Sydney University Bushwalkers – Trip Report, Katoomba to Kanangra return, 24-25 March 2007

This feels like it was probably one of those walks that was planned enthusiastically after a few jugs at a Canoe Club slide night. I do seem to recall something about us all taking a blood oath to ward away the evil piking spirits, but then Wilmo snapped his arm off at the canyoning weekend (or bruised his hand, or something) so clearly something thicker than blood will be required next time.

Lindemans Pass, 25 March 2007

From the conservation hut we descended down past empress falls and onto the Vera falls track (no longer officially maintained, and therefore declared closed) until we reached the turnoff to Roberts pass. The track led us through areas of moist undergrowth and occasional unavoidable pools of mud. As one may suspect in these conditions, our group soon came under the attack of blood hungry leeches.

Canyoning 101, 17-18 March 2007

It started out, as these things tend to, at around sunrise on a Saturday morning. Once we had worked out what gear people needed to borrow and had it in their hot little hands it was time to send up an advance party to do Twister and Rocky Creek. With 5 people out of the way it was time to divvy up everyone else into cars. This proved to be a little more challenging that one would have hoped for, so we had to call in the reserve forces (much thanks to Jiri for taking his car up). Now we had this all under control it was time to head out.

Abseiling Training Day, 11 March 2007

Attendees: Lachlan Toohey, Thomas Roberts, James Sterney, Nelson Velazquez, Talitha Roberts, Kimvi Le, Daniel Ryan, Laura Ashton-Ross, Kim Corrans, James Griffin, Louise Kolff, Kike Gray, Kris Plain, Simon Lodowyk, Patrick Miller, Craig Wilmo plus many more. With a special thanks to Tom M, Dave L, James B, Peter H, Jackie for all the help with making it such a smooth day.

Royal N.P. coastal walk

We all gathered together at Cronulla Station at 9:20am Saturday morning and was about to catch the 9:30 ferry to Bundeena. However, Sang had to find a proper place to leave his car, so half of us missed the ferry. We just relaxed under the sun by the wharf and waited for the next ferry. An hour later, we met up with the others at a cafe in Bundeena, and were informed that while they were waiting for us, they had consumed all the coffee in the cafe Amazing!

Clean Up Australia Day, Sunday 4th March 2007

Marley Beach is 2hours walk south of Bundeena along the Coast Track [Topo 1:25000 PORT HACKING]. Big Marley also has a lagoon and large sand dunes behind the beach that frequently have rubbish left around them from park visitors. In addition to this, a lot of rubbish gets washed up on the beach that has been thrown off boats offshore. This project is important to preserve the sand dunes for nesting birds such as Terns or Dotterels and it is also important to protect the lagoon from pollution and the general area as it is recognised as an Aboriginal Site, once of the Dharawal Clan.

Mt Aspiring, New Zealand, 22 Feb – 1 Mar 2007

Mt Aspiring, altitude 3025m, towers over the national park of the same name in New Zealand’s South Island. Presiding over its part of the Southern Alps, west of the town of Wanaka, Mt Aspiring is sometimes referred to as the Matterhorn of the south, being of similar shape and formed by similar geological processes as its European counterpart.