NavShield Entry Forms will be posted this month to clubs and past
participants.
Early next month we plan to meet the local landholders for the proposed
NavShield 2000 site. They know where the NavShield will be but you will
need to register. This year again, you don’t need to register solely by snail
mail but can register via the NavShieId website that can be accessed from the
Confederation website at www.bushwalking.org.au
Wombeyan
Caves Search
David Robinson-Sydney Bushwalking Club/Rocksquad
Sunday, March 5 - A family outing on 125 hectares of rugged land that they
had just purchased, about 6km south west of Wombeyan Caves.
The day was warm and the mood relaxed. City people keen to experience and
learn about "the bush". They decided to explore their property. The
two young girls in the group, one 10 and the other 11 had been promised that
they could select their "acre" on which to erect a cubby house and
were excited about doing this. Their chance to have their own little home.
The explorers piled into a four wheel drive vehicle, and left the less
adventurous at the "shack" to relax and enjoy the sounds and smells of
the "bush". They followed the fence line away from the shack and down
the hill until they can drive no further, blocked by the rugged terrain. They
decided to park the vehicle and continue on foot. They were about 15 minutes
walk from the shack. After a few minutes on foot the girls decided to turn back
and wait at the vehicle for the others to return. The parents were none too keen
on this but they were within sight of the vehicle and reluctantly agreed. They
watched the kids make their way back toward the vehicle and continued their
walk.
About 45 minutes later, the parents arrived back at the vehicle to find the
girls were not there. They checked the area but could find no trace; they called
their names and sounded the horn but there was no reply. They assumed the girls
had tired of waiting and had returned to the shack, only a short distance away
along the fence line. They drove back to the shack to find the girls had not
returned and had not been seen. Maybe they were looking for their
"acre" over in the cleared area on the other side of the fence? The
parents decided to search this area - again, without result. Panic started to
set in. Maybe if they gave them a couple of hours they would walk in, meanwhile,
they went back over their tracks. No trace was found and they did not walk in.
Mittagong Police were notified mid afternoon and immediately contacted the
local rescue squad, Berrima Volunteer Rescue Association (VRA). Jointly, a small
contingent conducted a preliminary search with assistance of family members.
They failed to locate the girls before the search was suspended for the night at
sunset.
Bushwalkers Wilderness Rescue (BWR), also a VRA squad, was contacted by
Berrima VRA at 21:30 on Sunday and immediately put the network of club contacts
into action. At this early stage BWR had been given little detail apart from the
fact that two young girls were missing in rough
country
near Wombeyan Caves.
By 06:30 on Monday morning, searchers from the BWR Committee and the
Rocksquad, Canberra Bushwalking Club, Southern Adventure Society, SPAN,
Sutherland Bushwalking Club, Springwood Bushwalking Club, UTS Outdoor Adventure
Club and Yarrawood Bushwalking Club were at the search area awaiting
instructions.
It had rained overnight and there was thick fog hanging over the search area.
The parents had experienced "the worst night of their lives", and were
concerned that the girls may not have survived. They worried about hypothermia
and imagined all sorts of horrors that may have befallen them. Members of the
search teams assured them that this was highly unlikely and that the odds were
that they would be found quickly and unharmed.
By this time, VRA members from Berrima and Binalong together with local SES
and Police were starting to arrive. The K9 Search and Rescue Dogs Squad, also a
VRA member, was in attendance and Polair was organised. The helicopter would not
be able to operate until the fog lifted, however, and this was not expected
until later in the morning. Locals on horseback and trail bikes had also been
organised to join the search group. Rural Fire Service four wheel drives were to
patrol perimeter bush tracks.
By 0700 John Tonitto, search coordinator for BWR had been briefed by the
local Police coordinator and a search strategy put in place. Bushwalkers were
split into search groups of five, radios issued and tested and local maps
provided. The search was on in earnest.
Within minutes of mobilisation, a radio call was received at search HQ
confirming that the girls had been found by one of the four wheel drive units.
They were approximately 5 kms from where they had last been seen and were cold,
hungry and thirsty but otherwise unhurt. They were returned to their parents.
This search shows how search and rescues are commonly run these days: a
quick search is initially done by the local
police and people on the scene, and is escalated the next day if unsuccessful.
Whilst this search was "over before it started", it was shown once
again that a large ground search can be organised and implemented within tight
timeframes and that the system works. BWR had around 20 people in attendance,
all of whom were notified only shortly before midnight the night before.
For more information about Bushwalkers Wilderness Rescue, talk to your club
search and rescue contact, or visit our web page at:
http://www.mcauley.nsw.edu.au/rescue/
Or visit the VRA web page at:
http://www.rescue.org.au/~rescue/
BWR Revamp.
BWR is tightening up its internal structure by moving to a fixed squad and
auxiliaries. The members of the fixed squad will have a distinct quantified
group of skills that will include First Aid Certificate, search management ALVRI
cliff rescue training etc. We are currently finalising the list i description of
skills and the level of identification (uniform) that will apply to emphasise
our fixed squad and auxiliar)i members. Most of the bushwalkers who trained
recently at Cataract Scout Park have the skills BWR would expect of its larger
group of auxiliaries.
Oral
History Project Released
In 1994 Andy Macqueen, representing the Friends of Blue Gum Forest, commenced
an Oral History Project to record the recollections of early bushwalkers
concerning the forest.
The project grew so large and absorbing that Andy was compelled to carry on
to write his book Back from the Brink.
Seven of the interviews were taped, and the transcriptions of those tapes
have now been finalised. They were formally released during the Rodriguez Pass
Centenary walk on 16 April. The transcripts, together with the original tapes,
have been lodged with the Local History Collection at the Blue Mountains City
Library, Springwood. Anyone interested in reading the transcriptions or
listening to the tapes should contact the library. Copies of one or more of the
transcripts may be obtained by contacting Andy directly‹phone 4751 2556 or
email andymacq@pnc.com.au.
The interviews tend to range over many bushwalking topics beyond Blue Gum
Forest, and as such they provide some interesting perspectives on the early days
of traditional bushwalking. All the interviewees were keen walkers in their time
and all but one was a member of a bushwalking club. Five were in the Sydney
Bushwalkers, one in the Coast and Mountain Walkers and one in the Rover
Ramblers. Lewis Hodgkinson, lifelong Blackheath resident, was not a club walker
but tells of many of his local rambles and related Blackheath history.
Unfortunately only one person could be found who was directly involved with the
1931-32 campaign, Joe Turner. (Joe has passed away since his interview, as have
John Wood and Tom Herbert.)
The interviewees recorded are as follows.
Ray Bean (1914-): Member of the Sydney Bush Walkers
•Ron Compagnoni (1911-): Member of the Coast & Mountain Walkers and of
Blue Gum Forest Trust
• Tom Herbert, OBE (1903-1994): Member of the Sydney Bush Walkers
•Lew Hodgkinson (1915-): Walker and Blackheath identity
•Joe Turner (1901-1999): Member of the Sydney Bush Walkers and of the Blue
Gum Forest Committee and Trust
•Jack Watson, AM ISO (1916-): Member of the Rover Ramblers (and Registrar
General of NSW)
•John (1916-1998) and Lawrie Wood - Members of the Sydney Bush Walkers
Andy thanks fellow Friends of Blue Gum Philippa Coleman, Aine Gliddon, Erica
Gray , Kerry Kirk, Gordon Limburg and Jan Webster for their assistance in the
tedious task of making the transcriptions. Thanks are also due to Cath Ireland,
tireless National Park ranger and key person behind the Friends of Blue Gum
Forest. Cath provided much encouragement throughout the project.
4TH
World Rogaining Championships New Zealand 15/16 JAN. 2000
Having completed many rogaines during 1999, I was very keen to go to the
4WRC, especially as it was being held so close to us in New Zealand. What a good
excuse for a holiday in beautiful NZ, centred around attending the rogaine,
(pity it was peak season on airfares).
Most of my experience has been in 6 hour rogaines over the past few years,
but with a 29hr and a 24hr under my belt, I felt suitably prepared for staying
out at least part of the time overnight. Fitness was being maintained by
bushwalking, rockclimbing, and cycling and I planned a 3 day walk (camping) on
the Abel Tasman coastal track in NZ’s South Island just prior to the rogaine.
My team was determined late in November after the organisers advertised
through their email list for me, and Peter Gordon from Newcastle answered. Peter’s
friend David from Adelaide also came over as part of our team. There were
several people whose teams were only finalised on the morning of the event, so
if you are keen to attend an event, put your entry in, a partner can be found
and a team formed at the last minute. Often these teams do quite well, though I
found it better to have been able to meet Peter beforehand and discuss
expectations.
There had been variable weather around the Hurunui district before the
rogaine weekend but once you are in New Zealand you come to expect any weather
conditions at any time and have to be prepared appropriately. During the weekend
we had all extremes – cool, windy, misty, foggy, rain, sun, heat. Another
constant is the steepness of the terrain, something we Aussies aren’t quite
prepared for. The area around Mt. Parnassus and the Waiau River is probably
regarded by NZ standards to be quite low hills (mountains) so we were lucky. On
my travels through the North and South Islands I saw plenty of taller, steeper
terrain, quite a bit of it covered in horrible gorse, and was glad not to be
rogaining in that.
Friday afternoon Peter had offered to collect me from the train at Kaikoura
(the Whaleway Station), he and David having spent the week driving through the
North Island, doing the Tongariro Crossing and climbing Mt. Ruapehu as a
warm-up. When they hadn’t arrived and attempts at phone communication weren’t
successful, I resorted to checking email and found the answer – they were on a
later ferry to Picton than I’d thought. We eventually all met, partook of the
local café offerings for sustenance, and headed off to the Rogaine site,
arriving after dark, setting up our tents on the large grassy paddock and having
a quick feed from the wonderful food supplied. One thing about NZ which is good
for rogaines is that it doesn’t get dark till about 9.30pm.
When the maps (thoughtfully produced on plasticised paper with control
descriptions printed on the back) were issued on Sat. morning we had to get used
to the 1:50,000 scale with 20m contour interval, the incredibly steep hills we
couldn’t avoid if we wanted a decent score and the proliferation of streams on
the course. We weren’t keen to get our feet wet with 24 hours ahead of us but
it soon became impossible to keep them dry, though the photo of Peter shows how
to keep them less wet for the longest possible time. He "walked on
water" like this many times in the first few hours! Also occurring with
great regularity were barbed wire fences with electric cable running on the
inside. We became quite adept at climbing over these, as we also did the 2.5 m
high deer fences, throughout the night time.
Our course covered the south western area of the map and was amongst some
high pointers but also this meant mountainous terrain. We had one short water
stop at control 24 in the farmyards that make up the town/property of Mt.
Stewart and a 30 min. meal break around 5.30pm just as the weather was turning
nasty, beside the water tanks after control 40. No hope of using an almost full
moon for navigation. We were scoring quite well and locating all planned
controls. The hardest part was the 300m descent to the Anstey Stream and control
91 on the Waiau River and the 600m ascent up the other side to control 76. This
really tired us out, though David handled this part extremely well, and it was
very misty and had turned dark before we got to 76 so we used deer fences for
navigation and abandoned any hope of getting either of the 80 pointers east or
west of the ridgeline we were on. Peter did an excellent job of navigating,
especially during the night hours, with a map that wasn’t exactly easy to
read, to get us back to the road where we had a 4km slog on tar and 6km slog on
gravel back to the Hash House and our welcome tents. We had been out for 14
hours, and the food provided was very welcome at 2.30am in the morning!
Unfortunately the last 10km yielded no points. Luckily we didn’t encounter
any deer or wild pigs, though often wondering which side of the fences they were
on. We did encounter quite a few hedgehogs though, along the fenceline and later
beside the Leader Road. The thistles were also quite notable for being
everywhere on the mountainsides, and there were some quite scrubby thickets in
the gullies.
Overnight the very sore feet recovered sufficiently for us to spend a couple
of hours on the course on Sunday morning, after a mutually agreed late rise and
a hearty breakfast. We crossed the Leader River and headed north for one control
and a long run back to ensure we didn’t lose any points for late arrival.
Being a walker, not a runner,
this wasn’t easy and took some time to recover from as I’d been suffering
from a pretty bad respiratory condition for the past week. Covering about 40kms
was a pretty good effort for our team and showed us what can be done when we get
a bit competitive. It honed my mountain climbing skills enough for my hike up to
Mueller Hut in Mt. Cook National Park 3 days later, where I did see the full
moon.
Overall we finished 138th from 193
teams from 12 countries, with a total of 620 points, 23rd
from 29 teams in the Open Mixed category. For those with a map our route took in
the following controls: 32, 66, 53, 20, 24, 52, 40, 54, 74, 91, 76, 36 and 47. I’d
like to thank my team, Peter and David for such a great effort, and for bearing
with me as I struggled up the steepest hills and as I took photos around the
course. I’d rogaine again with you guys anytime! Also Jude Elliott from
Peninsular and Plains Orienteers in NZ who did such a fantastic job of
organising things. The website connection was a great thing for keeping up to
date with planning and the results afterwards. The food was also much
appreciated, especially the feed after the event – no worries about
carbo-loading by then! The presentations were held in the sun, on the back of a
farmer’s truck, and were just over when the heavens opened up again. What did
I say about variable weather?!
