UNSW Bushwalking & Mountaineering Club

Newsletter - March 2002

Well, welcome back to uni for another year. Hopefully uni work hasn't started to set in too much yet. Apologies that this newsletter is a little late in getting out. Anyway, there are some great trips coming up this Easter - check out the trips list at the end of the newsletter.

The club newsletter has news about important happenings in the club, the latest trips list, trip reports, tips for the outdoors, and occasionly even extended rambling by club members. Much of the content comes from club members. If you would like to write a trip report to go in the newsletter, or have some tips on bush cooking or anything outdoors, get in touch with Andrew (acollins@climb.wow.aust.com). If you are interested in running a club trip (after all, the only way trips can run is if some members run the trips), again, get in touch with me, or any one of the exec members. We are more than happy to help out and give some advice.

Climbing at the Ledge - Important notice

Due to the public holiday, the Ledge will not be open on Easter Friday, 29 March. Also, we will not pay for the entry of club members on the Friday during the Easter break (5 April). If you still wish to go, your club card will entitle you to a discounted entry fee.

How the club works

Our club is basically a social club, which allows people with a similar interest in the outdoors to meet and organise trips together. Most of us aren't professionals, though a lot of us have many years of experience in leading trips, and so the trips are run on a competent amateur basis. Each trip is like a trip that you'd organise with your own friends, except that with hundreds club members, it is much easier to get people for your trips, and to meet other outdoors people.

Each month, on the second Tuesday of the month at 7:00pm in the Roundhouse we hold a club meeting. People show slides and photos of previous trips, we listen to guest speakers and announce upcoming trips. If you'd like to meet and get to know the people who are active in the club, come along to one of these meetings. Any trips that are announced at the meeting or have been notified to the newsletter editor, are added to the trips list, which is incorporated into the next newsletter and posted on our webpage. People who are interested in a trip can then contact the trip leader, and find out more about it.

In addition our club has a huge selection of gear which is available for use on club trips and, depending upon availability, for hire for your own personal trips. We require a deposit on the gear that is refunded upon the safe return of the gear.

If you are interested in rock climbing, we have regular training sessions every friday evening during session from 5pm. These are held at "The Ledge", a climbing gym in the Sydney University Womens Sports Union. Once you have acquired the basic rope skills involved in rockclimbing, you can attend these weekly training sessions for free (you will need to bring your own harness and shoes, or hire them). This year, there is also a Beginners' Climbing Training Course, so even if you know nothing about climbing but are interested to learn, be sure to sign up.

Our Website - www.bmc.unsw.edu.au

This is your first port of call if you want to know anything about the club. The site hosts the latest trips list and news. There are lots of admin pages, with information such as the contact details of the exec, how to join the club, how to get to The Ledge, how to join the mailing lists, and so on. The site is a store of old newsletters - see how the club has changed over the years. There are pages on walking, climbing, canyoning, and most activities performed by club members. If you are not sure what to take on walks, mountain biking trips or ski tours, the site hosts gear lists to help you out.

The Committee (aka the exec)

Feel free to get in touch with an exec member for any reason. If you are going to call us, please do so sometime between 8am and 9pm. Some of us are night owls, others early starters, but guess wrong, and you will feel our wrath! :-)

Boree Log

Well, some of you might have went to last year's Boree Log at Bungonia. It was a great weekend. Over 70 people made it down there, possibly a club record. This year promises to be just as large and fun-filled. The Boree Log will run at the end of week 5 (the first weekend after the holidays), on 12-14 April. Most of us will be heading down Friday afternoon and eveving, but some will probably head down during Saturday.

Bungonia is located a few hours south-west of Sydney, not far from Goulburn. The area is dominated by a huge limestone gorge, which is lined with cliffs over 300 metres high. There are heaps of things to do. The area is littered with caves, from easy, open caves with metal ladders, to claustrophobic, tight caves for the more adventurous. Not far from camp is a swimming hole, complete with rock jump and above-water bouldering. There a several great walks, perhaps the best one passing over a boulder choke and through Bungonia Gorge, with the cliffs towering above. The Shoalhaven River has some great liloing, and there are several tricky canyons in the region as well.

:The camp site itself could not really be described as a wilderness location, but the extensive facilities (showers, cooking shed, etc) are ideal for a large group. The night should be just as fun as the day. We'll have a large fire, and plenty of tent space, but for the best sleep, consider sleeping under the stars. Free of interference from the city lights, the sky is amazing. A club tradition has slowly formed over the last few years: go bush, and dress up in formal clothes. The crazier the spot, the greater the effect (we've worn tuxes on top of the Third Sister, and while camping in the snow!) We engourage you to bring your suits and dresses along! Chances are, substantial amounts of alcohol will be consumed as well.

All in all, the Boree Log is a great way to meet other people in the club. If you want to come along, feel free to email Andrew (acollins@climb.wow.aust.com). I will send out email updates to all who email me. The real trick is to find a car space. Soon, we will place a list of drivers on the website - it will be up to you to arrange a spot in a car. If we don't have enough drivers, you can catch a train to Goulburn, and we'll pick people up from the station at pre-arranged times. If you can get a car, please drive to the Boree Log, we need the spaces!. Contact Andrew at the above address with some details, including how many people you can take. Naturally, fuel costs are split between the passengers. Also contact me if you feel like running a trip during the weekend.

There soon will be a web page with info on the Boree Log at our website. It will include the drivers list, a train timetable and pickup times, and a list of things you should take for the weekend.

Trip Report - Kelvinator Canyon

Well, the plan was to do Kelvinator Canyon and Whungee Wheengee canyon on saturday, Feb 9. However, the trip did not quite go as planned.....

We arrived at Mount Wilson at about 10.30, after enjoying a leisurely breakfast at the Richmond Bakery, and (for me), a relaxing morning's swing in the hammock! After sorting gear (with bob taking the usual 9 thermals, not including those he was wearing!) we set off down the ridge. The plan was to cross the Wollangambe and climb the ridge on the other side, drop down to the left to do Kelvinator canyon, swim back up the 'gambe to where we had crossed before, climb the same ridge, have lunch, and drop down to the right to do Whungee Wheengee. I first began to become slightly suspicious about the feasibility of this plan after reaching the top of the ridge (for the first time!) at 11.30!

We found Kelvinator canyon with no great problems, and enjoyed the walk/scramble down the gorgeous fern-surrounded creek. We dropped down two short abseils, yelping appropriately when we had to wade or swim in the seemingly antarctic water, before the real canyon began, with a 15m drop into an enclosed, narrow slot. It was beautiful! After all successfully abseiling down (with the help of Scott as our 'safety man' - this abseil had a VERY tricky start!) we waded and swam down this beautiful enclosed section of the canyon, eventually reaching the Wollangambe at around 4pm. I can't speak for the others, but by then I was definitely getting rather chilly... the water was FREEZING! We defrosted in the unexpected sunshine, enjoying lunch and a warming cup of tea, realising that perhaps the plan to swim back up the 'gambe, climb the ridge again, and descend a canyon that was twice as long as the one we just did was not such a great plan if we were aiming to return to Sydney before 2am the next morning!

So donning the wet thermals and wetsuits once more, we enjoyed a relaxing 1km swim back up the Wollangame (with our packs for floatation) to the point where we had descended earlier in the day, and headed back towards the cars. The trip back was slightly more entertaining than usual, as Owain, Marton and I rolled almost the entire way back to richmond (in neutral) as I had intelligently made the decision that my car had enough petrol to go up to Mt Wilson and back without filling up! We raced down the hills, in order to gain enough momentum to get past most of the flat bits, although on some sections, especially the uphills, we still only made approx 30km/hr! I have a feeling that we were the subject of many curses from drivers stuck behind us! All in all it was a great trip.

Report: Lou Pastro
Attendee's: Scott Farquar, Bob Groneman, Marton Hidas, Tristan Mercer, Lou Pastro, Owain Williams.

Trips List