Trip report for the PBT below, in some sort of wonky iambic pentameter (?). Poetry was never my forte. Peggy’s report for some sections of the walk below also.
Press on regardless! Helen

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President’s Bludge Trip: 1-3rd October 2011

Participants: Helen Smith, James Bevan, Mariacristina Merlo, Chantal Bronkhorst, Peggy Huang, Jenny Sun, Albert Chetcuti, Dave Noble, Melissa Freer, Casa Di Qiang, Melanie Luxem, Dave Lee, Nicole St Vincent-Welch, Mitch Issacs, Crystal, George Karpenkov

The PBT came round again, its destiny was clear,

A trip out to Kanagra, with a crate or two or beer

The P is P for president, and T is T for trip,

But the best bit is the B for Bludge, and this was what it hit!

This trip was planned for months and years, it was to be hardcore,

With hats and ties and long black tails, and high heels worn galore.

But disaster struck, and buggered up, the presidential knee!

So Bludging down at Morong Deep this trip turned out to be

Three cars left Sydney Friday Night, and camped the usual spot,

They were joined by five more people, who ate their chocolate block.

Confusion was arising from a message sent by Mitch

Was our road of access closed for good? Or would we have to hitch?

The weekend started gently and we rose well after light,

And proceeded to the fireplace, dressed in formal wear delight

Frilly dresses started flowing and ties appeared round neck,
And that was how this years’ PBT began its annual treck

We pressed on to the campsite, where we were set to stay,

And met with Fritz and others who had already begun to play

And down the river rapids came a blow-up rafting boat

Spinning, twirling twisting, all the time to stay afloat

At the campsite we had luncheon, with a piled up jaffle fire,

And the rain held off a little more, which really was desire

Cos they say there hadn’t been a long weekend, since back in ‘07,

That was sunny, dry and warm for annual Bludge Trip Heaven.

The hour had come for caving, and the crowd was keen to go,

While the president’s knee (and fritz) refused, so they kept nice and low

I’m not quite sure what happened, but they all returned in one

Large soppy soggy soaking mess of exploration fun

I forgot to say back then, that another car arrived

To find an empty camp site, where activity usually thrived

Fritz was slowly chopping, up some firewood wood,

And replied he’d gobbled up, all the others where they stood

Dinner was amazing, and a feast or two were seen

The lamb roast trumped the rest by far, and onlookers were keen

The singing started latish, and continued on til light,

The Ooh-me-doodle bird and polar bear even appeared on site

The next morning it was raining, and the camp had turned to mud,

So we elected to reshuffle back to somewhere not so dud

The dance floor cave was calling, with it’s dusty dry warm floor

So we packed up all the gear, and relocated there once more

On route we attempted, in a mature and careful way,

How to fit the president into a rucksack for a day

So into the pack she climbed and was hoisted on James’ back

And round and round in circles he ran until the others made the track

Some also took a site trip, to look down at Box Creek falls

They took a few nice photos, and returned with soaking alls!

Then onwards to the Dance floor, where the feasting began

And lunch turned into dinner, and back to singing songs we ran

A few brave walkers walked, and were plummeted by rain,

To see some view of Kanagra, behind the clouds insane

While the others stayed at camp and roasted up some pots,

Including special carrot cake, with hand-grated carrots

Monday was far the finest, weather-wise for the whole way,

And the group walked out along Kanagra Walls to get a view on the last day

Then back towards the cars we went and paused at the top

Where we pulled out the volleyball and gave it a bop

A few last things to mention, as we bludged the time away,

In rain-less cave-y shelter, for a thousand hours a day!

Is of Chantal’s flying act, and of Mary’s pilates show,

But most of all, Albear really wants his gansta rep to grow

This year we bought the B, back into the annual PBT,

And we gained a few odd calories, while bludging there with glee

Thanks to all of those that came, I’ll see you all next year,

Until another PBT or one more crate of beer

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Plateau walk on Monday morning-Peggy Huang

Public holiday Monday had the best weather of the weekend. We packed our
bags and left them at Dance floor cave, then headed up to the top of Kanangra walls for a walk.

There were some spectacular views. Some spots offered views that were so awesome we decided to stay for a while and engage in some random activities there. Mary ran a Pilates class, she claimed that these exercises are actually what she teaches, but speculation soon grew that she made these moves up-just to make us all look silly. We also found some good spots to do star jumps (T2 would be proud). And finally, some *flying owlings*; it’s the new owling (just as owling was the new planking), you heard it first on SUBW-A.

On the way back to the Dance floor cave, we passed some interesting sandstone honey comb structures. Along the same wall, we stopped to appreciate some aboriginal art. This was unfortunately vandalised, by some people who had proudly left their name and year of visit on the wall, along with the name of the girls they thought were pretty cool.

After a fun and easy walk we headed back to the dance floor cave, singing pretty much the entire way back.

The last lunch by the campfire was thoroughly enjoyed and everyone took this opportunity to get their pack as light as can be, and their volleys as dry as can be.

Before heading back to the cars, we decided to go for one last walk down some stairs to see the waterfall (insert name of walk here) because the weather was so good. Before embarking on this short and easy walk, we dumped all our bags on the side of a track (it takes a lot of effort to put the “B” back into PBT).

We stood at the start of the walk, where David Lee presented us with a challenge. This walk was graded as ‘hard’ and 1 hour was the recommended time to get to the bottom of the stairs and back up again. Our challenge was to complete it in under 10mins. It took 3 and a half minutes to get to the bottom of the stairs. We stopped the clock for photos, climbing, log crossings and exploring. When we were done bludging, the stopwatch started again, and we headed back up the stairs. Because SUBW members are so awesome and fit, everyone made it in under 10 mins-without really trying.

When everyone reached the top of the stairs we found a place to sit/lye/bludge and enjoy one last view of the spectacular Kanangra walls before walking back to the cars and saying our goodbyes at the car park.

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Helen Margherita Smith