Meetings: Held the 4th Thursday of each month (excluding December), at Leongatha Community House, 16 Bruce Street, Leongatha.

Next Meeting: 22nd October, 2009 at 8.00 pm

Editor’s Report
Enthusiasm for writing reports has reached a new high this month with two activities being reported on twice!
Perhaps this came about because the Walks Leaders didn’t trust the first person they asked to produce the goods, so they asked a second person just to be sure. Whatever the reason, it has caused me quite a dilemma. Do I decide which is the best and print only that one? But then the author of the rejected piece might be insulted. Mmmm, tricky. So, readers, I decided that you should have both versions and you can decide for yourselves.

President’s Report:
Sorry this is SO short. The end of year walks program has been filled, and next year is shaping up to be another busy schedule. I would like to thank all members for your support and interest in leading activities. I hope everyone has a happy and safe Christmas and New Year.
See you out and about in 2010 - where did 2009 go?
Regards Val

Suggested Role Description For SGWAAC Committee
While enjoying the Bogong High Plains on the Cup weekend walk, members got talking about streamlining the transition from one committee to the next in our club. The following job descriptions were discussed and amended slightly at the recent committee meeting. This is still a draft, and is for your perusal and comment at the next general meeting.

Trip Reports

Kerry’s Bike Ride in Melbourne, October 18
Poor Kerry! I had been tentatively booking on lots of her Melbourne bike rides, and never made it. So this time, Sunday 18th October, I finally made it. We were to meet at the East Malvern train station. Most of us found it really easily by ourselves, but certain members were using their car’s GPS to navigate from the city and had great difficulty!
I had envisaged struggling to get my bike on the train, but it turned out we were cycling all the way. We headed into the city and joined the Capital City bike path. We passed lots of parks and people enjoying the great outdoors. It was lovely to see a glimpse of relaxed urban life.
We stopped for a yummy lunch at the old Abbottsford Convent, and then passed the communal gardens and Collingwood childrens’ farm with cows grazing contentedly on prime real estate.
At times the trail was suspended under a freeway, other times it was floating on water. We passed quite a few people honing their rock climbing skills under the bluestone bridges of the city. It was lovely to be in Docklands and see the new developments, a bit like Hobart with the water so close to the action. Before we knew it we were cycling along Southbank, across the Yarra on one bridge, then back across on another. Luckily Kerry knew where she was going!
It happened to be the ‘Round the Bay in a Day’ and we saw lots of tired cyclists arriving at the finish line. We figured they’d think we too had cycled around the bay, and had just removed our numbers, so we blended in happily with them.
And then, East Malvern train station turned up again, and we could relax. What a great ride.
Well done, Kerry, on keeping the tribe together, thanks for all the organising.
Annie Chisholm

Phillip Island Walk - 25th October
Val, Lynn, Kerry & David met at the Information centre at Newhaven, armed ourselves with a map and after learning that the walk from Woolamai to Sunderland Bay might have some difficult rocks to negotiate we set off in our cars to our starting point. Pulling up and getting out of the cars, David pointed out a prominent sign stating ‘No entry, unstable cliffs, beach access 2.5 km. away’, and Val, being the serious leader that she is, decided that plan B was called for. We headed off to the Forrest Caves car park. Alighting once more from the vehicles, I noticed a huge very dark cloud overhead and decided the coat would be best on the back and not in the backpack. We trudged cheerfully up the steps and just as we reached the top there was a deluge of rain (almost hail). I was amazed to see Val, without consultation, turn around and walk briskly back down the steps to her car. We about turned and followed, I could not stop laughing - where was our intrepid leader’s sense of adventure? It seemed that now Plan C would be put into action. Away we went to Churchill Island where we might walk. Arriving damp and cold, Plan D was instigated and we headed to the cafe for coffee, scones, jam and cream. How civilized! Looking at the now blue skies and feeling much more cheerful, Plan E was put in motion and we drove again to Forrest Caves and after noticing the board extolling the wonders of the extraordinary caves set off along the beach towards the rocks that we believed may house these magnificent caves. Alas, after clambering all over the rocks, sliding down on our bottoms and peering everywhere, I have to declare that we somehow missed these wondrous caves. But not to worry, we would now walk along the beach to Sunderland Bay, the sun was shining, the tide was out and the beach was lovely. David detoured at the Forrest Caves steps (it seems that the novel he’d bought at the op shop was more tempting than walking along the beach with three lovely ladies). Undaunted we three continued along the beach and then walked back along the road marvelling at the impressive beach houses along the way. David was indeed engrossed in his book when we arrived back at the car park. It was now 1 pm, so lunch was in order. We drove to San Remo and had fish and chips in the lovely new restaurant at the jetty. We enjoyed wind, rain, sunshine, much laughter, a lovely walk and good food, not to mention the company. All in all a very entertaining day.
Thanks Val for organising the walk and David, Kerry and Val for your great company.
LYNN

Val’s Variable Venture - 25th October
Sunday the 25th of October and Kerry and I have spent the night on Phillip Island in excited anticipation of today’s walk. At 9.45, at the information centre, we meet up with Val and the milling crowd of eager walkers a.k.a. Lynn. Avoiding the tiresome business of long-winded introductions we leap into our two vehicles and take off into the unknown. We follow Val & Lynn down a side road where, I assume, they would have seen the sign stating ‘No Beach Access’. At the end of this no through road I discover that my assumption was ill-founded. Our intrepid leader was still determined that we should strike out across the dunes until we pointed out that as a (high level) representative of SGWAAC it would ill-become her to break the law, and so back to the cars and drive further down the main road to the Forrest Caves entrance.
Far more promising - legal access to the beach! And so, dear readers, picture us climbing numerous stairs on our way up and over the sand dune before descending more stairs to a beautiful sun-lit beach. O.K. scrap that picture. As we ascended the aforementioned stairs it began to rain. Before we reached the top it absolutely peed down and so back to the cars.
As it did not look good for the immediate future Beloved Leader made an executive decision that we drive to Churchill Island for coffee. Which we did. And had scones. And jam. And cream. The weather started to improve and so back to the cars.
In fact we drove back to Forrest Caves. You may now resume the earlier picture. On the beach we set off for what the sign told us were the ‘Spectacular Forrest Caves’. We came to the conclusion that the copy-writer was on drugs at the time. In fact we were not even sure where they were as we plodded past rocky outcrops which might have passed for caves in the mind of an LSD-addled hippie. Even Val couldn’t figure it out as she flicked her spliff into the incoming tide. (Actually, that’s not true. I made it up. She butted it out and put it in her pocket. Our president doesn’t litter.) (Sorry, that’s not true either. Val does not smoke dope. Well, at least, not when she’s on one of our club walks.)
After the 40 minute round trip I decided that the excitement was too much for me and so back to the car. However the other three, never knowing when too much of a good thing is too much of a good thing, walked on to Sunderland Bay, returning via the local estate so that they could sticky-beak on the million dollar homes.
She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed (i.e. our leader, not to be confused with the one I live with) now suggested that we drive to San Remo for fish and chips. Which we did. And all lived happily ever after thanks to Val’s foresight in organising a walk within easy driving distance of various food outlets. Thankyou.
David Baggallay

Meeniyan-Foster-Walkerville Bike Ride - Oct 27-29th
Cam and I set out from Meeniyan fully loaded with all our gear & some food for 3 days. After a coffee stop at Fish Creek we detoured along a very high scenic road to Foster. The first 2km was gravel (shame the grader was there before us!!!), followed by 4 km of down hill bitumen to Foster, our stop for that night. That afternoon we did a casual ride to Port Franklin & return via a quiet backroad.
Day 2: Along a quiet backroad towards Walkerville, then another detour to Sandy Point, ‘just...why not?’, eventually arriving at Walkerville North for lunch. The afternoon was spent beach walking to Walkerville South. The limestone mining relics really are quite amazing! After drinks & tea we beach walked again.
Day 3: Climbed the big hill out of Walkerville Nth. Cam was battling with ‘faulty respiratory equipment’ but still managed. We returned via Tarwin Lower with a light head wind back to Meeniyan.
Weather had been perfect and, whilst carrying panniers for 3 days had seemed very challenging, I really thoroughly enjoyed the trip.
A huge thank you to Cam for making the effort to join me for 3 excellent days away.
Ros S.

Bogong High Plains Hut Crawl - Cup Weekend
The annual Cup Day WE hike in the Victorian Alps lured 7 of our intrepid members this year - Josie Lomagno (Leader), Paul and Annie Chisholm, Steve and Paula Horton, Peter Hosking and Lily Whitehouse. After driving to Omeo on Friday, five of us squashed into Steve’s Volvo (no aircon and we lost a tailpipe on the way), we got an early start on Saturday morning (after meeting the Chissies at Hotham), out along the Razorback towards Feathertop. Before the final ascent to Mt. Feathertop, we set up camp, lunched and rested at Federation Hut, newly constructed after the fires. The campsite was very social that night - a school group training for the Overland Track, and numerous other parties out for an overnighter or longer.
Day 2 saw us backtracking to High Knob to descend the never-ending and infamous Diamantina Spur. This spur is scarily steep in places (but only Paula was scared) and eventually ends at the Kiewa River West Branch. It was while we were cooling off here that a competitor from the 4 Peaks Race stopped to fill his water bottle on his way to Mt. Cope - apparently ascending 4 peaks in 4 days was not enough for him. He’d decided to add in a jog from Feathertop to Mt.Cope (~25km) for training.
Lunch at the picturesque Blair’s Hut on the river refreshed us before ascending a spur eastwards up, up, up to the Alpine Track. This was hard work and very hot. Once at the top, an easy walk NW led us to a beautiful campsite at Tawonga Huts. We shared this campsite with several families who had walked about 5km in from Pretty Valley Dam - pushers, nappies, the lot! What a great place for kids to romp and play. Too tired to climb The Niggerheads for the sunset, we contented ourselves with sharing other people’s campfires and becoming acquainted with our fellow campers.
Day 3 began with an easy walk SE back to the Alpine Walking Track. We deposited our packs and took a side trip to Young’s Hut, before descending SW past the Basalt Temple and Cobungra Gap to Dibbin’s Hut, our campsite for the night. A refreshing bathe in a shady pool on the headwaters of the Cobungra River restored body temperature (and odour) to a tolerable level, enabling us to socialise that evening with the 3 hikers with whom we were sharing our campsite.
Day 4. The weather forecast was not good - strong winds and rain. So we set off early to ascend Swindler’s Spur - another steep ascent, but easier this time with lighter packs and cooler weather. A quick snack inside Derrick Hut before our final trek, in strong wind and stinging rain now, took us past the base of Mt.Loch, through the Hotham ski slope area and back to the car which had been ‘shuffled’ there previously.
A celebratory lunch and coffee at the Omeo Bakery was enjoyed by 7 tired and hungry hikers before the long drive home. Thank you Josie for organising this great trip, and to Annie, Paul, Steve, Peter and Lil for your great company.
Paula Horton

Base Camp & Cycling at Orbost - Nov 14-16th
What a great weekend of cycling and happy hours for the 12 members - Michael & Ollie Wellings, Kerry, David, Julie, Sue, Margaret, Kaisu, Allan, Petra and Chris & Kee, and we were blessed with good Spring weather. We all arrived at different times on Friday except the Wellings who arrived 2 days earlier to ensure all was well for the activity.
We set off the following morning heading west out of Orbost on the bitumen road and soon were pushing uphill. All made it with minimal fuss and after a well earned rest we headed off again relaxing in the cool breeze as we pedalled along in the shade. We regrouped at the turn-off into Ostlers Rd. Hawk-eye Julie noted a small note affixed to a tree informing us the road was shut due to a local Historic Car Rally. It was annoying as Mike was informed the previous day that the road chosen was OK as the Rally would be held in another part of the State Forest. After a brief look at the map Mike & Ollie elected to use Reeves Rd, a gravel road which was rather rough. Many km later we arrived at the Bairnsdale-Orbost rail trail. By this time Wally had had enough of cycling on gravel surfaces and elected to cycle along the Princes Highway. We rejoined at a rest place in Newmerella where we had our lunch, followed by cold drinks/ice cream at a Service Station. Sadly NO PIES!! After lunch we cycled south of Newmerella and returned along the Snowy River. The distance cycled on the Snowy River-Rail trail was 52 kms
In the evening we motored to Marlo Pub for happy hour (a must do event) and meal. We watched the sunset while enjoying a drink and delicious meal.
Sunday---Orbost to Marlo ---- 41 km.
David was too tired to join us. Officially he had a sleepless night due to noisy neighbors. However, we suspect, he was worn out caring/keeping the peace among the four women in a small cabin. On another beautiful day we set off on a lovely bush track alongside the Snowy River and then along the tranquil road to Marlo, with only a small hill to climb. We stopped to view ‘Clipsil’, the restored paddle boat which is now used to take tourists to the mouth of the river. We stopped for a coffee break at Marlo, where we were joined by Sue who drove to join the group and the party headed to Pt Ricardo. There we had a short walk to have a look at the sea. Alan tried to dig for pippi without any success. We headed back to Marlo where we had our packed lunch. After lunch Petra packed her bike and headed for home, while the rest of us had an easy ride back to the Caravan park.
Monday---Young Creek, mostly on gravel roads----41 km
The gravel roads were generally good, including a few teasing hills, unfortunately we were not able to enjoy the descent for safety reasons We had a brief stop at Young creek and had a short walk to seek out the epiphytic orchids. Ollie & Chris were the only ones who claimed success in locating one!
Thank you Mike and Ollie for a well organized weekend, and we look forward to having more of these activities.
Chiams

Observations on Ollie’s Orbost Outing
Kerry, Julie Johnston and I arrived at the Orbost caravan park on Friday afternoon to find Mike and Ollie set up ready to receive guests at their campsite. We duly unpacked our gear at the cabin (5 mins. for us, 30 mins. for Julie! I’m not saying that she takes a lot but we hardly had any room for alcohol) along with Sue Marriot and Marg Waldron, and prepared for happy hour. In the meantime Alan and Kai-Su Kuhne arrived at their cabin, which they had to themselves as Alan is capable of snoring for Australia. Shortly after, Chris and Kee arrived and set up camp, in their new caravan, next to the Wellings (not too close as Kee is capable, on a good day, of a silver medal behind Alan). Whilst getting into the food and drink our last member, Petra Shandley, arrived and organised her tent. We then had a bbq.
Next day we packed lunches and set off on a bike ride, partly on a bike trail and partly on roads. Our ride happened to coincide with a car rally in the area and our organisers had seen the local DSE (or whatever they are called these days) who assured us that we could go down a certain road on Saturday. Unfortunately they lied. As we turned into this road a ute appeared from the opposite direction to inform us that the road was closed.
Fortunately our intrepid leaders had maps and found an alternative route. Eventually we wound up back at the Princes Highway and rode to a rest stop for lunch. Then it was time for icecreams and some of us headed straight back to town and a few hardier souls added another 10k to their ride. That evening we dined at Marlo and watched the sun set as we drank wine on the deck. Unfortunately I had trouble sleeping that night, probably insufficient wine and not, as has been suggested, that I was alone in a room with 4 women. Because of this I decided against the Sunday bike ride and so here is the report.
 
Good wasn’t it.
Monday morning Sue and I went for an early ride so that we could spend the morning looking through the local opp. shops. Marg decided not to ride at all and joined us whilst the others went riding around on forest tracks. After lunch in Orbost we all headed home. A big thankyou to Mike & Ollie.
David Baggallay

Combined Gippsland Clubs Weekend - Nov 21-22
This year, the Combined Gippy clubs weekend was organised by Tim Rothberg, a member of our club who also belongs to West Gippy Bushwalking Club.
The venue was the Nayook Outdoor Education Centre near Neerim South, and the whole weekend was terrific. There were walks of all grades offered on both the Saturday and Sunday, and lovely food to share for meals. The accommodation was perfect - an idyllic bush setting close to the Ada Tree, High Lead and other great walks in the area.
Sue has dubbed the venue ‘Leech-ville’ for obvious reasons, and one lady on our walk actually had 5 on her neck throughout the day!
As always on these occasions, the chat on Saturday night drifted to the subject of which club should be host for the 2011 weekend. Ron Cann from Strzelecki BWC has compiled a survey for each club to complete, deciding on the future of the weekend, whether a roster should be prepared so clubs know well in advance when it’s going to be their turn - which year SGWAAC would like to host again (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015) etc. This could be discussed at the January meeting.
A huge thanks to Tim for his super organising skills!
Annie Chisholm.

Upcoming Events
New Year’s Eve - Dec 31
An evening low tide walk/rock scramble from The Oaks to Inverloch, followed by a BYO BBQ meal at Paula and Steve’s. Inverloch fireworks at midnight can be seen from our house (if we’re still awake) or you can walk down there along the beach. This is the very last SGWAAC activity for 2009.

Jatbula
Josie is planning a 60 Km (5 days) walk in the Nitmiluk National Park (Catherine, N.T.) from Mon 28th June to Fri 2nd July, 2010. It will be a self guided walk and you will need to be totally independent.
For more details and expression of interest contact Josie on 56 573 305. Limited numbers only.

Wilson’s Prom 20th Birthday Celebration Weekend
With the help of Angela we have booked the thirty bed lodge at the Prom Friday and Saturday nights, 16th and 17th July 2010. As yet we have not decided on a theme or activities. The cost is $50 for two nights. This needs to be paid to Angela ASAP as payment must be made to the Prom. We cannot book your place until the money is received. There are only thirty places.
We can take the lodge over at 2pm on the Friday and leave Sunday before midday.
Chris Chiam 5662 5226

See the Recipe page for Sue’s Fat Free Fruit Cake recipe.

Walks Program

For the web version of Footprints, the walks program is located on a separate page and is kept up-to-date with changes as they come in.