User Tools

Site Tools


194506

This is an old revision of the document!


The Sydney Bushwalker

A Monthly Bulletin devoted to matters of interest to The Sydney Bushwalkers, 5 Hamilton Street, Sydney

====No.126 June, 1945 Price 6d.

EditorRay Kirkby
Assistant EditorDorothy Brigden
ProductionYvonne Rolfe
Sales & SubscriptionsJean Harvey

Contents

Page
Camping in the Rainby The Old One 2
Wounds Which Never Healby Dorothy Dix(inc) 4
Who'd Have Thought It? 5
Bouddi Working Beeby One of the Bees 6
Our Absent Friends - Geoff HigsonThe Services 8
GuouogangLaurie Rayner10
Paddy - the sheet anchor 12

Advertisements

Goodman's 8

From "Snake"

by D. H. Lawrence

And as he put his head into that dreadful hole,
And ache slowly drew up, snake easing his shoulders, and entered further,
A sort of horror, a sort of protest against his withdrawing into that horrid black hole,
Deliberately going into the blackness, and slowly withdrawing himself after,
Overcame me now his back was turned.

I looked round, I put down my pitcher,
I picked up a clumsy log
And threw it at the warter trough with a clatter.

I think it did not hit him,
But suddenly that part of him that was left, behind convulsed in undignified haste,
Writhed like lightning, and was gone
Into the black hole,the earth-lipped fissure in the wall-front
At which in the intense still noon, I stared with fascination.

And immediately I regretted it,
I thought how paltry, how vulgar, what a mean act!
I despised myself and the voices of my accursed human education.

And I thought of the albatross,
And I wished he would come back, my snake.
For he seemed to me again like a king,
Like a king in exile, uncrowned in the underworld,
Now due to be crowned again.

And so I missed my chance with one of the lords of life.
And I have something to expiate; a pettiness.

Camping In The Rain

by The Old One.

When I originally offered (I mean, was requested) to write this article for that brilliant publication, “The Busivralker”, I found it difficult to decide which style I should use. Would it be my best Shakespearian very blank verse? No, I felt that would never do. What would the protectors of our moral code say if I produced something like Act II, Scene II, lines 56 to 60 of “A Midsummer Night's Dream”? Alas, it seemed that I could not use my famous blankety, blank verse; I would have to reserve it for another “buck's” party. However, I dust get on with the story of camping in the rain. It was mid-afternoon ae eight stalwart tales.,…stop! Is this true? Well, there were “The Old….”, developing a middle-aged spread both from side and back elevations and his two companions, “The Curly Headed Boy” with the blossom of youth still on his cheeks and “The Emaciated One”; “The Wizard” and his “Shadow”, well past the bloom of youth, a re-oresentative of “The Dying Race”, that “Buxom Lad” and “Mr. ICIANZ - STALWART ? No - in fact, quite ordinary. It seems we shall have to start again. It was mid-afternoon as eight rather ordinary males reached the top of the grassy saddle. The sun had long since disappeared, submerged in cloud. There was a distant peal of thuhder and the clouds had already settled on the neighbouring mountain like the extra fat lady subsiding into the tram seat just vacated by the extra small school-boy, All of winch means that a storm was brewing and brewing fast, the clouds were heavy, th:2 thunder more insistent and there were some spots of rain. The eight men stopped Should they camp on the - 1-en sward below as recommended by the “Old Master Max” or should they go on for another hour . or so and make a hole in that eighteen miles to be covered the next day? Here, at least, was a chance for one of those ar;uments for which “The Wizard” and his “Shadow” are so famous (or should I say infamous?). Followed five minutes of the usual inconclusive discussion punctuated by more peals of thunder and more drops of rain, At lest a couple of extra loud claps of thuhder cut bort the argument much to the visible annoyance and secret disappointment of the two last mentiened. Down the hill all ch-irged, collecting tent poles on the way, Having made up their minds in a “helluva” hurry, they were now anxious to pitch the tents. Now we shall have e short lesson in choosing a camp site. Mr.ICIANZ and his room-mate, the representative of “The Dying Race” pitch their tent with reckless abandon over a brown stain on the green grass (more will he heard of this brown stain anon), “The Buxom Lad” erects his home nearby on a more or less level piece of ground, “The Old…” and his companions throw up their domicile with all speed (thy are so tired after an all-nighter in the train, they could “sleep on the proverbial clothes-line anyhow”) on a spot with a fairly considerable slope and “The Wizard” - what has he been doing all this time? You have guessed aright; he and the “Shadow” are locked in fiery discussion, “Its too slopey”, “that dead tree might come down on top of the tent”, “it looks better on the other side of the creek”, “no, the ground's too uneven, we'll try up further”. They go 3. further up across a little side creek L “no, this is worse” - and ao back to the other tents, “Ah, there is a nice little hollow with soft green grass and just right for the hip.” Up goes the tent at last; the e,:re t decision has been made, All this time the “Rain God” has stayed his hand but he is getting impatient, What have the others been doing durine7 this deli-htful little interlude, “The Emaciated One”, with true foresight born of Previous wet camps, has been working on the fire which is blazing merrily, “The Curly Headed Boy” has unpacked the evening meal ready for preparation, “The Old,…” has procured the water. What organisation; a job for everyone with each one doing it! Who is the genius behind this marvellous effort? Security reasons prevent disclosure of his name; lot us hope, however, that history will not overlook him. An extra loud peal of thunder, some extra large raindrops and the sky opens - its coming down in torrents. The whole party is under canvas but not for long. Thera is a considerable run-off and water is pouring in under the tents. “The Emaciated One” and “The Old….” rush out in their boots and hats and frannUcally commence trenching on the high side of the tent. The “Buxom Lad” and Mr.ICIANZ are also hard at work, in their boots and hats, trenching around their respective domiciles: “The Emaciated One”, again with commendable foresight, has piled a few logs over the fire to protect it, as far as possible, from the downpour. The trenchers look up from their labours, and wondelli who is the lone figure sitting on the log. Can it be - yes, it is - “The Shadow”, Wra.7o,-2d in his greundsheet he looks more a Fhedow than ever. And what of “The Wizard”? He is still under canvas protected from the water tumbling from the sky but struggling bravely against the gradually rising water in that beautiful hollow. He is not swimting yet but it won't be long. The trenchers straighten up with signs of relief, their work comIpleted, The downpour eases off and subsides into some ste,dy raining just like that parched customer at the local hostelry who, after sinking half a dozen ,eints, settles down to some steady drihking, The trenchers would have derived greater satisfaction if it had poured for, say, another half hour but they are, nevertheless, glad of the lull in the storm. Now we can, perhaps turn our attentiom to the fire and tea.

Out come the pieces of dry wood which were stored in the tent immediately it had been erected and the fire is soon beck to its original vitality. The v-rious food parties are hard at work preparing the evening meal. But, stay - where are “The Wiz rd” end his companion? They are off up the hill looking for another site. At last their search is rewerded and they are back demolishing their late homestead, which is carried of to the new position. A n invitation comes from the others to make use of the fire, but it is not to be; “The Wizard” has his fighting blood up and is determined to get a fire going. All this time it is raining steadily, the others have finished their hot meal while the “Shadow” has been engaged in a number of fruitless missions snatching burning brands from the big fire, As to whether “The Wizard” ever got that fire going, the others are not sure. Next morning the “Shadow” was heard to complain of the cold tea and with commendable d\-termination insisted on cooking his breakfast on the community fire. ' Mr. ICIANZ and his companion were rather late in rising, It appears that an aroma arising from the brown stain, after it had been d-cm-Dend by the rain, had drugged them into extra sound slumber. I am sorry, readers, that I cannot, on account of dictates of decency and modesty, reveal the actors in this drama which should have a warning object lesson for you, but turn to page leven and se:: if you h'Ive guessed correctly. . WOUNDS WHICH NEVER HEAL by Dorothy Dix (Inc). It is ofteh said that hearts do not break - they merely bend. In other words, nature and time will'heal any mental wound if not deliberately prevented from so doing. Similarly it is so with most wounds of the body, Imagine the sorry sight of the legs of bush- walkers if nature and time had not done thAr healing work. But trees are different from human beings. Even a pin stuck through the bark of a tree will leave a wound which remains until death. Never is a tent Deg or tomahawk, nonchalantly stuck in a tree so that it won't be missed, forgotten by the tree. It leaves a wound which never heals. The tree may grow its bark over the injury, but the injury is there none the less - perhaps a blood vein or distortion which never hels. 'So, if you are tempted to run your motor car into a tree, remember that, though your car may be repaired, the tree cannot. . It is for this reason that foresters,- who lova their tr::es, never run their trucks into them ! I don't sulopose it would be on account of the shortage of Q.-bare parts and tyres would it? Ed,), 5. mL WHO'D HAVE THOUGHT IT ? Should old AcouaintrInr;e ….,…… One very Pleasant result of the improvement in the war position is the return or threatened return home of many exiles. Ralph Holroyd recently headed a list of Prisoners of War who had been released. Gordon Upton, a keen young walker whom we had not the pleasure of knowing lon7 before he disappeared into the air force, recently arrived back from Canada. Peter Allen leaped into fame by coming out from England in the Duke's plane. The fact that the Duke was hot on board was merely an oversight. Wanted - a Composer, Tbo engagement of Elsa Isaacs to Malcolm McGree:7or provided a libretto which would surely have inspired Richard Wagner to compose a further Ring Opera, The news was to be on the Front Page any day when, unfortunately, the jeweller who was engaged upon hewing the last diamond into shrIne, wes arrested for some illegal dealing and all his work confiscated. The strin on Malcolm was terrific, However, all came right in the en,l, The gener,o1 reaction to news of the engagement seemed to be “not real eurprisd”. Unsunsjinotine_pg l -Should be the deserved title of Yvonne Rolfe who for countless years has performed the arduous byt unspectacular work of roneoing the magazine. Poor Yvonne has to cope, with a “rattle-trap” of a michine which was old vv:.en it was purchased ten years ago. Yvonne fears that th, Jxample she sts her infant son on duplicating days may Put him in the World's Chv m-.2ion Swearer class. One Fact, Joyce Trimble and Arthur Brophy were marrid recently. That's all we khow and it is not our fault, as we see this pair so seldom. “What bird is that?” A plague of astonishingly coloured garments has broken out in the club and so far no cure has been discovered except amputation. The garments range from THE OLD SCHOOL GUERNSEY to a variegated fez, We shall be charitable and put it down to 1.:ck of goupons or the contents of some “Bundles for Sydney” forwarded on by the Solomon Islanders, While the garments remain in the bush only the King Parrota will need to feel offended. Getting Very Fast. Jean Moprett and flo Allsworth have not long since returned from a biking holiday during which they stayed with several old friends of the Club. It was fortunate that at each place there was a female for rubbing- down purposes. A Wink is as Good as a Nod to a Blind Horse, As the Nobles were setting out on a tough walk of several miles last Sunday they were offered a lift by the Northern Suburbs Ambulance The professional eye of an ambulance man instantly recognises “the sore- distressed”, However, at this stage, they were not sufficiently tired to lie down in an ambulance but later bitterly regretted the hasty refucial. BOUDDI WORKING BEE by One of the Bees. History tells us that the colonisation of Australia was due' to the loss of the American Colonies which caused the need for another penal settlement for England's convicts, Now it will be claimed by some that, had it not been for the timely help of those same American Colonies, it is doubtful whether Governor Marie Byles would have had the opportunity to found her Penal settlement at Bouddi Natural Park on 28th and 29th of April last, For no worse crime, in most instances, them grumbling on account of having to work slightly longer hours since the war at greatly enhanced rates of pay, 150 people were summarily transported to work for nothing on improvements to the Park. The transported even included four children whose only crime (which in these enlightened days would be classified merely as an error of judgmelnt) was the choice of Bushwalkers as parents. The First Fleet arrived on Friday night and l'Inded at Killcare. Do hot imagine, however, that these people suffered additional privations. Apart from the fact that they had Saturday morning off from work at home and were not expected to go more than “dead slow” in the new colony before Sunday, they were able to pounce upon the local shops and, locust-likeldevour all the luxuries in short supply. With the arrival of the multitude of minor offenders on Saturday afternoon, the site of the settlement began to seethe with people. Tiny Beach, the chosen spot, is only a small, sandy indentation but on the cliffs above the beach is a comparatively large area of flat groundsuitable for camping. The tents grew in two, more or less, parallel rows with a street between - a long, long row like the main street of a country town. Upon first coming upon the rising village one thought “This is the largest congre,ation of tents I have seen for a long time”, But after a few paces, a bend in the road would reveal another “straight” of tents and then a tree would be found to be screening still a further cluster: on and on the street wound bewilderingly. Indeed it outgrew the available camping space and at least one satellite township had to be cot/I.:lanced in a neighlpouring valley which looked out over the sea while the original settlement spread right to the very cliffs in romantic, if rather exposed, positions. Yet even these communities did not contain the whole population for a race of supermen, I believe, established themselves at Maitland Bay. The latter are veld to have been aristocrats guilty of trifling offences such as too great familiarity with the ancestral butler. Hight. A mellow moon gazed kindly into the amphitheatre of beach with black galleries facing a stage of white sand, The crowd ranged around the fire, set on the beach and burning redly. The atmosphere was of smugglers relaxing in some inaccessible cove knowing that excisemen and worries could both be banished but over the tiers of faces arched one solitary tree/ curving and flowing with Oriental grace woven in a tapestry. Yet this was no. place for solitary meditation: the recurring hiss of the surf as it flung itself on the sands induced an eir of expectancy, of excitement, of awareness. And, as the evening passed in song and reminiscence, each one present knew that he had been privileged to participate in a ceremony in uniquely beautiful surroundings, After pleasure cometh. pains Who could have been so pesAmistic as to predict that a wicked cloud would, with enveloping tentIcles, crush the moonlizht and pour torrents on the peaceful caieears? However, instead of having to remove mountains wit the bare hands as on any such usuel occrlrion there were at hand in -,.nticipation of the next re.7's sho,e1sImattocks, tomahawks, adzes, crowbars, forks, hammers, axes-so one just had to choose the most suitable instrument for devieting an incipient river. Saturday night's signs of growing Democr cy must hove irk,d the autocratic Governor so on Sunday, at an early hour, she once again very firmly seized the reins of Government, But every detail of the numerous jobs which hod to be done and adequate chain-gangs to perform them had been arranged meticulously. Clearing tracks, mending tanks, planting trees, making fire- places, erecting signposts, repairing fences were a few of the tasks which were carried out with speed increased by the knowl-dge that the sooner it was over the sooner one could relax. Every previous colonising venture seems to have failed miserably on account of some unthought-of difficulty but not Bouddi. Let me remark on two aspects. In order to ensure an unfailing water su,:lply at Tiny Beach 3 dam was designed to span the trickle which managed not to evaporate before reaching the sea. Begs of cement were carridown from the road on the becks of mole convicts (of the worst type and sentenced to hard labour) on Saturd':ly hi7ht and left at hand,for the rering of the,great wall. Strangely enough the dam was comj3letd despite the fact that the builders relaxed occo sion-lly by flinging cement at each others faces, Though a great improvJment noticed in the faces this was not the object of the gathering. The Intelligence, St-nd erect with awe and resp-ct. Whre would 72 be without the Intelligence? Where, indeed? The President of e well-known club was allotted the task of keeping up the lines of comflunic,tion ,nd, e those working away from the h,adqu'irters toiled, they lived in conetint fear of this euphemistic Gestapo. 'Mould Ehe gallop by, riding oide-sdrae on a white charger, 1Nith heir streaming in th_ v,ind? Cr v'oule she p_del UP the track, head bent dowel in groaning effort, on a J - n se bike? ue :id not see her so we presume no transport err-Ang d. So successful was the colony end so nostic did the Govrnor become for her precious files, her ponderous tomes, her bills of co,ts and costs to Bill that she granted everyone a narden on Sunday ni-ht or only one, unnecessary condition - that they return every year for BOB Day. 7. :1)8,CCCAL'eLaalglf(,,:a la-r(filfa]a_ELnikkf:00.YLLU:23-tra,,Q2,L,wa'L, O YOUR OPTOMETRIST @ F. GOOMAN M.I.O. Optometrist Ind Optician . C.) 20 Hunter Street SIdney, Tel: B3438 C;..) (0, (F) @- Modern Methods of Eye Examination. and Eye Training @ Careful Spectacle Fitting ET? @ Fixing an appointment will facilitate the resarvetion , of time for giving you proper attention, but should 0 ' you be unable to ring us beforehand, your visit will e be welcome at any time you may choose to call. C (D ElaCEC(Tr'nt_Ta_a.'f=CCIA tIKO''',Cak OuiGXfl OUR ABSENT FRIENDS During the month we have received letters from the following: Ninian Melville Les Douglas Bob Savage Goof Pigeon Bill Burke Frank Ricketts- -Deuce Simpson Gordon Upton, 22(z fLinville appreciate those letters of yours as, apart from the “Bushwalker” which I receive more or less regularly, yours is the first letter that has given me any news of the club and its personalities for many months and it is like a flshback to the “Old Days of the Blue Gum, Araluen and Shoalhaven”, so I hope it won't be long before I hear from you in the future. could do with a few cheers in the way of letters as these days I don't even bother to expect them, except for duty letters of course. So when I do get one, rather a lars e ceremony with offerings to the aircraft that drops it from the blue is the order of the day and everyone else in the section cheers for me. Ap rt from that I am extr:mely satisfied here more satisfied than anywhere else, as a matter of fact, with no worries and as fit as is possible. - Give my congrats to Edna. Your description of the Raunion brings back fond memories of past Reunions in peace time at Leonav etc. TugFie's trip has the earmarks of a wild and wondrous time but the thought of Tumut isn't very nice for the man on the land, a most disheartening job under present circumstances.

Well I'll go into my dance now and try and give you some of the “G.G.” of this place, As for the Solomons I supnose by now I'm as wise as the next bloke but as for following in that gentleman's (or was he) footsteps I'll decline gracefully, I have been here five months now and am extremely contented. We have 9. wandered over a great area and done a lot of things. No doubt you heva rd about “thoae brave commandos” in many a garbled newspaper account. e SDRIGtimes get them sent to us and they are quite a 6,Jod laugh. We have always lived under fair conditions duo to us having a large number of natives working with us and when we want'anything clone “C)rriht now leepoee you like workin' house blong me”. That's all there is to it. :lthough we are stuck right out in the Nips, to see us during the day you'd think we were in the middle of Hyde Park, Pretentious intelligence offices (two of) and Sig, offices as large as life. Huts evirywhere and all the time we wonder why”Nile“ doesn't have a go at us instead of us having to e;o. out ncl find him, Where this place is,used to be an old native clearing and it has waving oaims and jungle scenery and a reelly beautiful sc,ne of o mountain which must remain unnamed. We haye about 50/50 sunshine and rain, a little more sun perhaps and the general apparel is a “1-lap” which just covers the nether quarters and of course boots. So we work and 7lay ( very little of) making the most of life. I am in ch-rge of the Int.Section under the Skinper and sve the taxpayers no end of coin as I am still only a trooper - but one of these days? I have m naged to grab myself a couple of Nips but at the momerib I am under a cloud (shades of former cloys) and I don't go out on patrol probably because if they find me and I get killed they may not be able to collect. It'll all blow over soon I hope and I can get amongst the fight again and pip a few more of them. The trouble is we've got to go out and look for them and we're sometimes wondering for days around their bock areas looking for them, So much for the little brown bathplugs. The areas we have been in have had considerable native and Jap gardens of kau kau, corn, melons, pawpaws and what have you in the tropical line and many and delicious were the feeds we enjLoyed, The photography up here has been rather god but the results disappoLnting due to fungus growing in the film after exnosure, Funny it doesn't touch the unexposed film but once exosed, unless developed immediately th- film is ruined in a few days, So it went on, disappointment after dire-e eointment for months and some really good shots ruined. Now we have a tank and. ven a sunlight enlarger and we have turRed out some extra good negative e letJly. We work at a temperature of 80-85r for a formalin bath before develn,vieent fixes the hardening. The printing isn't worth it up here so I have my first batch ready to send down to be printed. If anything is worth sending I'll a.0 a little reciprocal trading by sending you a photo of somethin7 of intlrest - not may ugly dial. I notice yeu are still keeping I.C.I. poor using, up their envelo,ees - and time I expect - but they cm stend it for the pe r boys “eoyein-f-un” up north. If anyone tells you that Dunk, tell th:i for me that calling it that doesn't make a bullet any softer or o grenade any lese of:ective. Perhaps the Ja e doesn't know its mo-nin;-u,-) evidently his eduction has been neglected, One m-ro thing b,fore 1 go. Here is the latest news - stop press in the late final extra - Right off the rell2rs or E.froieht from the 0.0's moustache. I have been nrein,ted for a milit ry int:llic;ence school, about the only one I have ever wonted to do, It is at (nieuth-ort,Que nslond and starts the end of June, After that I'll nrobobly ,z-et more leave so all in all its something to look forward to and my ualy mug may show its features around the Clubroom down in the not Co far future1 etc. etc. GUOUOGANG by Laurie Rayner. It all st,-t-d bck in 1941 when J-ay and I -oer:J into the iloi)e4etrab1e mist on top of Guouogon,,; in an elide your to find th riaht ridge leading to the Zanangra PLiver. After a sort delib,r7ttion (without map end/or compass) we agreed on the course and -olungd into the rist. Following first a short and stee-) ridge to a ully nnd then fie-hting our way through dense undergrowth for hours, we arrived at 1,st on the banks of - believe it or not - the Cox aver. Now, as you may remember, this incident caused quite a controversy in the club because, accordinc, to the map, we should have climbed at least one intervening ridge to rrive at this noint. Some “nasty folk” even sug- gested that we did climb this ridge in a delirious state due to the effect of the stinging trees. To settle this dispute was our object l'ist King's Birthday weekend and to achieve this result we had to find a ride leading in an unbroken line from Konangaroo Clearing right to the top of Guouogang, As Leon and I set out from Katooelba Station for Correl Swao p we seemed to be on the wrong track. That nie.;ht, this usually quiet path was like a thoroughfare, walking partiee everywhere. The c-,epe,ite reminded u.E. of a reunion and there was fun around th- campfires in which we dare not narticipate as we hoped for an early departure next mor-rline,, This we achieved, ar-ived at ClJar Hill quit: early and 1-joyd the view which seems to lose none of ite ch-rm by le c-):ein7 faeliliar,'PLfter. descending the ladders, our net led us up and ov,r the intervening mountains eventually to Splendour 2ock which was our first opnortunity to study our chances. The ridge was there all right, but was “there not a break in it just where it should join the main mase of the mountain? Anyhow, we shall see for ourselves tomorrow; let us get on now with today's walk, for the shadows are already lengthening. Over rocky Yellow Dog and the Yellow Pup Ridge we dropped to the Cox. It was dark now and our idea of crossing on some rocks was not feasible so we had to unlace our boots and - boy, was it cold! But we were soon warm again at the cheery fire after 'Ditching camp at Konang,roo and discussing the morrow - whether or not we should take rucksacks was the main argument. After many pros and cons it was decided to shoulder them. In the morning, we started our leng climb with an easy slope which became pretty steep as we arproached the crest of the ridge. This ridge commences about a mile upstream on the Cox above Konangaroo and lee ds through three saddles, one of them a veritable bridge or knife edge. The rocks at this point fall sheer down to thl Kanangra River. The vie7es along are beautiful; on one hand, Mt.Morilla and Paralyser, on th: -)th r, Mts. Jenolan and queahgong. One lovely grass-tree covered rock plltfnrn provided an excellent view, both of our route of the previous day end right back to Medlow Bath. As we rushed on to the mountain we moved into thick mist which seems to bo,my fate on Guouogang, Lunch-time was cold and cleelly but we were warmed inwIrdly by the exl)eri nce and satisfaction gained on our feur hour climb. Our luck was not entirely out, however, as we were fortunate to observe the unique dancing of a lyre bird; it imitated all the well-known bird calls and this drew our attenti in to its cinding ground. 11, The mist still blotted out any view so we decided to follow some wallaby tracks down a very steep shale ridge droioping from the second peak of Queahgong to Mumbedah Creek. This we reached by sunset and camped at its unction with the Jenolan Aver. The conversation that night was exclusively of “our” ridge which became easy and well graded as the ni:ht wore on A late st,rt next morning c used us to put on speed to make Medlow Bath via the Jenolan River Gorge, though it seem d e-Isy folio ing upon our success of 1-.he day before. We followed the footprints of Ty,rty along the Cox River and up the Six Foot Track and lost thqm only as we cut across to the charming little church at Mealong. This day was misty too but it did not diminish the loveliness of th valley. Everything seined to cheer us - the moist, glittering gum leaves, the low clouds, even the pools on the road. As we plodded up th72 well graded track to the to of the cliffs at the Hydro, the view of Megalong shrouded in darkness w-,E; the finale to one of my best walks in the Blue 11:ountains. CAMPING IN THE RAIN Dramatis Personae “The Old ” (still c-ena:,red) - John Johns n, 'jr-win:; old disgracefully, “The Curly Headed Boy - Colin Lloyd, whom we h-lve sen rw u - boy and man - these two yvIrs. More discerning peoT)le describe Ray Kirkby as like a young larch - rather than emaciated. As for Frank Lyden Wizard, cure thyself ! Poor, old Bill Cosgrove - when he's too old to walk he'll at 1st an opportunity to talk. Mr.Edward McKinnon, budding ARCHIT7CT, who, we opine, will be ni7?ped in the bud. We idly wonder vhethar Ray Dargan will be as buxo.?,1 when he h ls our years and cares. Mr.John Hunter is employed by Imperial Chemicals etc etc. who hvwe discovered the Philosopher's Stone which turns baser metals into gad. BACKYoIRD BalrALKING + Apart from birds there are few wild animals which survive the overpowering destructive forces which accompany close sottlerilent, but on any common of the outer suburbs of London rabbits are squirrels may be soen. Stranfs-ly enough (or is it?) their o- or'ite numbers of the marsapial family, b3nacoots and possums frool eLt suburban g-rdens. The bondicoot is a somewhat secretive f l]ow for though his piglike grunts often betray him his erstwhile ,rooroonco is generally only Lnown by his burrowing for Lho insects and ;.rubs he lives on The possum on th,, oth3r hand is a merry chao-,, or Rs merry as tho preEence of cats and dogs and the unioredictoble will allow. Each year a ossu. ilakes a nest of twio2_;s in the creeper [2;rowing on th ig11 of the houseInd th. 1vfc fun the nest is tr,caLtlerr, to th end of the guttl:ing hich is under th. eaves. There a ,orooloi oft,n be un El:,-ing throuh the vinter day, but at n-Lht he joins his cobbors to a noi hbours dustbin whoso lid is ins cure (we to th, dustbin). Thrl they top off the 1,00l uth wottlo ceods, gum 111)ts (whatuvLr th,y do oat) und then hunger s J:icofied, hey retire to th- flat roof of our vurandoh for fun and ;faros. Judging by the noise they make the have a number of favourite games, Swinging from the ovarhanc;in..3 branches of the wattle tree and Lnding ,ith a bum on th roof is one, some form of hop-scotch or leap frog in another and (most spectacular of all) is P sort of glissade down th ;teep tiled slopes ending with a hondsloring over the c.).uLtoring and a double roll on tho flat roof. Special gn.1-1 nights are held when the moon is full and o good time is had by all except for those un-orodiotable humans who o re trying to slee,) below. But then of course if folks will insist on sleeping all night and working all day when all good possums are in bed, what can they expect? PADDY PALLIY, (Still makes) = Camp Gear for Walkers, 327 George Street, SYDNEY. 'Phone B3101.

194506.1452651513.txt.gz · Last modified: 2016/01/13 13:18 by tyreless

Donate Powered by PHP Valid HTML5 Valid CSS Driven by DokuWiki