YETI THE NEWSLETTER OF YHA BUSHWALKINGNumber 20 AUTUMN 2005 Walking since 1939

YETI is produced quarterly and is available at the same time as the new program in Spring, Summer, Autumn and WinterYHA BUSHWALKING, GPO BOX 25 MELBOURNE 3001 http://www.vicnet.net.au/~yhabush

“I’m sure it’s around here somewhere” Simon Walliss studies the mapfor Frenchman’s Cap (background), SW Tasmania, a highlight of the2004-05 Christmas-New Year bushwalks. Photo: Chris Kouts

More photos and stories from this summer’s walks pages 3-4

Also in this Issue

Lost! how a nature call turned into an embarrassing ordeal for oneSunday walker (p6)

In Profile: Neil Warden (p6)

Heritage Cowpats? upholding a noble tradition or superannuatedcowboys? (p5)

Alpine Hut Reconstructions three rebuilt (p4)

Bush Recipes tempting treats for overnight camps (p7)

Treasure Hunt competition; Easter egg prizes for the firstfew to solve the puzzle (p8)

Easter Bushwalks –Gorge Camping or

Mountain Accommodation

Once again, we have a variety of walks onoffer this Easter, ranging from day walks inthe high country based at a cosy alpinelodge to a pack-carry at one of EastGippsland’s most spectacular gorges.

Two pack-carry options are being offered inCoopracambra national park, near CannRiver in East Gippsland. The centrepiece isthe red sandstone Genoa River gorge.Expect to get your feet wet, however this isusually the best time of the year to do thiswalk. In spring the river level can be toohigh to make sections of the gorge safelypassable, however in autumn it’s normally atits lowest (even the runoff from February’sdeluge will have subsided by Easter).

The harder pack-carry option is a circuit,doing a full passage along the 29km lengthof the gorge section in two days.

An easier option base-camps for three nights(after a 17km walk in along a track) on theriver near the upper section of the gorge.From there, day walks venture down thegorge as far as possible in the time availableas well as climbing Mt Coopracambra orone of the nearby peaks for views of theregion. This region is one the club onlyvisits about once per decade, so don’t missthis rare opportunity. Contact Stephen 93876481 for bookings.

The accommodated trip is based in theCurrawong lodge at Dinner Plain. Daywalk options include a return trip to MtFeathertop via the Razorback, one of themost spectacular walks in Victoria as well asDinner Plain, Mt Loch-Derrick hut or alunch on the Cobungra river by Dibbins Hut.Note that many of these walks (particularlythe most scenic ones) are quite lengthy(~20km) with ups and downs of a fewhundred metres and hence have a medium ormedium-hard grading. Only a limitednumber of beds are available, cost includesaccommodation and a continental breakfast,$115 if paid by March 7th, $125 afterwards.

Bookings at Clubnight or phone David9380 8126.

Other Autumn HighlightsAnzac Day pack-walk; a long weekend again this year, with a circuitto Mt Cobbler – Mt Koonika, with plenty of time to explore featuressuch as Lake Cobbler and Dandongadale Falls.

Cope Hut working bee (May 14-15). A few odd jobs to ready thehut for winter including repairing the leaky roof, replacing mattressesand improving the stove. Plus short walks around the high plains.Accommodation is either in the hut or tenting outside, both just a fewhundred metres from the vehicles.

Annual General Meeting Clubnight April 11th Time once again toelect a new bushwalking committee, and as always new volunteers aresought to assist with clubnight and the general planning of ouractivities. So if you’re a regular walker (and YHA member) andkeen to influence the club, express your interest to one of the existingcommittee (see page 2) beforehand and come along on the night.

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Chairman’s ReportChristmas proved to be a successful time with, for the first time in along time, three extended walks taking place. Mark Beyer led asuccessful walk on the northernmost part of the Alpine Walking trackfrom Canberra to Kiandra. Greg Shepherd led a walk around TheBluff which was unfortunately shortened due to bad weather and I leda trip to Frenchman’s Cap in Tasmania.

2005 has been busy so far with most walks being popular. There aresome great trips at Easter this year! We are running an accommodatedtrip to Dinner Plain staying in the most luxurious accommodation yet.Book early! For those more adventurous there will be a number ofoptions for walking in the Genoa Gorge and Coopracambra NationalPark in Far East Gippsland.

Try to come to some of the social events we have put on. They aregood fun events and the more the merrier!

Look forward to seeing everyone out walking!Simon Walliss

Chairman

YHA BUSHWALKING COMMITTEE2004/05

Chairman Simon WallissSecretary Greg ShepherdTreasurer Robert YuenWalks Sec. David SissonSocial Sec. Cynthia BellS & R Ken SussexWebmaster Andrew BrownNewsletter Stephen SmithGeneral Ron Bell

Stuart HanhamAndres Vidovic

YHA Bushwalking emergency mobile phone(For emergency contact on walks) 0428 313 880

General Enquiries: 0500 500 272

CONTRIBUTIONS TO YETIThese articles don’t write themselves y’ know, nor arethey all plagiarised from the internet (well some ofthem aren’t anyway). If you’ve enjoyed yourself onone or two YHA trips or have some thoughts aboutbushwalking which you’d like to share, then here’syour opportunity to do so. Find a spare moment, jotthem down then email them to yhabush@bigpond.comDeadline for the next issue is May 20th 2005.

YETI ONLINE“Yeti” has its own website www.vicnet.net.au/~yhayeticontaining an online version of the latest issue as wellas archived articles from past editions. The webversions are well worth visiting, as they often includeadditional photographs not able to be included in theprint version for reasons of space, as well as superiorreproduction.

TRIP LEADERSIf you wish to have a brief description of yourupcoming trip printed here in YETI please contactthe editor with the details.

YHA ACTIVITIES CLUBNIGHTIs held on Monday nights at the YWCA building, 489Elizabeth Street in the city, from 8pm to approx.9:30pm. Special events start at 8.15pm sharp,everybody welcome.

ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTERIf you recognise an article in this newsletter it isprobably because it has been plagiarised fromanother source. This is the only way we can bring youthis newsletter. YETI makes no apology for anyoffence caused.

YETI THANKSThe following contributors to this issue:John BelfioChris KoutsRichard MillerDzung NguyenSimon WallissNeil WardenPieter Wijtzes

Tips for Better Bushwalking#8 …and early to rise

An early start is the first step to a successful day’s walk. While it’stempting to have a weekend sleep-in, this wastes the best part of theday. It’s cool, morning light brings out the best in the scenery, sounless it’s raining, what are you doing lying in your tent?If there’s along walk ahead, allow as much time as you can. The worst that canhappen is that you arrive at campsite early and everyone has time torelax, prepare dinner, wash and generally chat. On the other hand alate start leaves very little time up your sleeve if things go wrong orsimply take longer than you expect. Even if you spend the samelength of time, people feel less tired arriving at their campsite at 5pmthan 7pm.

So when the leader nominates an early start, don’t complain, respecttheir wisdom, assist by being ready on time and in the long run you’llenjoy the walk more than the short-term gain of an extra hour in bed.And if it’s the leader who won’t budge from the sack, well perhaps afew wake-up calls are in order…

Demonstrating how not to waste the best part of the day

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YHA Bushwalking since 1939

A “Summer” of Bushwalks

The Bluff (Dec 27-29th)

An inauspicious start: What was planned as a three daycircuit led by Greg Shepherd around The Bluff and KingBilly peaks was quickly scaled back to a base-camp atBluff Hut, with just a day trip out to Mt Lovick.

A silver lining: The extra beauty a few centimetres ofsnow adds to the landscape

“Which season did you say this was?”

Memorable moment: The Flying Cow. A bullockstartled by John Belfio panicked and attempted to climbthe steep section below the summit of the Bluff. Suddenlythe animal lost its grip and slipped down sideways,becoming briefly airborne before landing on its side with adull thud and remaining silent and immobile. Fearing theworst (or sensing the opportunity for fresh steak) a fewpeople ventured closer, whereupon the cow sprang to life,jumped up and this time managed to bolt clear of thegroup.

A White Christmas at Bluff Hut (both photos: Pieter Wijtzes)

Despite the weather, the idea of a relatively short (3-4 day)and easier pack-carry after Christmas proved a success,attracting nine people, over half of whom were doing theirfirst pack-walk with the club. Expect to see similar tripsoffered in future (provided we have volunteers to runthem).

Mayford (Feb 5-6th 2005)

Teaming up to cross the Dargo Rvr ( photo: Stephen Smith)

Normally in late summer the Dargo river isn’t muchdeeper than a Delta Goodrem lyric, so it’s possible to getacross without getting your socks wet. This however wasa few days after the “big downpour”; Mt Hotham’s 60mmof rain was much less than many other parts of Victoria,but enough to give the river a bit of a boost. Finding thebest crossing point took a bit of careful surveying by earlyriser John Belfio.

Ron Bell presentsin assocation with the Budawangs Touring Company

BUSHDANCE 2005featuring a new bandBlackberry Jam

Reelin’ into Collingwood Town HallFriday May 6th

Tickets $18 ($22 at door)available from Clubnight or ph 9338 4057

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YHA Bushwalking since 1939

Frenchman’s Cap (Dec 26th-31st 2004)

The group ascending from Lake Tahune (l-r David S,Chris, Ivan, Paul, David E & Neil). photo: Simon Walliss

An inauspicious start: A late start (4pm) on the first day,followed by a crossing of the sodden Lodden Plains andthen a further day hut-bound waiting out a dose ofsouthwest Tasmania’s world-famous weather.

Memorable Moments: When the rain stopped, theweather cleared dramatically, providing spectacular viewsnot just of Frenchman’s Cap peak but of the surroundinglakes and valleys. Residual snowfall on the higher peakswas icing on the scenery. And then after the peak ofFrenchmans came a crossing of the mighty Franklin River.

A stroke of luck: Finding river guides camped at theFranklin River crossing point. The river level hadsubsided but was still fast-flowing after the recent badweather. Four out of six members of the group wereconfident enough to swim across, however even they werehappy to have their packs ferried by the guides.

The hardest day: A twelve hour walk, much of it beingoff-track through thick scrub. When the Tasmanian suncomes out it can get quite hot, compounded on this day bysome of the group running short of water.

An inauspicious ending: Finding that there was noaccommodation in Hobart on New Year’s Eve. The onlyoption was a camping ground at Bronte Park 150km out oftown, by which time it was late at night with nowhere opento get a proper meal.

But after that: Everything went very well. Sketch mapsfrom Siseman’s AWT guidebook combined with Mark’swealth of experience got the group to the area they didhave maps for without getting lost. The bad weather whichaffected the other two Christmas walks didn’t penetrate asfar north as the Kosciuskzo National Park, so much of thewalking was quite warm-hot. This section of the AWTputs in a strong case for being the second best (after theKiandra-Thredbo part taking in the Main Range), with avariety of scenery, huts and not too difficult walking.

And although unfortunate for Trish and Andre having todrop out, they were able to drive the vehicles to Kiandra,thus saving the rest of the group a long wait and car shuffleat the end of the walk.

Alpine Walking Track: Canberra to Kiandra(Dec 26th - Jan 2nd 2005)

An inauspicious start: The minibus to take the groupfrom Kiandra to the start of the walk at Tharwa justoutside Canberra never turned up (to this day no-oneknows what happened to it). After giving up waiting,everyone drove to Tharwa. Arriving late in the afternoon,the National Park information centre had closed, meaningthe leader was unable to obtain a map covering the firstsection of the walk. And then, a few hours into the walk,one of the participants, Trish, suffering the effects of avirus, was forced to pull out along with her partnerAndrés.

Mark Beyer (front row, left) and his happy campersrelaxing outside Oldfields Hut. photo: Dzung Nguyen

Alpine Hut Reconstructions

Federation Hut (Mt Feathertop) and Michell Hut (MtBogong), destroyed in bushfires two years ago, have bothbeen rebuilt this summer, their value as emergency sheltershaving been recognised. The new designs are moregenerous with windows than their predecessors, and soshould be much less gloomy inside.

Lovick’s hut was reported destroyed by those on the BluffChristmas walk, however it appears that this is temporary.The old hut was demolished for safety reasons after beingdeemed structurally unsound but should also be rebuilt bythe end of the summer.

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however no-one (not even the mountain cattlemen lobby)has claimed that a diet of alpine daisies makes them tastebetter. So where is the benefit of it to the rest of us?

Perhaps if there was evidence that tourists wanted to seegrazing in the Alpine National Park, there would be a casefor arguing “heritage”. After all it worked for W-ClassTrams. They’re noisy, draughty and the brakes don’twork, but tourists love them (until they actually ride inthem), so there’s a good argument to rattle them aroundthe city on a Sunday afternoon. Can the same be said forhordes of visitors travelling the Bogong High Plains road,hoping to glimpse a distant herd gnawing away at the rarevegetation while a few horsemen canter nonchalantlyabout? While the really lucky tourist may get theirvehicle ‘autographed’ by some of these majestic animalsscraping themselves against a side-panel, those lessfortunate will have to make do with the sight of heritageblowflies buzzing about heritage cowpats.

Sense has prevailed with the application for “emergency”heritage listing being dismissed – after all cattle can comeback anytime, it’s not like a historic building beingdemolished and lost forever. The case for heritageprotection remains open however, as does tabling of thereport from the Alpine Grazing Taskforce originally duelast spring but continually delayed. Let’s hope the StateGovernment has the political will to treat a National Parkas a true National Heritage area and resist any attempts atFederal intervention.

Heritage Cowpats?

With the “grazing reduces blazing” argument all butextinguished (just ask any of the thousands of livestockroasted alive on the Eyre Penninsula about that one),proponents of continued cattle grazing in the AlpineNational Park are now attempting to play the heritage card.

An application for “emergency national heritage” listingwas submitted recently in an effort to gain FederalGovernment protection for an activity under threat fromthe State government’s Alpine Grazing Taskforce.

Yes, the reasoning is that because something’s beenpractised for over a hundred years, it should continue thatway into eternity. As if it isn’t bad enough to have aPrime Minister trying to steer the country back to the1950’s, now comes a move to lock the high country intothe 19th century. “Heritage”, alongside “patriotism”, oneof the last desperate catchcries when no cogent argumentsexist to counter the tide of public opinion.

When the high country was first discovered by pioneeringwhite settlement in the 1850s it must have seemed likeparadise; verdant plains, ideal for summer grazing at atime when much less than the present-day 85% of lowlandforest had been cleared for farming. Let no revisionismdenigrate the achievements of these early pioneeringfamilies. By all means preserve this history in the huts andtrails of the region, and record the folklore of the earlysettlers, but there’s no nineteenth century cattle left thatwill miss their summer pasture. Heritage should besomething of value for the general community and futuregenerations, not solely a group of superannuated cowboysinsisting on the right to continue grazing at a peppercornrent because that’s what they’ve always been used to.

Dogs and cats were once permitted in the area as well,before it became a National Park, however nowadayswhen it’s no longer permitted to even collect dead woodfor a campfire on the Bogong High Plains, what makescattle grazing so special that it can’t move with the times?

Cattle have to feed somewhere in order to produce thethick, succulent eye-fillet steaks that many of us love(vegetarians had better skip to the next paragraph ),

Five other traditions which existed for manyyears but missed out on a Heritage listing

Ashtrays in Cafés

Negro slavery

Asbestos fencing

Fox hunting

“Hey Hey It’s Saturday”

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In Profile – Neil WardenHow long have you been walking with YHA?12 years. I was looking for an outdoor activitygroup to replace Rovers, who were expelling me forbeing over the hill!

Can you remember your first walk? Yes, BrycesGorge where someone had to be carried out with abroken ankle.

Your favourite walk? The Western Arthurs(Christmas 2003); the hardest walk I’ve done, butalso the most spectacular.

Neil - firmly entrenched in bushwalking(photo: Simon Walliss)

Most memorable walk? My first Easter trip, acrossthe Bogong High plains; I barely survived, my legsseized up afterwards.

And a trip from Hell? A Colin Cody epic in theCaledonia river area, two-three days of mostly scrub-bashing and a twelve hour walk on the final day. Myknees seized up in Colin’s cramped 4WD on the wayhome. I was unable to go to work the next day, theonly time this has happened after a walk.

Most embarrassing moment? Sitting in a hut with acandle and a cup-cake hoping someone would noticeand sing Happy Birthday to me; it took a while buteventually they did.

Have you ever thought about hanging up yourboots? A lot of time during the first 4-5 years due tofrequent problems with blisters. It took me nineyears to find a good pair of boots (Merrells).

Unfulfilled destination you’d most like to visit?In Australia, the Blue Mountains, overseas Nepal.

L O S T !Totally bewildered, I found myself alone facing a choice ofmany directions, but not knowing which one to take or where Iwas. And all the time I tried to stay calm and think straight, anold Clash song kept playing over in my head; not the best way tostart my first Sunday walk.

The signs weren’t good from the start; I’d discovered thereweren’t any hot dog stands along the route, and not havingbrought a packed lunch, faced the prospect of going hungry.Excusing myself for a quick nature call I headed away from theothers. Having relieved myself, something else caught myattention and I wandered towards it. Everything went well untilthe time came a few minutes later to rejoin the others. I hadn’tbeen concentrating on where I’d been going and realised I hadno clue as to which way to go back. Heading off in a likelydirection I came to a large open area, problem was there was nosign of anyone from the group. Turning 180 degrees, I chargedoff in the opposite direction until eventually reaching anotherclearing, but still nobody.

By now panic had started to set in. Choosing another route ledto another area looking like the one I’d started out from (or hadjust come from?), but problem was I still hadn’t run intoanybody. Was I in the right spot but they’d gone off to look forme? Would they realise what had happened? It had seemed likeI’d been lost for ages, but maybe it was just a few minutes andno-one had yet missed me. Should I wait or should I go? Ipaused for a bit longer until it became clear no-one was going toturn up. At least food wasn’t a worry; having some fruit and acouple of Mars Bars I could probably hold out for a few weeks.

Think rationally, “calm down” I told myself. What had theleader said to do in this situation? I racked my brain in vain –not much actually, barely a word since leaving Spencer St.Remembering something I read about carefully retracing stepsuntil reaching a recognisable landmark, I set about trying toreconstruct the route I'd come from. Suddenly there it was, asign familiar as one I’d stood in front of earlier that day.“Special: Bananas $2.49/kg”.

Things were starting to come together. Before the bananas Iremembered .. what was it… a tub of butter. But whichdirection had I come from? I asked a young girl in a greenuniform if she knew where the butter was. “Aisle 12, about sixrows that way” she pointed. And lo and behold a few momentslater I found myself facing the dairy cabinet. Things were reallycoming back to me now, all the rows no longer looked alike.I’d needed the butter to spread on the rolls which I’d picked upin the bakery section…around the corner to my right. I dashedaround expecting to see loaves of bread and sure enough there itwas – the confectionery shelf?! Lost again?- no this was theright way I realised, remembering the Mars Bars. I then foundthe bread, next to the entrance I’d arrived from, by an arcadeleading directly to a car park. Would this be the right one atlast? I reached it and there they were, waving frantically at me.Had they been concerned by my disappearance after all?

They had: “Jesus christ!, where the hell have you been, we weresupposed to be at the start of the walk half an hour ago”.

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Bush Tucker

Spaghetti Tunamagic

This one’s quick, easy yet very tasty, and suitable for bothepic hikes of a week or more as well as weekend walks(where additional fresh vegetables can be added ifdesired).

100-150g spaghetti100g tuna in olive oil (tin or sachet)2 tbsp “Tomato Magic”grated parmesan cheese to taste

1. Cook pasta in boiling water; varieties such asvermicelli or angel-hair only require 2-3 minutescooking.

2. Lightly drain; leave a few tbsp of water in the pan.3. Add Tomato Magic and mix thoroughly until

dissolved and the pasta is coated in a paste.4. Add tuna, stir to heat through5. Top with parmesan to taste.

Hint: For walking, tuna in oil (as opposed to brine orspringwater) has much a much higher energy content andgoes well coating pasta.

Pasta Kebananara

Instant pasta meals are extremely convenient, however justby themselves they can seem bland, even in the bush.A few simple extras however can elevate them to agourmet meal.

Fresh herbs are one of these wonder ingredients; theyweigh next to nothing and will keep for a few days even ifchopped beforehand.

120-140g packet “Creamy Bacon Carbonara” pasta125ml carton long-life milk1 stick of kebana (100g), chopped into 1cm pieces1 cup water2 tbsp fresh Italian herb mix (parsley, basil, spring onions,chives).Olive oil to taste

1. Heat milk and water to boiling point.2. Add pasta+sauce mix, simmer 10mins (or as per

directions on packet)3. Add chopped kebana, stir to heat through4. Sprinkle with fresh herbs and mix lightly when ready

to serve.Recipe supplied by Chris Kouts

...and something for Sunday morning

As it isn’t uncommon to becamping in remote locations,several hour’s walk from thenearest café, a major dilemma formany on Sunday morning is howbest to get their caffeineheartstarter. For the very keen,miniature plungers are availablefrom outdoor shops which brew aquite passable cup of coffee.

For convenience and alsosurprisingly good taste (based on

the opinion of quite a few of ourweekend walkers) the best productavailable at the moment is the Nescaférange of coffee sachets. Just add hotwater to the contents and stir. Cost isabout $4 for a packet of 8.Cappuccino and Latte (pictured) havebeen successfully road-tested on recentwalks.

Other varieties available includeCaramel (also given a thumbs-up),Mocha and Vanilla.

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YHA Bushwalking since 1939

Yeti Treasure HuntSolve the clues to discover whereabouts the Easter Bunny’s treasure is hidden.

The first five correct answers win Easter Egg prizes.

Follow the directions for the map below, noting the letter at the end of each step. Once you have all theletters, rearrange them to form the name of an Australian town.

1. Start on the letter “A” at grid reference 713 7292. The next letter is 1.5km west.3. From there, go to the summit of the nearby hill for the third letter.4. Next letter is 1800m away on a course of 70º5. Staying this side of the river, climb the side of the hill to the saddle for the next letter.6. Then follow a course of 168º until you reach a letter on the riverbank7. Head approx 400-500m upriver for the next letter.8. Cross the river and pick up the letter from the summit of the nearest hill9. Next letter is 1300m NW.10. Now proceed due east until you reach a letter from which the bearing to hill “N” is 15º11. Finally, (from the last letter not hill “N”), head 280º for 2km, find the nearest letter, use this letter twice.

Once you’ve unscrambled the letters, email your answer to yhabush_contact@yahoo.com.au

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