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 Page 2 The Sydney Bushwalker November 1988
 MEET THE MINISTER
 by Alex Colley
 The Hon. Tim Moore, Minister for the Environment, has accepted our invitation to address the Club on November 30th. Some members would have
 met the Minister at our Anniversary dinner, but for those who dId not this is a great opportunity to exchange views with him.
@@ Line 83: / Line 86: @@
 I would, however, appeal to members to confine their discussion to matters of concern to bushwalkers, and if they don't agree with Club conservation policy, to secure its amendment in our monthly general 'meetings before expressing their views to the Minister.
 ##*##**######
-CLUB MEMBERS HONOURED
-This month we report on the elevation to honorary membership of three of the Club members, Gordon Redmond to Honorary Non-active Member and Christa and Bob Ydunger to Honorary Active Members. Such honours are not lightly bestowed and represent many years of working for the Club. Such work is usually seen as a reward in itself. To confer honorary membership gives present members an opportunity to show their appreciation to members of past years for building the Club into the strong structure that it now is.
+===== Club Members Honoured =====
+This month we report on the elevation to honorary membership of three of the Club members, Gordon Redmond to Honorary Non-active Member and Christa [Christa Younger] and Bob Younger to Honorary Active Members. Such honours are not lightly bestowed and represent many years of working for the Club. Such work is usually seen as a reward in itself. To confer honorary membership gives present members an opportunity to show their appreciation to members of past years for building the Club into the strong structure that it now is.
 At recent meetings motions were proposed and carried that these members were to be offered honorary membership; Gordon (who no longer walks with SBW): Honorary Non-Active Membership and Christa and Bob Younger (who are still walking with the Club): Honorary Active Membership.
 On behalf of all members, the Sydney Bushwalker congratulates Christa, Bob and Gordon.
-A VERY HONOURABLE MEMBER
+===== A Very Honourable Member =====
 by Alex Colley
 The Committee's decision to confer Honorary Membership (non-active) on Gordon Redmond is a timely recognition of his many years of service to the Club. He held the view that the Club's best interest was served by its officers remaining in their jobs for a long period and set an example few can equal. He joined the club in 1961, became Treasurer in 1962, and with a break of two years held office continuously thereafter - quite likely a Club record. He was Treasurer for 7 years and two years later became Auditor and then later a Trustee. He brought a wealth of accounting and business experience to the task and simplified and clarified our accounts, ensuring that they soundly reflected our financial position.
-Gordon is a good walker. He led many program walks, and in parties with Frank Leyden, Bill Cosgrove and others active a few years back, covered a good deal of country that was
-new or little known to the SSW. This included much of the Upper Wolgan and Capertee, little visited parts of the southern Blue Mo6ntains, and several ten day walks on the upper tributories of the Macleay, such as the Apsley, Kunderang Brook and the Muddy and Styx Rivers. tb both have nostalgic recollections of the time when together we followed the Mitchell or Mann River from Glen Innes to Jackadgery. I don't think this has been done since.
+Gordon is a good walker. He led many program walks, and in parties with Frank Leyden, Bill Cosgrove and others active a few years back, covered a good deal of country that was new or little known to the SBW. This included much of the Upper Wolgan and Capertee, little visited parts of the southern Blue Mountains, and several ten day walks on the upper tributaries of the Macleay, such as the Apsley, Kunderang Brook and the Muddy and Styx Rivers. We both have nostalgic recollections of the time when together we followed the Mitchell or Mann River from Glen Innes to Jackadgery. I don't think this has been done since.
-Gordon brought the same dedication to his job as he did to his recreation. For a time he worked for a firm which was dead keen to increase sales irrespective of the credit worthiness of buyers. The firm appointed him to the tough position of credit manager. On one
-of our northern trips we passed through Walcha. Gordon - height 6 feet, weight 14 stone, in fine condition and wearing his shorts, looked every inch a heavyweight boxer on a training
+Gordon brought the same dedication to his job as he did to his recreation. For a time he worked for a firm which was dead keen to increase sales irrespective of the credit worthiness of buyers. The firm appointed him to the tough position of credit manager. On one of our northern trips we passed through Walcha. Gordon - height 6 feet, weight 14 stone, in fine condition and wearing his shorts, looked every inch a heavyweight boxer on a training
-run. He decided to collect a two years overdue debt from a recalcitrant debtor. It took
+run. He decided to collect a two years overdue debt from a recalcitrant debtor. It took him less than 5 minutes to appear again, cheque in hand. Being uncertain of our fate in the gorges beyond, he posted it to his firm before we went on.
-him less than 5 minutes to appear again, cheque in hand. Being uncertain of our fate in the gorges beyond, he posted it to his firm before we went on.
 Gordon believes that participation in Club affairs brings its own reward, and it is to be hoped that others will follow his fine example.
-Page 4 The Sydney Bushwalker November 1988
-CHRISTA AND BOB YOUNGER
+Christa and Bob Younger
-Both Christa (nee Calnan) and Bob came to SBW in the middle 1940s, and have been doing a lot of things - including much bush walking - with and for the Club ever since. Amongst these sundry activities, Christa typed the Walks Program on to stencils for some years when
-our printing system was a Gestetner Duplicator; and apart from his term as President (1972-74) Bbb has been leading walks for over 42 years, is involved with Search & Rescue, and has been prominent as compere at many Reunion campfires.
+Both Christa (nee Calnan) and Bob came to SBW in the middle 1940s, and have been doing a lot of things - including much bush walking - with and for the Club ever since. Amongst these sundry activities, Christa typed the Walks Program on to stencils for some years when our printing system was a Gestetner Duplicator; and apart from his term as President (1972-74) Bob has been leading walks for over 42 years, is involved with Search & Rescue, and has been prominent as compere at many Reunion campfires.
-Betty Hall (member 1947-67) remembers: "Christa Younger was one of the first people I
-walked with on joining the SBW in 1947. Norma Rowen was her usual 'offsider' but I think
+Betty Hall (member 1947-67) remembers: "Christa Younger was one of the first people I walked with on joining the SBW in 1947. Norma Rowen was her usual 'offsider' but I think Bob was somewhere in the background, although as a Tech student he had little time for bush walking or anything else! Over the years we shared many happy weekends at Era and attended Reunions with our respective families.
-Bob was somewhere in the background, although as a Tech student he had little time for bush
-walking or anything else! Over the years we shared many happy weekends at Era and attended
-Reunions with our respective families.
 "My most vivid memory of Christa was on one of Max Gentle's trips down the Colo. Max navigated with an aircraft compass like a large crystal ball so we were never 'lost'. We
 were, however, somewhat behind timetable as we struck some unexpectedly rough country. Christa was one of those people who always looked neat in the bush but on this occasion, what with several rimer crossings and near exhaustion, she was almost unrecognisable and the other females were about the same. We finished the trip close to tears, but still carrying our own packs and Max's muttered accolade was 'If I'd known what it was going to be like, I wouldn't have taken any women with me!' - sexist but appreciated.
 "My chief memory of Bob is as a photographer. The Club was a thriving matrimonial agency in those days and Phil and I were married just after Christa and Bob. Bob took a most interesting photograph of my being carried over the threshold of our new home. He is an excellent photographer but on this occasion he focussed on my legs and completely cut off everything else. I have always wondered if it was intentional!
 "Bob and Christa have changed very little over the years. Christa still wears a slightly embarrassed look during Bob's less inhibited moments and Bob still hails his friends with his old bush call - a cross between a coo-ee and a wolf howl which causes a minor disturbance in suburban streets. They are a perfect union of opposites and long may they both continue exactly as they are."
-Jim Brown says: "Christa and Bob? Oh, yes, known 'em since my first walk with the
-Club in December '46 - Bob led it. They were - are- the sort of Club people who made you realise you just had to join 'em, or. you were likely to miss out on the best thing you'd ever
+Jim Brown says: "Christa and Bob? Oh, yes, known 'em since my first walk with the Club in December '46 - Bob led it. They were - are - the sort of Club people who made you realise you just had to join 'em, or you were likely to miss out on the best thing you'd ever found. Now a couple of flash-backs from 1947....
-found. Now a couple of flash-backs from 1947....
-. Groping through belts of mist the party reaches the top of Gentle's Pass in the Lower Gangerang. After a couple of days of searching rain, the boulders are damp and slippery and dribbles of water are oozing through the crevice that forms the easy way down. Some of the party elect to sit down and lower themselves over the dripping rocks and as they do so the robust baritone of Bob Younger - waiting at the bottom to arrest any glissading bodies - declaims to the tune of a pop song of the time -
+. Groping through belts of mist the party reaches the top of Gentles Pass in the Lower Gangerang. After a couple of days of searching rain, the boulders are damp and slippery and dribbles of water are oozing through the crevice that forms the easy way down. Some of the party elect to sit down and lower themselves over the dripping rocks and as they do so the robust baritone of Bob Younger - waiting at the bottom to arrest any glissading bodies - declaims to the tune of a pop song of the time -\\
-"Slippery slip, slide and slide
+"Slippery slip, slide and slide\\
 First on your back, then on your side...."
 . A tired, dirty, dishevelled party huddles in the back of a truck returning from a walk on the Colo - the trip mentioned by Betty Hall, organised by Raley Cotter and navigated (with crystal ball) by the legendary figure Max Gentle. Note that name - it's significant. Colo trips were pretty rare in 1947 and this one, including two descents into the Colo Valley and two climbs out of it, had been rugged enough.
 As clouds of dust swirl in under the canvas canopy of the truck the weary walkers discuss their plans for the Labour Day Holiday - three weeks away. Bob Younger asks "What are you doing, Jim?" and I answer "I've an invite to go from Putty to Gospers Mountain - another Roley and Max epic". "Ah," says Christa, ever so sweetly, "another Gentle trip?"
-Meryl Watman (member 1949-87) tells in the magazine of March 1962 of the Youngers organising and leading a six-day summer walk in the Australian Alps, accompanied by Bill Hall and herself. Day 5, from White's River to Tin Hut along Disappointment Spur and around the
-November 1988 The Sydney Bushwalker Page 5
+Meryl Watman (member 1949-87) tells in the magazine of March 1962 of the Youngers organising and leading a six-day summer walk in the Australian Alps, accompanied by Bill Hall and herself. Day 5, from White's River to Tin Hut along Disappointment Spur and around the shoulders of Gungartan proved reasonably strenuous, but as Meryl has it "Given good leadership, fine weather plus early starts, even medium walkers can cover a fair bit of ground at an easy pace and, most important of all, enjoy it ... a great trip, Bob."
-shoulders of Gungartan proved reasonably strenuous, but as Meryl has it "Given good leadership, fine weather plus early starts, even medium walkers can cover a fair bit of ground at an easy pace and, most important of all, enjoy it a great trip, Bob."
 And Bill Capon has his two bobs worth: -
-"Easter 1988. dammed into a slot on Hamlets Crown high above Ettrema Creek, rope around tree waiting for the party. First to appear through the mist at the top of the 500 metre climb was Bob. Not bad for 65 I thought. Always cheerful when the going gets tough.
-Last year we tried to climb out of Holland Gorge to Mount Elliott but ended up on Kirkpatrick Creek camping with leeches. Bob got the fire going and then cheered everyone up with his stories of yesteryear.
+"Easter 1988. Jammed into a slot on Hamlets Crown high above Ettrema Creek, rope around tree waiting for the party. First to appear through the mist at the top of the 500 metre climb was Bob. Not bad for 65 I thought. Always cheerful when the going gets tough. Last year we tried to climb out of Holland Gorge to Mount Elliott but ended up on Kirkpatrick Creek camping with leeches. Bob got the fire going and then cheered everyone up with his stories of yesteryear.
-Bob began walking with the Club in the 1940s. As far as I know he is the only member
-. of the old guard still regularly going on solid Club walks and has been on quite a few walks I have led in recent years. Like many others I'm looking forward to Bob's company in the
+Bob began walking with the Club in the 1940s. As far as I know he is the only member of the old guard still regularly going on solid Club walks and has been on quite a few walks I have led in recent years. Like many others I'm looking forward to Bob's company in the coming years."
-coming years."
 And Barbara Bruce has the last word:-
-"I have known Bob and Christa now for many years so I have had lots of opportunities to experience and observe Bob is quick to assist anyone in need, physically or otherwise. He
-also possesses a wicked sense of humour. Christa is a very caring person who prefers to stay
+"I have known Bob and Christa now for many years so I have had lots of opportunities to experience and observe Bob is quick to assist anyone in need, physically or otherwise. He also possesses a wicked sense of humour. Christa is a very caring person who prefers to stay out of the limelight. She is a very strong and capable lady but it is easy to tell from her demeanour that she is also very warm and gentle. While Bob has been more in front in activities with the club, Christa has still been there in the background: Bob may have been President but Christa was the reliable typist of our Walks Program (on stencils) for quite a long time."
-out of the limelight. She is a very strong and capable lady but it is easy to tell from
-her demeanour that she is also very warm and gentle. While Bob has been more in front in
+===== Porter's Deua River Portage =====
-activities with the club, Christa has still been there in the background: Bob may have been President but Christa was the reliable typist of our Walks Program (on stencils) for quite a long time."
-* * * * * * * * * *
-PORTER'S  DEUA RIVER PORTAGE
 by Deborah Shapira
 It was a windy morning when we set off at 7 am to take half the cars to Pike's Saddle to begin the walk. Yes, 7 am, you read it correctly - after all this walk was graded medium/hard, AND this was after we'd had to travel in a stupendous traffic jam on the Mittagong Freeway along with the rest of the world's fun-in-the-sun holiday makers the previous evening. So we set off at a brisk trot down and up and down and up and down the 27 km fire trail that would lead us to the Deua River at Bendethera. While enjoying morning tea at Breakfast Creek (a differenct one) we watched with interest a couple of 4WDs negotiate a big puddle and then a muddy embankment. These drivers were in fact the beginning of quite a procession of various groups all heading for the large grassy banks of the Deua River at Bendethera. Some had so much gear they looked as if they were going to form a permanent settlement, while others looked as if they were heading to a hotel resort attired in dresses and stockings and carrying large fancy looking suitcases. I did not personally
 find this offensive (to each their own) except that many vehicles bore stickers with slogans such as "Vehicle Access to more Wilderness Areas". Not such a problem if the group is environmentally conscious and conscientious (after all we depend a lot on such access at times), except that the group with the most stickers was enjoying lots of morning tea-breaks accompanied by the throwing of beer cans and other litter about. Perhaps their idea of wilderness is to turn the whole countryside into a large tip. Naturally, a lot of discussion ensued within our group as we went all the faster in order to find our own idea of a wilderness experience.