Turlinjah

Wednesday 21 April 2021

Photos courtesy of Donna and Mary

Bob “Sarge” Thurbon led twelve walkers on a very pleasant hike in the Moruya State Forest west of Turlinjah. This area was spared by the bushfires of 2020 and we enjoyed hiking along old logging roads. Many of the roads have not been used in decades and we had to navigate around fallen trees. Bob had a few surprises for us when the logging roads ended and we had to ‘bush bash’ to the next road. Fortunately this is an area of open woodland forest so our Easy/Medium walkers had no difficulty getting through. A measure of a walk getting tough is when conversation stops and hard breathing starts. This group had no problems maintaining  constant chatter and all agreed it was a very enjoyable 8km walk.

Rob

Durras Lake Paddle

Monday 19 April 2021

Photos courtesy of Karen and Mary

Today’s BBBW paddle was on Durras Lake, starting at the Lake boat ramp.  It was a perfect autumn day, with virtually no wind, so we started by heading down to the Lake entrance which is currently open to the ocean.

Then we turned around and paddled towards the head of the lake, entertained by wheeling sea eagles, white faced heron and numerous white egret hunting along the bank.  It was an unstructured route, and we ambled about with our only obstacles being a few sandbanks because we were on a low tide.

We stopped for a mid morning break, and again for lunch, enjoying the sunshine and scenery, and the company, until it was time to head home.

Karen

 

Mogendoura Range

Sunday 18 April 2021

Photos courtesy of Karen, Tom and Donna

After having to cancel the Pig Road walk, an old walk, the Mogendoura Range, was chosen as a replacement.  It had recently been retrieved from the crypt of ‘old walks’ in the last few months, dusted off and used for training purposes due to the hills, hills and more hills dotted throughout. It was last listed on the club program seventeen years ago so it was thought that it was a good opportunity to resurrect it as the replacement.

Set in the Mogendoura Ranges just west of Moruya, the walk is 13kms long and contained within the Wandera State Forest.  As the area is still recovering from the 2019/20 bushfires, vegetation is light along the tops of the ranges however this provided some nice views to Mt Wamban in the south and the Moruya to Broulee areas in the east and north east.  Down in the gullies there was some lovely walking, particularly along Snake Gully Road which skirts along a pretty creek.  Thankfully no snakes were encountered, only copious amounts of spiders and their webs which the walk leader dutifully collected on her body throughout that track.

All in all it was a nice walk on a lovely day even if the participants didn’t believe the walk leader when she chanted the age old walk leader’s mantra “this is the last hill.”  But they had the last laugh at lunchtime when the conversation took a sinister turn.  The topic revolved around the up and coming first aid course that members were attending.  The discussion initially covered the treatment for stings from jelly fish, blue bottles and the like then, to the horror of the walk leader, certain members discussed their desire to practice some CPR!  Knowing that there was still at least three kilometers to walk and the fact that the standard ten percent allowable attrition rate on each walk still applied a quick mathematical equation was applied by the walk leader to which she was immediately relieved. With only eight walkers this meant that we were only talking limbs and other bits and pieces, albeit on multiple walkers.  It was nothing that a few band-aids and compression bandages couldn’t handle until we got back to the cars.  A relief indeed!

Donna

Plovers Lane Jindamar Ramble

Thursday 15 April 2021

Photos provided by Brian and Helen

Batemans Bay Bushwalkers travelled south of Narooma for this midweek walk.  It’s a long way for our walkers to travel, but our destination was a beautiful little pocket of Eurobodalla National Park featuring a scenic coastal track, a couple of beaches and Nargal Lake.

We started by walking the newly graded Bogola Head Road to the coast, and then turned north onto Plovers Lane which undulates over the headlands towards Handkerchief Beach.  After a long break on a grassy headland opposite Montague Island, we retraced our steps, descended to Fullers Beach and walked south to the dunes behind Nargal Lake.  There we had another long break overlooking the lake and the ocean.

Our return leg was on an old forest track littered with recently fallen trees and festooned with spider webs – something of an obstacle course.  Our circuit totalled about 9 kilometres.

Karen

Navigation Day

Thursday 8 April and Friday 9 April 2021

Sixteen members of the Batemans Bay Bushwalking Club took part in the map and compass navigation course last week, developed and presented by Ian.

After receiving a very positive response to holding the course, Ian very kindly decided to offer it over two days, so that the groups would be more manageable. I was in the first group and certainly the smaller groups were much better.

Ian took us through the theory of navigating, positioning oneself, planning and following a route, using maps and compass to find our way.  There was more involved than I had expected and it was a good feeling, when one got that ‘light bulb moment’ and it all started coming together.

We put all of our theory and compass practice to the test after lunch, when Ian sent us off into the bush to find our way back to the cars.  With the thick undergrowth and no tracks, I, for one, was certainly glad I was getting the hang of using that compass!

Thank you Ian from all of your ‘students’.  We appreciate all of the planning and effort that you put into developing the Navigation Day and particularly splitting it up into two days to allow smaller group sizes.   In return, we promise to practice, practice, practice!

Gay

Sproxtons Circuit Walk

Wednesday 7 April 2021

Photos courtesy of Karen, Anne-Louise and Gay

Thirteen seems to be my lucky number as again today, I had thirteen walkers for the Sproxtons Circuit walk.  We welcomed one visitor and were happy to see some new members joining us again for their second or third walk.

After the rain last night, the air was fresh and water droplets glistened in the leaves of the trees lining the track.  The 5.2kms was a very pleasant ramble along 4wd tracks east of Nelligen with a few luminous ghost fungus spotted along the way.

We completed the circuit in just under two hours and some walkers were heading off to either treat themselves to a nice lunch in the Bay or a swim, as it was lovely and sunny but a tad humid.  Overall, a very pleasant morning walk.

Gay

Myrtle Beach, Big Tree

Sunday 4 April 2021

Easter Sunday saw more people than usual on the beaches in Murramarang National Park near South Durras, but we generally had the bush tracks to ourselves, apart from a couple of cyclists.

Our 10 km Easy/Medium walk started at South Durras Village and traversed Mill Beach and Wasp Head.  We passed above Emily Miller Beach and Dark Beach, then dropped down onto Myrtle Beach for a morning tea break in the shade.  The group then took forest tracks to the west and then north through dappled shade.  This section of the forest has quite a few large trees and branches down, which we skirted.

As the temperature climbed towards 28 deg C, we stopped at the top of a hill for lunch, and then it was an easy meander back to the village.

Karen

Eurobodalla Regional Botanical Gardens

Thursday 1 April 2021

Photos courtesy of Helen

A perfect Autumn day for a stroll around the Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Gardens. Jill greeted 10 walkers in the car park and after the usual Covid registrations all 11 headed off.  Three members enjoyed ‘back to childhood’ rides on the slippery dip and then we all observed how the bush is regenerating after the fires. So much has been done clearing tracks and burnt trees. Well done to all who have achieved so much to date.

It was wonderful to hear the bird life and see 2 kangaroos who preferred to observe us from a distance.

We enjoyed our morning tea snacks in picnic style. After the recent rains the contrast of the brilliant green vegetation and the charred trees was wonderful, and witnessed many ants nest along the tracks.

Some walkers decided a coffee at the Gardens was a perfect way to end a delightful morning.  Thank you Jill.

Helen

Lemon Tree Creek

Thursday 1 April 2021

Photos courtesy of Karen and Helen

Thirteen Batemans Bay Bushwalkers were very happy to be out and about hiking in the bush behind Lake Tabourie on what was shaping up to be a glorious autumn day.  The Sun was shining, the air was fresh and clean after all the recent rains and it was just good to catch up with friends again on the track.

The bushwalkers wound their way through the bush – along fire trails, mountain bike trails, two short stints on gravel roads and some smaller tracks down near the creeks which fortunately we were all able to cross without getting our boots too wet.  The undergrowth was pretty thick which made the hiking very pleasant as it was all green and the burnt trees didn’t quite stand out as much.

No snakes to be seen but loads of cobwebs across the track and incredibly one very industrious spider had already spun a new web across the track for our return leg!

All in all a pretty straight forward 10.3kms hike with a few long slow hills to get the heart rate up and with the bit of humidity about we all enjoyed stopping for morning tea and lunch to cool down.

Gay

Jagungal Wilderness Recce

Monday 15 – Friday 19 March 2021

Photos courtesy of Rachael, Donna, Glenn, Helen, Mary and Gay

Seven keen Batemans Bay Bushwalkers headed off in to the Snowy Mountains last week to undertake a recce of the Jagungal Wilderness Walk.  It’s a 44 km circuit starting from the carpark at the beginning of the Round Mountain trail and we did it over three and a bit days!

 

It was my very first backpack walk over a few days carrying what felt like everything bar the kitchen sink in my pack!  I haven’t been sure if I was really into this type of overnight multi day hiking but have to say, I am now hooked!  We were very fortunate with the weather – light misty rain overnights but good walking weather during the day – or as Donna, would say, Perfect!

 

This was an opportunity for those of us inexperienced hikers to ‘have a go’ with some like minded hikers with no pressure and lots of discussions on equipment and general hiking tips and advice.

 

It was about a 6 hour drive from Moruya to the carpark with a lovely stop in Nimmitabel Bakery for morning coffee and lunch at the Adaminaby Bakery.  On Monday afternoon we walked 1.5kms to the Round Mountain Hut campsite arriving about 4.30p.m.

 

On day 2, we walked from Round Mountain hut to O’Keefe’s Hut campsite – approximately 13.8kms including a river crossing!  Mary tried the garbage bags over her boots but alas it was not very successful.  The rest of us had croc type shoes which did work well and were light to carry.

 

On Day three, we walked 5kms to the Mt Jagungal trackhead at Tumut River.  Three of us were keen to walk to the top and left our packs at the trackhead while the others walked on the 2.3kms to Derschkos Hut and had an afternoon of rest and relaxation.  The walk to the top of Mt Jagungal was 5.7kms return in a very diverse environment – head high heath, some rocky scree to negotiate, a lovely ridge but in gale force freezing winds, and then the clouds over Mt Jagungal.  Well worth the effort and once the clouds cleared, the views were amazing.  We eventually joined up with the others at Derschkos Hut around 4p.m.

 

Day four and our final 14.5 kms to complete back to our cars and given it was all on good tracks (except for a few surprise hills!) we were back at the cars by 1p.m.

 

Our final night was spent at Three Mile Dam and then after a very quick pack up in the morning due to the inclement weather, we headed to Adaminaby Bakery for brekky and Cobargo for lunch arriving back in Moruya around 2p.m.

 

Everyone was really happy with their achievements and I, for one, can say that I am ready to do more multi day hikes!

 

Thank you Karen for organising, Mary for inspiring us, Donna, Glenn, Rachael and Helen for being part of this awesome team. And if you are like me and are interested in multi day hikes but not sure whether its right for you, don’t hesitate to talk to us.  We would love to regale you with our experiences!

Gay