Ian and Mari
Mt Barambogie exploratory walk, 3rd August
Six
intrepid members joined me, (the leader) on a walk where I had never been. This
was obvious from the start: I got lost trying to find the starting point, and
after parking the cars near the starting point, it took some time to figure out
where we were and where to go. Just before we parked the cars a mob of
kangaroos crossed the road: Item 1 on the wildlife list. Heading roughly in the
direction where we wanted to go (according to the map) we found a track not
shown on the map, but going in the right direction. Along this track we
encountered an echidna: Item 2 on the wildlife list. About a km later we
came to a major track, which we concluded must be Water Trust Road (aka Old
Cemetery Rd). One km along this road we should find “Bear Track” turning
left, and indeed we did. Going along the Bear Track a koala was spotted walking
in the bush. Slow and careful tracking enabled us to get some good photos of
the koala after it found a favoured tree: Item 3 on the wildlife list. Classic
comment of one member: “This is why it is called the Bear Track”.
At the end of the Bear Track we came to the PX Track, we crossed this
and went off-track to Mt Barambogie. Just before the summit of Mt Barambogie
was a rocky outcrop affording beautiful views to Chiltern and North.
After some exploring we decided to have lunch on the rocks, enjoying the
view. We also enjoyed the first wildflowers: “Harbinger of Spring” aka “Early
Nancy”. Going back we met the PX Track exactly where we left it. Turning right
we followed this track to just before a pine-plantation, where we found a track
turning left. Hopefully this would take us back to the cars! This track
followed the edge of the Park, and indeed after some 5km we finished up close
to the cars.
Conclusions after this exploratory walk: A walk well worth putting on
the program on a regular basis. Because of the distance and the short off-track
walking it might be graded as easy-medium, but I would definitely grade it
towards the easy side of medium. Interesting features: wildlife as described.
Views as described. Vegetation: great variety along the walk. At the start
mainly stringybarks with occasional gums; where we met the koala mainly gums;
near Mt Barambogie iron-bark and cherry ballart, down the PX track stringybark
and grass-trees; final track stringybark changing to gums.
In all: a very interesting walk, hoping all my future exploratory walks
will turn out as well! Hans Kaspers
Mt
Jim Ski Tour & Snow Camp 9th & 10th August
Be
careful what you wish for!
Snow, snow
& more snow, just what we had wanted a few weeks ago. A hardy group of 9
(3BBC, 6 VMTC) departed from Windy Corner for the 14km trip to Mt Jim in cold,
windy, snowy, bleak conditions - it was great. Navigation was a trick. We
hunkered down in a beautifully protected spot amongst mature, unburnt snow gums
on the east side of Mt Jim. Snow walls built, hatches battened down for a wild
night, we were not disappointed! But still, Kirra's party tent was in flight
with visits from Jim, Adrian, Celesta & me. When I poked my nose out of the
tent at 7a.m. I immediately did a mental stock take of my food supply wondering
if we were faced with an extra day out! But the weather settled and we departed
in relatively good conditions, with John & Kirra doing the hard work of
breaking trail in fresh snow. Windy Corner never looked so good when we arrived
back! The
group in blizzard
Spargos Hut
Ski Tour 26th July
Thanks
Rick for leading an excellent day trip to Spargos Hut (what a ski down!) &
Mt Loch. Well done with organising the weather, you will need to let me know
how.
Rick, John, Marie, Ian and Warwick at Spargo’s hut
Regent Honey
Eater Project – 16th August
Seven club
members joined another 90 active people for a busy day of planting at Lurg.
Victorian Bushwalking Clubs had been encouraged to participate in the weekend
as part of the 75th Anniversary celebrations. There were many clubs
represented, along with other groups.
Ray Thomas, who has been the force behind the project for 14 years,
began by explaining the weed clearing and his co-worker, Andrew, explained the
safety issues of carrying mattocks and shovels in such a large group. So the
work started with the advance group putting plants and plant guards on the
ground. They were followed by the group with the mattocks clearing weeds and
digging holes; the group who planted and put the guards around; and lastly the
shovellers who surrounded the guards with soil. After one hour of planting, it
was time for morning tea and the news that 1000 plants were already in the
ground. As the day progressed we experienced rain, sun, wind and icy
conditions, but the work continued with everyone in good spirits. By 5 o’clock,
a satisfied group who had planted 3262 native plants to provide habitat for
endangered birds and animals, downed tools and headed for the showers. Our
group headed home, but others would have enjoyed the bush dance on Saturday
night and more planting on Sunday. Comments heard on the day: fun, rewarding,
satisfying, inspiring!
.
Border
Bushwalking Club
By Joan
Causer, one of the original members of the club
We remember the time of Everest,
The landing on the moon. </
