Arapiles

"Arapiles : selected climbs" by Simon Mentz and Glenn Tempest

The new second edition of “Selected climbs” makes the best use of publishing's capabilities.
It has natural colour photographs, many with the routes superimposed on top. The fold-out front cover has a panoramic landscape view of Arapiles and Mitre Rock and has the names the major peaks and cliffs below.

There's chapter on the history of rockclimbing at the Mount, with bios and photos of some of the pioneer climbers who have lived in Nati, or stayed at the Pines camping ground.
In total there are 1,200 selected climbs, 154 colour topos, grading and descriptions of the climbs, belay points, sun/shade icons for when in the day to go or avoid .

Salute to ABBA

I'm pleased to think that current technology like YouTube is being utilised to give some of the old classics a second life, so that another generation can appreciate the likes of Norman Gunston, rotary-dial phones, and Esso service stations.
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And a hello to Claude McNicol who bought the Salute to ABBA single back in '76.

Bay of Fires

"Tasmania's Bay of Fires world's top spot: Lonely Planet"
Tasmania's Bay of Fires has been named the world's "hottest" travel destination for 2009 by international guide book Lonely Planet.
The Bay is described by Lonely Planet as "a castaway bay" with a 29 kilometres ribbon of sea and surf spooling out from the old whaling town of St Helens, on Tasmania's north-east coast.
"White beaches of hourglass-fine sand, Bombay Sapphire sea, an azure sky - and nobody," the guide says.


"This is the secret edge of Tasmania, laid out like a pirate's treasure map of perfect beach after sheltered cove, all fringed with forest.
"It's not long since the Bay of Fires came to international attention, and the crowds are bound to flock. Now is the time to visit."
The Bay of Fires tops the list ahead of the Basque country of France and Spain, Chiloe in Chile, Ko Tao in Thailand, Languedoc in France, Nam Ha in Laos, The Big Island of Hawaii, San Andres and Providencia in Colombia, Svalbard in Norway, and Yunnan in China.

Eddystone Lighthouse in background

The Bay of Fires, before this rating, had relatively little visitation compared to other Tasmanian destinations.
A four-day guided hike is considered the best way to experience its natural beauty.
From “The Age” 19Th October
(Bay of Fires just happens to be on the cover of the just released Lonely Planet guide to Tasmania)

My photos were taken of the remote northern part of the Bay of Fires at Eddystone Point. I had the beach all to myself, the nearest person would have been on a fishing trawler some distance off-shore.

Dollars for Stick Shed

"$1.2m rescue for stick shed"
The banner headline on the front page of the local Wimmera Mail Times today.
The State Government announced today $1.2 million will be used to stabilise the Stick Shed so it could ‘vigorously pursue’ a future use for the Murtoa icon.
Work will start early 2009 on repairing the collapsed sections, securing the roof and removing the vermin.
Victorian Premier John Brumby said “This conservation program is the first step in securing the future of this incredible building which is one of Victoria’s most important and most threatened heritage places.”

Leigh Hammerton

Raising the dead

“Raising the dead : an Australian story of death and survival” by Phillip Finch.
On New Year’s Day in 2005, Australian diver Dave Shaw was halfway around the world at a steep water-filled crater in the Kalahari Desert. His destination was nearly 900’ or over 270 meters below the surface.
Wearing some of the most advanced diving equipment Shaw descended Bushman’s Hole, just below the surface was a narrow fissure, he slipped through the opening and disappeared from sight into a huge deep cavern.
Minutes later a second diver descended through the same crack in the stone. Don Shirley, Shaw’s friend and frequent dive partner was a master among the community of cave diving.
25 minutes later one of the men was dead, and the other in mortal peril, facing a struggle to survive for the next ten hours, existing literally from breath to breath.
The organised expedition was to raise the body of Deon Dreyer who had died in Bushman’s in 1994. Shaw had discovered the body on a dive in 2004 when he was setting a depth world record, but was unable to lift the body from the floor of the cave.
He returned early in 2005 with a team of support divers, mining and police rescue teams, and heaps of equipment including a mobile recompression chamber and nearly 100 breathing cylinders.
The book covers Don’s early life in Australia, his work as a pilot for the airline Cathay Pacific, and his interest in diving, in particular in the rebreather technology and deep diving. The story moves forwards and backwards several times, and though you know generally what will happen, it still grips you.
“Raising the dead” is about the perilous sport of deep and cave diving – its history, its culture and the individuals who pursue it.
I read nearly half of the book (145 of the 305 pages) in one sitting, and then kept thinking about it long afterwards. Things like: this dive was about Dave’s 330th dive; the families; getting ‘bent’ with an inner ear injury; and Dave’s choice of music – there’s an appendix at the back of the book with his iPod playlists, I think it says a lot about the guy.
(The photos are mine taken with a disposable camera on the surface at Vaikona Chasm, definitely not in the same league)

Zumsteins

Walter Zumstein was born in Melbourne in 1885, of Swiss ancestry, about 1906 he came to the Grampians as a bee-keeper for W. Barnes of honey fame. Leaving Barnes he took his bees in a wheelbarrow as far up the MacKenzie Creek as he could manage (the current Zumsteins site) where he build a cottage and hives.

At the outbreak of World War I, Walter enlisted in the 5th Battalion and was in Scotland when he met his future wife Jean, they married in 1916 and returned to the Grampians in 1919. They had one daughter Jeannie, who moved to America. Walter died after a long illness in the Wimmera Base Hospital in 1963. His body was cremated and the ashes scattered at the back of their cottage.
Between 1934-35 Walter & Jean built pise (rammed earth/clay) cottages using local earth and stone, and second-hand building materials. Walter was sympathetic to the environment, if a rock was in the way, he just built around it, and improvised - holding the walls together is barbed-wire.

Some attempts were made to restore the cottages and surrounds a number of years ago when the Picnic and parking areas were updated. Unfortunately today the cottages are suffering from vandalism and decay.

The cottages and surrounding gardens, tennis court and swimming pool provided accommodation for the tourists increasingly attracted to the area, then and now.

Walter planted 100s of trees both native and exotic (the pictured gum is believed to be the only specimen existing in Victoria). There was an attempt to remove the exotic trees - as not being indigenous to the national park - but after some public outcry, most remain. The camellias and bulbs still flower in spring alongside the wattles.

Yet another Unshelved

Reading this I immediately thought Dewey was paraphasing the old Luther Ingram song

Coffee's the answer

The Silverband Mission

Yesterday, I had a difficult time of it, being paid to go bushwalking!
We are investigating having an author visit to the region, and hosting it at Silverband Falls in the Grampians, so someone had to check out the logistics.
We found drive there (after we turned off the highway) was quite picturesque around Mt Dryden - the ranges behind rolling pastures of green and crops of canola.
Halls Gap was busy with tourists and traffic, including a Northern Grampians gang working on the roadsurface outside the new Tourist Info centre.
We shared the walk in to the Falls with a busload of retirees from Albury, but found no-one else at the base which saved us the embarassment of being seen facing away from the falls and photographing the ground!
Though a guy was concerned that the Albury bus had hit our car when he saw me writing notes back at the carpark.

Stick Shed now & then

Previously (Post of 7th February, 2008) I mentioned Murtoa's famous Stick Shed and how this once mighty storage facility was now abandoned and falling into disrepair. Unfortunately it is still falling down as more cavities open up, but today I was shown an old photo of the shed being built in 1941 which is reproduced below.