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QUEENSLAND

BUSHWALKERS

CLUB Inc.

PO Box 2199

Sunnybank Hills

QLD 4109

Email qldbwc@yahoo.com

Phone No (07) 3341 7509

http://sites.google.com/site/qldbwc/

Newsletter July 2010

Neglected Mountain Where the Grass is Way up to our Waists?

ClubNews

Notice Of Annual General Meeting

The Club's Annual General Meeting will be held on Tuesday the

3rd August 2010. It will immediately follow the usual monthlyClub Meeting which starts at 7:30 pm.

The AGM will be held at the Little Kings Hall, on the corner ofCarl and O'Keefe Streets, Buranda.

The nine management committee positions which will be up forelection are:

President Vice PresidentSecretary Membership OfficerTreasurer Training OfficerSocial Secretary Outings SecretaryEditor

If you would like to nominate yourself or another person for aposition, please fill the Nomination Form on Page 2 of the

Newsletter and send to the Secretary to the postal address ofthe Club.

If you wish to vote at the Annual General Meeting you must be afinancial member of the Club and attend the meeting.

The other important positions to be filled but which do not havea vote on the Management Committee are:

Supper Convenor Equipment OfficerTwo Delegates for Bushwalking Queensland Inc.

No nominations are necessary for these positions.

First Aid Course or Update August 2010

Any Club member who is interested in doing a First Aid Course

or updating their CPR instruction please contact Stuart Mackayon 3890 8196.

Leaders will be reimbursed at least 50% of the cost of a SeniorFirst Aid Course or CPR Refresher Course or 100% for leaderswho have led 5 walks or more in the previous 12 months.

Membership Now Due

Membership is now due and all members will receive a notice by

email or by postal mail.

Membership is still only $30.00 and is valid to 30/6/2011.

A Membership Form can be downloaded from the Club websiteat http://sites.google.com/site/qldbwc/membership

Members have until the end of August to renew theirmembership or risk having their membership cancelled.

If you wish to have the Newsletter posted to you, it will cost anadditional $15.00. Otherwise the Newsletter can be downloadedfor free from the Club website athttp://sites.google.com/site/qldbwc/newsletter

For members receiving the Newsletter by postal mail, this will bethe final Newsletter unless they renew their membership.

K2 Evening Function

Date: Wednesday 21st July 2010

Time: 6.00pm 8.30pm approx

Venue: K2 Base Camp, 140 Wickham St, Fortitude Valley

Parking: Parking at rear of building in Little St. All parking(including loading zones) are free after 5.30pm. Further parkingis also available across the railway line in Barry Pde.

K2 who specialise in outdoor adventure and travel gear, hasinvited Club members to an evening function for a gear talk anddemonstration which will then be followed by a personalisedservice to whomever is interested.

Special offers and discounts also apply on the night.

K2's website is at : www.k2.com.au

Please nominate at the Club meeting or as soon as possible forcatering purposes.

Contact Richard Kolarski on 3341 7509

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General Information

Meeting Place

Club meetings are on the first Tuesday of the month starting at7.30PM. There is no Club meeting in January.

Meeting are held at the Little King's Hall on the corner of Carland O'Keefe Streets, Buranda. Entry is via the gate on Carl St.

There is parking within the grounds and in Carl Street.

Tea/Coffee and cake/biscuits are provided after the meeting. Acoin donation would be appreciated.

Membership

Probationary Membership

A non-member automatically becomes a Probationary Memberon his/her first walk after signing the waiver form. There is nofee payable to become a Probationary Member.

However a Probationary Member must become an OrdinaryMember on his/her second walk by filling out a MembershipForm and paying the membership fee.

Ordinary Membership

A person may become an Ordinary Member by filling out andsigning a Membership Form, having a proposer sign the formand handing the form with the membership fee to a committee

member or walk leader.The proposer may be a friend (who is a member of the Club) ofthe applicant, the leader of the walk that the applicant is on, theMembership Officer at a Club meeting or if the MembershipOfficer is not available, one of the committee members.

An Ordinary Member has the right to vote at an AGM or beelected to a committee position. A Probationary Member hasneither of these rights.

Members of Another Bushwalking Club

Members of another bushwalking club which is affiliated withBushwalking Queensland Inc. (or an interstate Federation) andwho are covered by the same Insurance do not need to becomea member of our Club to go on our walks. However Club

members will have priority if there is a limit on numbers.

Club EquipmentCompasses Topo Maps GPS'sEmergency Lights First Aid Kits UHF Radios

The above are for free use by members.Contact David at 3395 1838 or email david.r.rae@gmail.com

PLBs with inbuilt GPS

The Club has 5 PLBs with inbuilt GPS. The PLBs will be madeavailable at each Club meeting and will need to be returned atthe following Club meeting. Contact Richard on 3341 7509.

Abseil Gear (ropes, harnesses, helmets, karabiners etc.)

Ordinary Members- $5.00 charge for use of the Club rope andanother $5.00 charge for use of harness and accessories .

Probationary Members and members of affiliated clubs- $10.00charge for use of the Club rope and another $10.00 charge foruse of harness and accessories.Contact Trevor at 0411 512 202

Back Pack for Hire $5.00 chargeContact Trevor at 0411 512 202

T/W Tent for Hire 2 man, 2.8kg $5.00/weekContact Dave Haliczer 0432 901 030

Bivy Bags For Sale $3.00 each or 2 for $5.00.

These bivy bags are 2 metres by 0.9 metres and are bright

orange in colour. Use as a pack liner or emergency bivy bag.Contact Patricia Kolarski on 3341 7509.

Space Blankets For Sale $2.50 each.

Light weight and take up no room at al l. A must for all walkers!Contact Patricia Kolarski on 3341 7509.

The Management CommitteePresident Gil Gunthorpe 3272 4366(H)

Vice President Noelene McCay 3889 0264(H)

Secretary Sue Ward 3844 6389(H)

Treasurer John Hinton 3343 3724 (H)

Outings Officer John Brunott 3209 9598 (H)

Membership Officer Frank Garland 3341 5207 (H)

Editor Richard Kolarski 3341 7509 (H)

Social Secretary Traci Nudl 3890 8196 (H)

Training Officer Stuart Mackay 3890 8196 (H)

Other Voluntary Positions

Equipment Officer John Brunott 3209 9598 (H)

Supper Convenor Mary Sherlock 3209 8514 (H)

BWQ Rep Stuart Mackay 3890 8196 (H)

BWQ Rep Richard Kolarski 3341 7509 (H)

Campsite Monitors

John Brunott Ballows, Paddys Knob

Kerry de Clauzel Throakban, Barney Gorge andLower Portals

Ann Kemp Spicers Peak (east & west)

Richard Kolarski Running Creek Falls

Barbara Makepeace Rat-a-tat, Spicers/Doubletop saddleRum Jungle

John Shera Panorama Point

John & Julie Shera Mt Superbus & Rabbit Fence JctLower Panorama

Ken Walters Mt May saddle & Paddys Plain

Editors Pic

Morning MistThis photo was taken on an exploratory walk up Mt Maroon. Ifinterested in doing a Wednesday exploratory walk ring Richardon 3341 7509.

Nomination Form For Committee Position

I wish to nominate .

For the position of .

Nominator .

Seconder .

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Special Coming Events

Simpson Desert July 2010

Our trip will be crossing the Simpson desert and it will be approx3 weeks in length, possibly a lit tle less depending on where wego.

Our planned trip is to leave Brisbane on the 10th of July andhead for Birdsville, via Innamincka if it is open. Then onto theSimpson and Dalhousie Springs.

We will then go on the the N.T. and do the East Mac's and West

Mac's with some walking involved. For more information pleasecontact John and Julie Shera on 0755460381.

If you are interested we will have a meeting beforehand andexplain what is needed. Obviously a good 4x4 with goodreliability. This is a fantastic trip and we do a double crossing forthose interested. Anyone not wishing to cross the desert twice,can make their way home via the Plenty Highway or furthernorth. Contact via email isjshera@exemail.com.au

Trek in South West China 2010 August 2010

I have booked a very exciting 2 week camping/homestay trekstarting in Lijiang in Yunnan Province, and a further 4 daystravel on to Chengdu which includes a day walk.

Start date is 15th August and end date in Chengdu in SichuanProvince is 31st August. There will be pack horse support for thetrek. Also a very experienced mountain guide Aku with anexcellent reliable company called www.shepherdplanet.comwho I have trekked/toured with previously and had a terrific time.

If anyone is interested to join me check out the website, and myphone number is 5546 8189. Gail Cibilic

Larapinta Trail 13 September 1 October 2010

Arrive Monday 13th September 2010 in Alice Springs at 1.30pm.Tailormade Tours will meet the plane and allow a food and fuelshop before going that afternoon to Redbank Gorge via 3 fooddrops at Emery Creek, Ormiston Gorge and Standley Chasm.

Then walk back the full distance to Alice Springs arrivingThursday 30th September.

Fly out of Alice on 1st October so it means there are 17 days tocomplete the walk rather than the recommended 20 but haveworked out where the 3 days can be made up without anyhorrendously long days.

I have booked ground transport for a maximum of 6.

For more information contact Murray Haines on his mobilenumber 0419 745 616.

Tasmanian Hikes 29 December 2010 to 14 January 2011

I am leading two exciting extended hikes for a group of up to 6hikers after Christmas. The first hike will be the Precipitous BluffHike following the Moonlight Ridge trail to Pindars Peak andthen on to Precipitous Bluff (affectionately known as PB byTasmanians).

This is followed by a descent to New River Lagoon where thereis some wading expected before joining the South Coast Track.This walk will take place over 10 days to give us time to smellthe roses along the way.

The second walk takes place from Lake St Clair where we willcatch the ferry to the Overland Track and hike up to Pine ValleyHut. From here we will ascend into the Labyrinth area and campup near Lake Helios or in Big Gun Pass. We will then make ourway over Falling Mountain back on to the Overland track.

For both of these walks there is an extra day factored in as arest day or a day to wait out bad weather should there be any.

For the last two years the weather has been very mild andsunny over this time.

If you are interested, please contact me on 0432901030 oremail me at d.a.haliczer@stpeters.qld.edu.au

Dave Haliczer

Pilgrimage 2010Date 20-22 August 2010

Host Toowoomba Bushwalkers Club

Venue Crows Nest Show Grounds.

Cost $25.00 per adult with an early bird special of$20 if paid by 8-Aug-2010

Children under 18 - free

The Pilgrimage is an annual bushwalking and social eventattracting members of affiliated clubs from throughout the south-east corner of the state and sometimes further afield.

It is usually held at a campground venue and on the Saturdayyou can join one of many daywalks through the surroundingareas. A Bush Dance and other social activities are organisedthroughout the weekend and it is an ideal time to meet andrenew friendships with fellow bushwalkers. The activity is run ona non-profit basis.

All attendees must be members of their respective clubs andtherefore insured.

Fees will need to be mailed in with the appropriate registrationform.

More information on the website athttp://www.bushwalkingqueensland.org.au/pilgrimage.html

Training News

The Sky's the Limit

Abseil Training 26 June 2010

An impromptu abseil training morning was conducted onSaturday, 26 June in preparation for a private walk that Trevorand Frank were undertaking.

With some work colleagues from Trevors work and a young ladI brought along who was about to go out on an adventure camp,Trevor, Frank and I put them through the paces of static trainingfollowed by one or two abseils down the Nursery cliffs.

It was good experience for the trainers to practising and honetheir abseiling skills and techniques and our Club visitors alsohad a good time building up their confidence on the ropes.

Navigation Training 27 June 2010

On Sunday 27 June, I conducted a navigation training morningat Daisy Hill Reserve for six people from the club: Bruce, JohnH, Maggie, Mary Aileen and Azra one of our newest membersto the Club.

We started out learning how to use the Siva compass followedby how to read and take bearings from a map and setting acompass direction.

We then consolidated the theory with a quick navigationexercise following a couple of tricky magnetic bearings throughthe bushlands of Daisy Hill Reserve.

It was a good days training and no one got lost! We wrapped upthe training with a coffee down at the Daisy Hill shops.

Stuart Mackay

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Past Walks

Paddys Peak 1 May 2010

This walk has become one of the favourites of the Club for verygood reasons. It is a relatively easy off track walk going up anddown two rocky ridges which give stunning views of Mt Barneyand Mt Maroon plus the surrounding countryside.

Paddys Peak

Helen has led and written up this walk quite a few times and hasrun out of words to describe it. However this walk in its presentform was only finalised by the Club after a series of exploratorywalks.

The initial exploratory walk in the Paddys Peak area was done afew years ago to search out some waterfalls that were markedon a topographic map. There was Ken, Dave K. and myself onthat walk and I remember it being hot and a bit of a scunge bashas we made our way through a couple of small valleys to findthose elusive waterfalls. Though two of the waterfalls were notspectacular the third definitely was.

It was thought a good idea to incorporate this waterfall with awalk going up to Paddys Peak. Over the next year or so therewere some more walks to check out an easy route up to Paddys

Peak. Finally the ridge leading up to Paddys Peak from BarneyCreek was tried and it proved an instant success. It was an easywalk with only a little navigational skill required plus it gavesuperb views of Mt Barney.

By combining this ridge and waterfall with another ridge leadingto the waterfall on Paddys Creek the Club was finally able tooffer an excellent off track walk to its members.

Many thanks to Helen for leading the walk and for the pioneers ,their reward is knowing the walk is giving members a lot ofpleasure in enjoying the beautiful outdoors. Richard

Knapps Peak 2 May 2010

This walk has not been done by the Club for many years due to

difficulty in getting permission to cross private land. HoweverJohn Brunott was able to obtain permission as long as wecomplied with certain requirements by the landowner.

There were seven of us on the walk though at the beginning itlooked as if it might be only six after there was a mixup withAileen. However I am happy to say we finally found Aileen andwe all drove to the start of the walk.

It was a sunny clear day with blue skies and as we walked alongthe ridges of the paddocks we had great views south to MtBarney and east to Flinders Peak. As we made our wayupwards towards Knapps Peak we had to scramble up a steepgully in which there was a wedged rock and then along arazorback ridge. The views were even more stunning as weclimbed up a steep section of the volcanic ridge. The rock

columns making up the ridge were in a jumble but offeredhandholds and secure footing.

We had lunch in a small clearing at the top and then descendeddown a ridge before entering a creek gully with smooth rockslabs. We then walked back along some dirt roads back to themain road.

On the Razor Back of Knapp's Peak

Due to the late start John had set up a car shuttle before thewalk but even the best plans can go astray. The owner of thecar had left her keys in another car. Luckily our super mum MaryS. came to the rescue by running the 2.4 kilometres to get thekeys thus saving us the walk along the dusty road in the hot sun.Afternoon tea at Boonah helped us all to unwind.

Many thanks to John for putting on the walk. Richard

Platypus Pool 3 May 2010

It was the Labour Day weekend and I had only three otherpeople for this walk in Canungra Creek. We met up in thetownship of Canungra and then drove up towards O'Reilly's. Wehad to do a car shuttle, leaving one car at the Romeo LaheyMemorial and the other at Kamarun Lookout, which was thestart of our walk.

From the lookout we made our way downhill through the vineforest until we hit a dry creek bed. It was a series of jumbledrocks and small waterfall ledges which dropped steeply down toCanungra Creek. We made our way carefully down and after anhour reached the creek.

From here we had to rockhop up to Platypus Pool. It was a hot

sunny day and we got to the pool about 11.00am. During ourlunch stop there, Wanda took the opportunity for a swim but didnot stay in long as the water was too cold.

Platypus Pool

We rockhopped several hundred metres from the pool and thenbegan to ascend another dry creek bed to get back up to theroad. This creek was not as "clean" as our descent and we hadto avoid some lantana, stinging nettle, Gympie trees and acarpet snake!

After ascending about 250 metres we got to a steep waterfallwhich we had to contour round. Then with the GPS showing the

way we were able to head towards the waiting car at thememorial.

After changing from our sweat drenched clothes we hadafternoon tea at the Alpaca farm. Many thanks to Wanda, Boband Richard W for coming along on this walk. Richard K.

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Neglected Mountain 16 May 2010

Ten Queensland Bushwalkers Club members and one visitormet at McDonalds, Beaudesert at 7.00am on what was a clearand sunny morning with an excellent outlook for a great day'swalk with lots of great views.

We arrived at the farmers gate where it was arranged thatRichard take his car back approximately 1 Km so as to drive theother car drivers back to their cars once the walk was over.

We scrambled up Neglected Mountain the normal way withPatricia leading the charge up the slope while Gil & Richard

moved the cars around. By the time we were nearly to the topwe had all met up although we were wondering where Bob &Wanda had got to. They eventually showed up and the eleven ofus continued up the slope stopping at one point for morning teawhere the view over the valley was breathtaking.

After morning tea we continued up the ridge till we reached thetop where we all trekked along the top of the ridge over a narrowrocky razor back ridge and eventually reaching long grass wherewe thought that that this would make a great photo. After thephoto we went on until we reached the fork of NeglectedMountain.

We decided to place our packs down in the shade where wewere going to have lunch and walk over to Neglected Mountain.After lunch we started to navigate our way down the mountain

which was fairly steep and very grassy. After some us slidingdown on our back sides we eventually reached a dirt road. Wefollowed the road down to a gate where we walked around theoutside of the property fence till we reached Richard's car.

All in all it was an excellent walk with excellent company withexcellent views and I would like to thank Bob, Gail, Richard,Patricia, Penny, Wanda, Muriel, Ken, Steve and Gerry who allcontributed to a great walk. Gil

Huntley Saddle T/W 22 -23 May 2010

A group of happy walkers met at Aratula at the very civilisedhour of 9 am. After a fairly long drive into the western side of theMain range, we began our walk through cobblers pegs andstinking roger.

We had done a recce a few weeks prior and had bashed a bit ofa track through, but those little cobblers pegs still got us. I had ajob of it, keeping up with Mary, who just took off with her bigpack and kept us all on our toes. Some act to follow!

Huntley Saddle

It is a slog up an old logging road and follows a ridge, with asmall scramble at the end. We got there in very good time. Itgave us time to relax enjoy the views and seek out the lookouts.After setting up the tents and getting settled, we walked up tothe high lookout that had views to the East and took somesnaps.

We then went to the other lookout further up the hill and againenjoyed the company, and it was a really fantastic afternoon todo the relaxing and nibbling on cheese and goodies. We had alovely time chatting and comparing gear and food items, thencooking tea under the stars. Not too cold either.

On day two we all packed up and set off for the return trip after aquick breakfast. As we were doing a circuit, John decided towalk the old cow track way with two happy followers. The rest ofus decided to go the formal route, as I had done it the cow trackway last year and found it had just about disappeared.

We made our way down and waited and waited and waited. Nosign of the others. The race to get down was well and truly wonby group no.2. It turned out they went too low and had to bashtheir way back through raspberry vine. That way is now well andtruly out of the question.

We then crossed the really beautiful rain forest razor back andacross to Swan Knoll, and then followed it down to Lemon treeFlat to one of the cars.

Norman then drove the drivers of the other cars up the veryrough route to collect them.

We drove out to Yangan, which is now getting very trendy withthe cafe getting an upgrade. We all enjoyed fish and chips,hamburgers, coffee and other treats and then set off on the longdrive home. Thanks to all that made it a really memorable andgreat weekend. Julie Shera

Macleay Island Walk 30 May 2010

After having trouble finding parking anywhere near the ferry,6 ofus headed off to Macleay Island. The weather was perfect. We

found the first sign for the Heritage Trail but after going aroundin circles and getting frustrated we decided to do our own thing.

We did get to several of the Heritage points however, as we justcame across some on our walk around the Island.

Macleay Island

We had a lovely buffet lunch of soup and roast for $12.50 at theBowls Club. While there we got talking to a local and he saidthat he could not follow the trail either. He also told us how toget back to the ferry via the beach and bush rather than downthe main road.

We would have walked approx. 20 klms. as the Island is 7.5

klms long (15 return) plus all the side trips we did.It was a nice change from our usual walks and I would like tothank the 5 people that came with me. Muriel

South West Cape Circuit 6 - 15 January 2010

Another QBW club walk led after having two days break fromwalking in Hobart at the Mayfair Motel on Cavell. Whilst inHobart Sue and I saw Avatar in 3D. This was a great movie tosee between two excellent walks. Our previous walk in theCentral Highlands from Walls of Jerusalem to Lake St Clairincluding the Labyrinth was sadly behind us but I have vowed toreturn. Anyway we left Hobart on January 6th from Cambridgeairport in a small plane that could take 7 passengers with theirhiking gear.

The plane ride was beautiful and went between the WesternPortal of the Arthur Ranges and Luckman's Lead on the way toMelaleuca. All those massive chunks of old growth forest clearfelling just continues incessantly until the plane passes thePicton Valley.

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The ride was smooth and we landed got our fuel supplies andafter an hour or so the pilot took us to Schooner Cove. We hadto get into wet weather gear as Bathurst Harbour was reallyrough and the boat planed over a very choppy estuary.

At Schooner Cove we admired the campsite but pushed on withthe assurances from myself that there was a better one comingand we could have our tents pitched for two nights. After a halfhour ascent in the rain, the sun came out and the sunscreenwent on.

We cleared a low saddle and then picked a path to HannantInlet around the north most creek outlet (on the north side ofthis). Not knowing what to expect with the wading, we weresurprised at the low tide and sandy beaches we could follow forat least 1 km - this was very pleasant walking.

Unfortunately the sand ended at a rocky point and boots wereswapped for our wading shoes. Mostly the wading was ankledeep but we noticed that the beaches were a little more muddythe further south we went. The only serious wade was gettingpast Hannant Ck but we picked a good route to keep our packsdry.

There were many black swans to see and we think that all thenutrient from black swan crap may be the reason for thestrawberry algal type bloom we had to walk through as weneared the other end of the lagoon. It looked like rhubarb strudelsquishing between the toes and had the consistency of puddingas well. Some of the party had camp shoes on that kept gettingsucked off by the mud and so took their chances in bare feetinstead without any concerns.

A bearing was made from the east side of the lagoon where wecould see the closest point to sand dunes. There was howeversome significant navigating and exploitation of wombat trackswhere we could find them to make our way to these sand dunes.When we did reach them the way was clear and we passedsome very impressive and ancient aboriginal middens atStephens Bay.

Our lovely campsite was reached at the north end of Stephensbay. Each of us had our own area to camp. Nice when campsites offer personal space. Each of us had a view of the beautifulbay.

The second day was spent leisurely exploring Spain Bay whichis connected to Stephen's Bay by a surprisingly seemingly wellused trail. It was too cool for a swim but we did lie around for awhile until the temptation to climb Going Hill was too much toresist. Most of us ascended this lovely 213 m hill with stunning360 degree views. Wombat trails in the button grass plains aretaken advantage of to make the going easier. Next time QBWcomes here Sunset Hill should be explored - does it live up to itsname sake?

Friday 8th January Stephens Bay to Window Pane Bay

After 2 nights in a great site with great views who wants toleave. I left about an hour before the others to locate a routethrough the sand dunes with a minimum of scrub bashing. The

theory that always works in navigation is that multiple groups ofpeople have done just about every bush walk beforehand sofind out where they went. A taped trail was located joining theStephens Bay dune system to the Noyhener Beach system.Even in this remote area the signs of previous parties are easyto pick up.

Backtracking to Stephens Bay I met up with Kerry, Mary, Julieand Greg and we made our way to Noyhener with ease andthen were delighted to have a low tide to make the rocky beachsection interesting. The cairn marking the inland route waslocated but the track appeared overgrown.

In hindsight we should have disregarded this issue and pushedthrough as the group was led further around the rocks past awaterfall and tried pushing in to the track from here. Bad move

as the scrub was extremely thick here and it took us moreenergy and time to locate the real track than was expected.

We plugged on to the highest point of the day on a hill shapedlike a semi colon on the map about 200m high. There were anumber of steep gullies needing to be crossed on the way but

we loved the gully rainforest on these creeks and the water inthe creeks is about the nicest around as it does not have theflavour of stagnated swamp water. Button grass plains sourcedcreeks all have this flavour which is not as nice as the tea treeand rainforest sourced creeks coming off steep hillsides etc.

The Walkers at Island Bay

There is a great view of Island Bay on the way down to WindowPane Bay (pictured) and we decided to use our rest day (nextday) to explore this bay. Camping at Window Pane Bay wasterrific. We were there two nights and had it to ourselves.Campers tend to gather rubbish off the beaches and make a pile

at these camp sights with the vain hope that some day NationalParks or Fisherman may try to clean them up with revenueraised from park passes or maybe because the governmentactually values these places. Perhaps the West Coast should bemade into marine reserves in places like Island Bay as overfishing of abalone and lobsters according to locals are over-fished.

Saturday 9th January

Island Bay was explored but it did take some time locating asafe route down to the beach as sea cliffs make most descentpoints quite difficult. The low tide exploration of rock pools andexploration of pebbly beaches and sea caves in the quartzitemade the half day trip an interesting and enjoyable experience.Lunch was enjoyed back at Window Pane Bay with Julie who

explored the southern end of the bay in our absence crossing acouple of creeks. She had found a big abandoned fishing net atthe end of the beach.

10th Jan Window Pane Bay to Wilson Bight

A gradual ascent was made up on to the South West CapeRange after a half hour up and down walk over ancient dunes inthe rainforest. There is a lovely track here and the final ascentbegins at a strong flowing creek. Good to see considering thecreeks were as low as we have ever seen them and there hadnot been good rain for two weeks. As we gained height theArthur Ranges including Federation Peak became visible.Precipitous Bluff and the Ironbounds were also clear to see.Previous trips had cloud that obscured these ranges from view.

From the peak at 690m we had lunch and viewed further south

and east a group of hikers the first in three days that passed us.We caught up with them again at Melaleuca a few days later.Instead of walking over to Mt Karamu we walked down to WilsonBight directly into a lovely campsite with excellent shelter.Nearby at the next camp site we met up with some members ofthe Gold Coast Bushwalking club.

11th Jan - 15th Jan

The final days of this trip were walked along well maintainedtrails. There was a friendly quoll at each campsite waiting torelieve us of our food if i t was not guarded. Kerry, Mary and Julieenjoyed a swim at Ketchem Bay as the warm weathercontinued. We camped at lovely sites at Ketchem Bay (within 50m of a pleasant waterfall) and at New Harbour. Our final daygave us some rare sightings of Ground Parrots as we made our

way back to Melaleuca for a few days rest and recreation beforeflying back to Hobart and then Brisbane. The company of fellowhikers was excellent and helped make this for me one of themost enjoyable holidays I have experienced. Thank you for allwho came. Dave Haliczer

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