Ok, it may be a little belated and not that exciting…and i probably missed half the stuff that actually went on…but its probably handy to have some info before the showing of the video at the slide night tonight (with Dave’s editing capabilities and what not…). Oh yeah, in case you didn’t pick up on that …you can see the video of the PBT at the slide night tonight.
People: Bad Dave Door Sausage B.S. Noble, the Groper, Mr Bean, Monkey, Dave Forbes, Tom, John B, Petra, Azaris, Loulou de Boozerintheville, Sally Partridge, Tina, Swetlana, Louisa , Ezmo, Nick, Meri dodgy dodds, Shobars, Ben Kong, Al(R)ex DeBono, Luke B insted, Tarrin, Mitchell packhorse Isaacs, Anthony Dunk, Bek, Gavin, MarkyMouse, Justin & Stephanie, Dylan Sutton, Jan & Chantelle, Greg Smith, and the Charley Chefs Roger Butler, Cat, Marcelle and Cameron, and I think I was there too…
Leader: Richard Wood
Date: 5-7/10/2002
I don’t really have much idea what happened for the first part of the walk, as, well, I wasn’t there…but by the time we had arrived, it turned out the rest of the group were keeping sure they were well lubricated in the sweltering heat, and Mitch’s meagre alcohol ration of 60 beers, 3 bottles of wine and some port had dwindled somewhat significantly. From all reports, it seems the group had a good trip out and down to the Kowmung, with Mitch’s pack being lightened at every opportunity. By the time the late group got down to the campsite at (the very) Orange Bluff, we were greeted by a bit of a tent city, and soon found out that the numbers had risen to a total of 38 people (with a quantity of wine to match…)!
Luckily half of one of the 2 cases of beer Mitch had carried down were left (or read it the other way, 1 1/2 cases were already gone!), so we were able to quench our dehydrated bodies.
Meanwhile, the volleyball court was being set up, the cool ponds of the Kowmung were being enjoyed, and the entrees were being produced. It was about this time Al(R)ex came back with his dinner, a beautiful rainbow trout he had hooked. Due to the high risk of fire danger in the area, it was also seen wise to perform some localised hazard reduction burns, and as darkness fell, the rather largish group converged on the fire, all armed with their favourite red.
Mitch managed to score some gourmet dinner off Meri, as after he had packed the essentials (see above) it turned out he didn’t have any room left for luxuries such as food, fly or other gear. Then just as most people were kicking back after various forms of scrumptious food and the 10th glass of wine, Roger, Marcelle, Cameron, Cat and Siobhan (and were there others??) produced some typical aussie bush tucker…a Croucembouche – which consisted of masses of profiterols covered in toffee in a fairly impressive tower…and which managed to disappear in about 3 sec flat. Thus heralded the time for the good old songbooks to be produced, and some lovely lullabies floated down the Kowmung valley, accompanied, of course, by some expert recorder and harmonica playing… People began falling by the wayside, but a stout group of about 8 kicked on until the chance to sing the ‘national anthem’ at midnight, and i believe Tarrin made the conquest of the midnight swim.
The second day dawned bright (a little too bright..), and I farewelled Greg as he headed home early (a little too early..). It was quite amusing looking over the camping area, with bodies strewn everywhere as most had opted for the night under the stars due to the perfect weather, and for other reasons too no doubt…
Meanwhile, Al(R)ex came back with a massive brown trout, which upon breaking into numerous pieces fed all the hungry. Jan, Chantelle, Meri and Siobhan then departed for various (lame) reasons. A quick breakfast was had of about 3 hours before the old farts began the long journey down the river. After a good 300m of walking, a nice rock jump and pool was found, so we had to rest our tired bodies before pressing on for the next 1/2 km to the next swimming hole.
The afternoon passed with more bludging, and various attempts at making up games such as some weird kind of volleyballtriangularwaterpolo, rock skimming, seeing if you can hit (or miss) people whilst rock skimming, classic catches, and of course Mitch’s attempt to unite beer tricks and jumping off rocks…
The evening saw us camping a couple of k’s up from Fernie flat, in a nice long open area, and soon the corks were popped (ok, the cardboad was opened in some of our cases..) and more tasties were produced. In final attempts to lighten packs, a constant stream of food started flowing around the circle, and kept on rotating again, and again, and again…although for some reason, the kilo of black and gold cheddar cheese was passed over.
Just after everyone got comfortable, we were surprised to see Mark jump 10 foot into the air with a squeal to match…obviously concerned that a snake had joined the circle, or that a spider had nestled on Mark’s lap, we all peered over at the ruckus – only to see a sweet little anti clinus (sp? – a native mouse) running past the circle. Mark finally calmed down, and eventually his heartbeat returned from 300 to 80…
From reports, the local bunyip population was also active this night, as i believe it turned out some non-native plants were given warmer surrounds, and also that the bunyips managed to convince Huey to do a rather targeted ‘rain’ shower on Luke’s tent at about 1am…hmm…From further reports, it appears that the bunyips were also active the next day when ballast was later extracted from packs…However, Dave was disappointed, as “back in his day” (c 1920s), the bunyips provided big things for ballast. Dave lamented in the pub that evening on the fact that in the distribution of ‘things’, he only got a tiddly one…
Anyway, the final day was an early start, with most people actually leaving by the time it was morning tea time. Cloudy weather provided nice coverage for the hill climb, which passed rather uneventfully, apart from the fact Erin and Nick had disappeared.
Lunch was saved by Alex, Rob (and the gropes?) who produced a few fine bitters. Then half the group lined up for partaking in the wonderful delicacy of jaffles, accompanied, of course, by the remnant wine..About halfway through, Erin and Nick reappeared, explaining they’d taken the ‘scenic’ route up the ridge.
And thus the afternoon passed with the stream of people flowing back to the carpark, interrupted only by a couple of stops, with Mr Bean tentatively clinging onto the rock as he checked out the Wallycle (sp?) and the few hundred metre drop below at the Walls lookout.
Thus a quick pack up at the carpark ensued to ensure we didn’t cut out time short at the halfway house in Hampton, which provided the welcome relief of beer that was actually cold, and a nice dinner. Others pressed on regardless to the Gardner’s Inn for some more of the same, before all arrived back in Sydney (albeit somewhat later for some people when Ben’s keys didn’t want to turn in his car…)
A good trip, in some beautiful surrounds…and no doubt some records established for number of people and quantity of ‘fluids’ carried…