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Tag Archives | bushwalking

Byron Hikers – Extreme adventure in the remote East Kimberley Western Australia!

Byron Hikers – Extreme adventure in the remote Kimberley!

Four members of Byron Hikers Club recently undertook an amazing adventure – a 14-Day exploration of the Drysdale River in the Solea Falls area. Drysdale River National Park in the northern tip of the remote East Kimberley is one of the least accessible national parks in Australia. There are no public roads, no airstrips and no tracks – the park is pack raft or seaplane access only.

The Drysdale River flows through a magnificent pristine and untouched landscape. The Drysdale River NP is the kingdom of nature and showcases vast tracts of Kimberley wilderness featuring open woodland, gorges, cliffs, waterfalls and the creeks of the Drysdale River. The many water holes allowed for lots of swimming and every night our camp was a ‘dream’ site.

However, the real treasure of this magical place are the hundreds of hypnotic Gwion Gwion figures, an ancient Aboriginal painting style describing a forgotten time of dancing and ceremonies. Byron Hikers visited different rock shelters every day. See the Byron Hikers Facebook page for more information.

2024 Bushwalking NSW Photo Competition

2024 Bushwalking NSW Photo Competition

Show us your best shots!

Do you take beautiful photos of people and scenery in the bush?

We want to share them with the world!

Image: Sunset from Mt Townsend, Robert Croll

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enter our competition to be in the running to win over $230 of great Paddy Pallin prizes! See your photos featured in our newsletters and on our website!

Share your NSW/ACT photos of bushwalkers or wildlife in nature or a national park scene.

Please share your photos in these categories:

  • People bushwalking as team enjoying nature in NSW/ACT
  • NSW/ACT national park scene
  • NSW/ACT wildlife

Simply email your images or a public link to your photos (eg google drive, dropbox or photo share apps) to Bushwalking NSW here.

The Competition closes on 31 August 2024.

 

Great Paddy Pallin gear to be won!

Smartwool patch beanie
Gear aid hybrid gear clip
Arcade performance stretch belt
Ultralight dry sack 20L
Nalgene glow in the dark bottle
Nalgene wide mouth bottle 32oz

 

A name change and rebrand for Bushwalking NSW?

A name change and rebrand for Bushwalking NSW?

By Jon Gray, Bushwalking NSW Vice President and Young People in Clubs (YPIC) Working Group.

I believe BNSW and bushwalking clubs in Australia need a change in name and a rebrand to remain strong and relevant into the future.

It is evident that most clubs in NSW and the ACT are not attracting younger members. This raises concerns regarding the long-term viability of our clubs and indeed the whole bushwalking club movement in our State and Territory. I am convinced a significant change is required; we need to ‘turn the ship around’.

As already expressed in a previous Opinion Piece, I believe the crux of our problem lies in the regrettably less-than-exciting image of bushwalking clubs. Our clubs are not widely perceived as exciting and cool, but regrettably as rather staid and boring, and increasingly, full of retirees (like me!). We need a subtle change of image, a rebrand, to help inspire and attract a younger cohort into our clubs, to re-energise our whole movement.

The need for a change in our names and terminology was also supported by results from the recent BNSW Outdoor adventure terminology survey. The survey, with over 170 respondents mostly from BNSW member clubs, revealed that 50% of respondents gave their first preference to hypothetical club names that included the term ‘Outdoor Adventure’, whilst only 8% gave their first preference to a club name with the sole term ‘Bushwalking’. A substantial majority of 83% agreed that a club name should include more than just ‘Bushwalking’ if other activities were also undertaken by the club (Figure 1).

As a key step in this rebranding process, I am advocating for the simple addition of a new term such as ‘Outdoor Adventure’ or merely just ‘Adventure’ into our names. Thus, for example, Bushwalking NSW might change to Bushwalking Adventure NSW. The fictional Highlands Bushwalking Club might change to Highlands Bushwalking Adventure Club.

I am convinced that such a relatively simple change would go a long way towards improving our brand and image, and reverse the aging and decline in our movement. Other measures will also be important in conjunction with the rebrand, such as enhancing social media presence, promoting the benefits of joining formal clubs and adopting welcoming measures for younger people.

BNSW expects to further explore opinions and avenues for a potential name change and rebrand during the 2024/2025 year.

Please consider this issue, and whether you support exploration of a possible simple name change and rebranding for Bushwalking NSW, and also for your own club. Please let BNSW know your thoughts by responding through the email below.

Jon Gray
Bushwalking NSW Vice President and Young People in Clubs (YPIC) Working Group.
Email: youngpeopleinclubs@bushwalkingnsw.org.au

 

Perceptions of image and naming of our bushwalking clubs: a survey

There is growing concern that many bushwalking clubs throughout NSW and ACT are not attracting younger members, particularly younger people who are willing to take on leadership roles (see our recent Opinion Piece on this issue).

Many people have suggested that a part of the problem is the somewhat staid and less-than-exciting image of bushwalking clubs in Australia. Accordingly an important question is should we consider a change of image and possibly our names within the bushwalking movement?

We would love it if you would help Bushwalking NSW further explore these issues by completing our 3-minute survey: Community perceptions on bushwalking and outdoor adventure terminology. By completing this survey you will be in the running for one of several great prizes, including three $150 gift cards from Paddy Pallin and five subscriptions to Wild magazine.

For more information please contact us at: youngpeopleinclubs@bushwalkingnsw.org.au

How to set up a new bushwalking club – Coffs Hikers story

On a sunny day in spring 2021, a small group of keen walkers met at the Botanic Gardens in Coffs Harbour to discuss setting up a bushwalking club. But how do you set up a club?

This is our story. We hope sharing will help others on their journey to start and manage a bushwalking club.

Start with why, then how

We began by discussing our values, which determined the form the club would take. We agreed to set up a not for profit incorporated association and to affiliate with Bushwalking NSW Inc. This provides legal protection and insurance for our volunteer and members, allowed us to open an association bank account and get an ABN (useful for grants), and to benefit from knowledge shared within the NSW peak bushwalking organisation.

The minimum number of members for an association is 5 – we met that. Next we needed a constitution, and that required making some early decisions. For example, did we want to set a maximum period for serving on the committee to prevent burn out and stagnation? What membership classes were we going to have, and could children be members? We sought input from other clubs, and opted to keep it simple.

Once the constitution had been debated and finalised, our first committee was formed. The newly appointed Public Officer was given authority to go ahead and lodge with Fair Trading, incurring our first expense. Two days later, our application was accepted and Coffs Hikers came into existence. Our domain name was registered, and work began on a website.

We went to the bank to open an account and also set up a Business Account with PayPal so that we could support online payment of fees. PayPal charge of course, but they manage all the risk around credit cards and compliance, and we were comfortable paying for automation that eases the burden on our volunteer Treasurer. We set our annual membership fee at $35, to cover insurance premiums and fund the website, with a little to spare. Our first ten members signed up and paid their fees.

Once again, our group met at the Botanic Gardens to discuss our first activity program. Talking about walks is way more fun than constitutions! The final step in the process was completing the forms for affiliation with Bushwalking NSW Inc, and paying our first insurance premium. This was done in late November, just in time for our first walk on 4th December 2021.

So, there you have it – from initial discussion to incorporation, affiliation and first activity took us two months.

Automation reduces administration

We like to walk, but we’re not so keen on admin. We would rather not have to nag people to pay fees, or update membership registers, or, as leaders, have to remember who signed up for a walk and who cancelled and how many are coming now and what is that new person’s name again? Fortunately, we had a committee member with website skills.

The aim was a modern, low cost, mobile-friendly website that was easy to use for members, volunteer leaders and committee members. Before digging into the details of the technology used, let’s begin with some thoughts on how to simplify website building.

We built what techies call a “minimum viable product”. This avoids getting bogged down in committee discussion, designing an overly complex solution. We got a basic site up quickly, and learnt from that. We also tried to avoid reinventing wheels. For example, we link to Lotsafreshairs excellent videos and the Bushwalking Manual, no need to write your own.

Lastly, it’s important to be flexible with club management processes. For example, fees can be charged on a fixed calendar year (January to December for example, with discounts after July, and further discounts for families and concession cardholders). Or they can be like a gym membership, on a rolling 12 months from the date you sign up, with no discounts, auto renewed. For us, the second option was simpler and easier to implement.

Let’s get technical

As a new club with hardly any money needing a website fast, a bespoke outsourced solution was never an option. We considered club management software such as Wild Apricot, but were put off by the high price and concerns that it attempts to do everything without excelling at anything.

So, we went for a mix-and-match approach based on WordPress, combining different tools that play nicely together. WordPress iswell-known and widely used, development skills are readily available, and it is easy for volunteers to use. While we had the luxury of a member volunteering her time, we wanted to ensure others could maintain the site in future. Cost was important too: WordPress itself is free, with a large market of competitively priced plug-ins.

Before we could start building a website, we needed hosting for our website and chose Siteground as they have servers in Australia.

The website took about two weeks to set up and test, ready for opening our doors to new members. There was some maintenance work in the first few weeks of operation, as we refined our content and processes, but ongoing website maintenance is now light.

MemberPress provided us with a login system and the ability to restrict content to members only. We set up two membership classes (Trial, Full members) with different fees. We created an online membership form with a digital acknowledgement of risk and connected it to PayPal. We also provide an option for payment by bank transfer, but hardly any people have used this.Members can update their information, if their address changes, for example. Reminders are automatically sent when membership is due for renewal. We created roles for Committee Members and Leaders, who have access to extra functionality.

We installed The Events Calendar to manage our program of walks, cycling, kayaking, meetings and social activities. A calendar overview is available to the interested public as this encourages new members to join, but only members can see details such as leaders contact information, meeting place and time. We use Registrations for The Events Calendar Pro to manage online bookings, cancellations, maximum group size and a waitlist, an attendees list, walk reminder emails and more. A pre-filled sign on sheet is emailed to the leader the night before the activity, which makes it easy to remember who is coming!

We useMailerlite to publish a monthly newsletter and for occasional surveys. We could add a member forum to the website, but chose to use a public Facebook page plus a private Facebook group instead. Both the newsletter and Facebook have been instrumental in building community.

We also set up a shared Google Drive for storing documents and working collaboratively on committee meeting minutes and finance spreadsheets, for example.

We have begun work on a database of activities which will be available to all leaders in our club. We hope this will answer the question “but I don’t know any good walks to lead” and encourage our experienced leaders to share their detailed knowledge of local trails and campsites.

What works for you?

There are many paths to systems to support a club and build a community, these were our choices. We’d be interested to hear what has worked for other clubs, and your ideas for the future. We are still learning and improving!

Guest post by Yvonne Everett, Coffs Hikers President

Let us know what works for you here

Lightweight Hiking

Lightweight Hiking

As we all know, the lighter your pack, the more you will enjoy your multi-day hiking adventure in Australia or overseas.

With this in mind, Byron Community College recently ran a Lightweight Hiking Course which gave participants expert advice on choosing the lightest affordable equipment and dehydrated food.

A highlight of the Course was a gourmet hike cooking class with dishes such as:

  • Miso soup
  • Linguine with speck, hard fried in ghee and garlic and embellished with fresh snow peas and shaved parmesan
  • Thai rice with coconut milk, lemon grass, snow peas and chilli tuna fillets
  • Chocolate chia pudding with coconut milk
  • Billy tea

The Course also included a local day ‘off track’ hike and the option of overnight camping and hiking experience.

The Lightweight Hiking Course was presented by Steve Millard from Byron Hikers who has extensive experience planning and leading hundreds of hikes all over Australia and the remote Indian Himalaya. Steve loves sharing his knowledge to encourage more people to experience the simple pleasures of hiking in the wilderness. Most importantly Steve wants more people to become aware of the need for conservation of our precious national parks and natural areas. Email Steve at byronhikers@gmail.com for more information.

This lightweight hiking class will run again through the Byron College in February/March 2023. For those keen to learn more hiking recipes the book Xtreme Gourmet has lots of information on ‘high energy, lightweight recipes for the outdoor enthusiast’.

 

Mudgee Bushwalking and Bike Riding Inc.

Three Capes Walk Tasmania, 13-16 September, Victoria Mcadam

Where would we be without our Elly and Joby who organised everything..
All 16 of us very happy traveler’s
say thank you.
Wouldn’t happen without all your effort.
We arrived in Hobart a little late, a slight moment of concern was had that the hire car company might be closed, we were reassured that the ‘bus’ was still in the parking lot and was waiting for us,
the kind gent at the desk had waited.
We mounted a search..
That parking lot was at least 3 million acres!!
Possibly more.
It was cold..
Right at the far end sat the bus!!!
We piled in..
Eric at the wheel and with Karen as the navigator we found our accommodation with ease..
the next day we proceeded to enjoy some shopping,
Some folks went to MONA.
I had no clue what MONA was until the
recount of the experience was given the next day with slightly graphic details of the images seen..
Others saw the botanic gardens.
2 lovely days in Hobart, scrummy breakfasts at the AWOL Cafe..
Seafood at the dock.
Mt Wellington and Mt Nelson
After strategically packing the bus the next day to start the drive to Port Arthur and the walking adventure, loading the humans in the bus who had to sit in the back first then filling every available space with back packs and suitcases..
We were on our way..
Like a very large can of laughing sardines..


This would be where I say this bunch of people are amazing,
What a pleasure to spend a week in their company.
Eric as our fearless organiser and driver,
May I say Eric works well under the pressure of having a bus full of sardines laughing and talking..
The walk began,
After a rather
zippy, splashy, chilly bracing,
boat ride we were dropped off in the middle of the freezing ocean…
Ok..
we only had to paddle to the beach but it was fresh up to the neck…
Ok up to the ankle..


Along the track the cabins were
Surveyor hut, Monroe and Retakauna,
Each camp site was fully equipped with a park ranger with a story, a poem or a slight horror story of an adventurer having a mishap to ‘entertain’ us..


Some of the track was set out so the walkers reach a viewing point, however the walk itself was as grand as the destination..the glimpses along the track of the rugged coast, the flowers, massive gum trees, the mosses, rain forests and the tree ferns, the amount of work put into the 20 million dollar walkway is evident under every footstep.
All the colours are stunning, together with an occasional sighting of a beautiful bird happy days were enjoyed.
The showers on the second night saw the rather distinct smell leave us.
I’m sure I saw a possum take flight
( I know possums can’t fly..
but this one had a go)
Off it went..
when a certain walker went in for a scrub..no names mentioned GH
A bucket or two of deliciously hot water hoisted up with a rope within the outdoor curved tin shower room.
Sublime!!
One of us might have snuck in an extra shower the next day….
Mwahahah
A successful walk for everyone..


Walking is a great conversation starter, to chat as you walk is a great way to get to know each other, hearing laughter up ahead is always a good sign.
Voices echoed words of delight at the sight of the views.
I’m sure we were all aching at the same rate by the end of the 4 days and some had a blister or two but we laughed, played cards and ate not very nice packet food..
life is so good.
As Fortesque Bay neared and the end of the walk came into view through the serious rain our bones were cold..
A night at The Fox and the Hound saw us scrubbed up and ready for dinner ..
Another night back at Hobart for diner at the oldest pub in Australia..
The bus was delivered back to the starting mark, undamaged and with no odour of smelly socks or soggy backpacks..
To have such a beautiful experience I consider us all to be incalculable lucky.

 

Our September Club: Mudgee Bushwalking and Bike Riding Inc.

Mudgee Bushwalking and Bike Riding Inc.’s current membership is over 70 with several Life Members and Junior members are always encouraged to join. There is a motivated committee to assist in the daily Club running’s but the organisation is very much a shared responsibility. Most riders also walk, but it doesn’t necessarily happen in reverse. About 60% do both activities.

The group meets quarterly, with the AGM held in June- 7pm start. Quarterly Meetings have a 7:00pm start. The Wednesday evening begins at 6pm in a local hostelry, where as many as wish meet for dinner. Then everyone adjourns to the Presbyterian Church Rooms in Mortimer Street, where they are joined by others for the formal meeting and a light supper.

Members volunteer to organise individual events for the coming three months, be it walks, rides or camping weekends. The committee form the co-ordination and oversee the activities to ensure all guidelines are met. Whatever happens, there will be something to do during many weekends. The first and third Sunday of the month have been allocated for an activity.

Riders also meet on Tuesday and Thursday mornings in Mudgee and on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in Kandos/Rylstone. Walks and rides are usually graded according to difficulty. Camping weekends are organised according to the time of year and climatic conditions. Many walks are relatively local, but some venture further a field. Longer bike rides are ably supported by non-biking members who provide back-up vehicles.

Members come from across the whole district as far north as the Totnes Valley and, in the south, from Rylstone and Kandos, Gulgong and Dunedoo. Hopefully there is always a good balance of locations for both walks and rides. Where possible, and if preferred car sharing helps with the economic use of transport.

There is no expectation for members to attend all events. People join in as they are able. The aim is to provide a program of events which is all inclusive. On occasions some members may be taken out of their comfort zone through a more challenging walk or ride. This is made possible by the brilliant support and encouragement of other more confident participants.

This year the club is celebrating over 30 years of walks and socials and meetings – (with around 15 members enjoying the “outback” for the past week)- alas 4 returned with Covid. We still have some of the inaugural members that are a true inspiration to us all. A few are now “Life Member’s” & do not participate unless we sneak them out of their retirement home or living quarters for a BBQ or social gathering

This week the Club purchased another piece of equipment – a GARMIN GPS 66i. We are quite proud of our new toy and we have been spending some time figuring it out! This compliments all the other Club devices ie PLB, Walkie Talkie, Defib, 2 fully outfitted first aid kits, – you never can be too sure or safe these days.

To further compliment the equipment we are hosting (club style) an “Education Day” for members where we dig out the maps & compass and back to basics and all equipment and let the experienced do a show & tell for the less or new keen members.

At our AGM in June we were successful in obtaining a keen new President Victoria Mcadam, who is interested to learn all the ropes and to encourage members along the way.

Newcastle Ramblers 60th Anniversary

Formed in 1961 as Newcastle YMCA Ramblers Bushwalking Club, the Club later became just Newcastle Ramblers. The club was due to celebrate its 60th birthday last year, but COVID caused several postponements. The celebration is now scheduled for Saturday 15 October and will be held at Rathmines Hall on Lake Macquarie.

The day will begin early with activities in the area for those interested (walks, kayaking and cycling) before a welcome and morning tea. Several members will then give short talks on the early days of the club and up to today. The talks will be followed by a catered lunch and more social time. For those interested there may be a barbecue in the park beside the lake afterwards.

Former members or anyone interested is welcome to attend. Even if you cannot come we would still like to hear from you.

Please contact Bob Clifton by email – robert.clifton@outlook.com.au or by phone on 0417 624 091 by 15 September.

Wilsons Prom 1996

 

The Bush Club

Hidden Sydney – Balmain, Monday 18 July 2022, Col Prentice and Trevor McAlister

A total of 25 Bush Club participants discovered Hidden Sydney while walking from Circular Quay to Circular Quay via Balmain and the ferry. Participants benefited from the combined expertise of two experienced leaders/historians while walking around this most interesting of Sydney’s suburbs. Col Prentice lead the morning session and Trevor McAlister lead after lunch.

Our walk was mostly on pavement and explored places in Balmain that we probably hadn’t been to before while alerting us to traces of history that still remain visible today. There was a brief commentary and plenty of opportunity to stroll and reflect on Sydney’s past.

Highlights of the walk included a widows’ walk, a tram drivers’ dunny, a policeman’s out-house, a house of a former NSW Premier (he sired 17 children and married at 80; can you guess who?), a cross harbour tunnel built in 1924, a place celebrated for the first game of Rugby League played, a spectacularly fine day, a sea voyage, a bus ride and a happy, outgoing and generous group of people. All this and more could have been yours if you had taken the opportunity to join us. And remember, twelve panes of glass equals one Georgian cottage and regular exercise equals longevity. We all look forward to seeing you next time!

Our August Club: The Bush Club

The Bush Club started on 19th September 1939, mainly as a result of the initiative of Marie Byles and Paddy Pallin. Marie was concerned that the rather rigorous tests to obtain entry to bush walking clubs existing at the time excluded genuine lovers of the bush who were unwilling or unable to pack walk and camp out overnight. Marie believed that the essential qualifications for members should be a genuine love of the bush, a desire to protect it and a willingness to extend the hand of friendship to other bushwalkers.

Paddy had similar motivation in joining with Marie to form the club. He hoped the club would comprise walkers of moderate ability who would not be forced to indulge in camping if they had no wish to do so. Paddy was also strongly of the view that if people became bushwalkers they would also become lovers of the bush and would join the ranks of the conservationists seeking its protection. These thoughts remain the main aim of the Bush Club.

Today The Bush Club organises fun activities in the outdoors. From easy strolls to the adrenaline tough walks; from lakes to mountains; and from the city to the magical bush. The Club believes that getting outdoors and enjoying the wonderful bush around us is a great boost for the body and soul.

Joining The Bush Club is a great way to meet new people and make great friends. Club members are a diverse and friendly bunch who share experiences, learn new things and help each other along the way.

 

Happy 90th Birthday Bushwalking NSW and Blue Gum Forest!

On 21 July it will be 90 years since the Federation of Bushwalking Clubs (now Bushwalking NSW) held its inaugural meeting. Soon after, on 2 September, we’ll see the 90th anniversary of the reservation of the iconic Blue Gum Forest, in the Grose Valley, following a campaign by bushwalkers.

The two events are not unrelated. The success of the collective action by the walkers had encouraged them to form the umbrella group which would assist Myles Dunphy and others in their campaigns to create national parks. Blue Gum Forest was the kernel of today’s Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, and is the cradle of the modern conservation movement in NSW. You can read more about this in Andy Macqueen’s book “Back from the Brink: Blue Gum Forest and the Grose Wilderness”, which is available at Blue Mountains bookshops and here.

Celebratory campout

The saving of Blue Gum Forest will be celebrated on the weekend of 3-4 September 2022 by a campout in the Grose Valley, at The Meadow (near Acacia Flat). Attendance will be limited to members of clubs affiliated with Bushwalking NSW, and their families.

The agenda will include a ceremony at the forest on Saturday afternoon and a communal campfire in the evening. On Sunday morning some interpretive ambles will be on offer, the topics including birds, plants and geology.

The activity is being organised by volunteers, with the support of NPWS. Participants will have to make their own way in and out of the valley. Numbers will be capped at 80. Registration is essential and will be on a first-in-first-served basis. All participants:

  • Must be a member of a bushwalking club, or accompany such a person as a member of their family.
  • Will preferably be in a party organised under the rules of that club.
  • Must be experienced and self-reliant overnight walkers, or in the care of such a person. The access tracks are steep and involve 600 metres of vertical descent/ascent.
  • Are expected to car-pool, to limit traffic congestion at the track-heads.
  • Be packed up and making their way out of the valley by noon on Sunday.

Further details, including advice concerning track conditions (and closures if any) will be sent to registrants prior to the weekend.

For all enquiries please email Monica Nugent at monica.nugent@environment.nsw.gov.au

Every person, including family members, must be registered. REGISTER HERE.