Murray Valley Bushwalkers New Events Posted This Week

Clean Up Australia

From March 06, 2016 9:00 am until March 06, 2016 11:00 am

At Padman Park Categories: Social, Volunteering
Wodonga Creek Grade 2 morning walk

From March 08, 2016 9:00 am until March 08, 2016 12:00 pm

At Sumsion Gardens Categories: BirdWatching, Halfdaywalk

Cascades Hut

From March 25, 2016 6:30 am until March 25, 2016 5:00 pm

At Thredbo Categories: DayWalks
Dead Horse Gap Track Grade 3 Day walk

From March 27, 2016 6:30 am until March 27, 2016 5:30 pm

At Thredbo Categories: DayWalks

Murray Valley Bushwalkers Events On This Week

After Work Canoe#21 Grade 2

From March 03, 2016 5:15 pm until March 03, 2016 8:00 pm

At Noreuil Park Categories: Canoeing
Wheelers Hut Loop Grade 4 Day Walk

From March 06, 2016 7:00 am until March 06, 2016 5:00 pm

At N Kosciuszko National Park Categories: DayWalks
Clean Up Australia - Easy Volunteering

From March 06, 2016 9:00 am until March 06, 2016 11:00 am

At Padman Park Categories: Social, Volunteering

For a full list of upcoming events click here

Hi all - what a week its been! despite being the hottest week of the summer we have racked up some impressive participation statistics

Thursday after work paddle attracted 17 paddlers including 5 guests
Friday evening walk and bbq at Baranduda attracted 9 members
Saturday day walk at The Rock had 9 members participating
Sunday day walk at Mt Buffalo was enjoyed by 5 members and 2 guests

The Rock Nature Reserve walk on Saturday 27 Feb 2016

I ask you - where would you not be prepared to go with this lot!

Insights into Club Insurance and Ambulance Cover

On Saturday we got off to an early start to try and beat the heat and had completed the walk by 12-30 pm. We met with a young couple near the summit who were in strife because of an ankle injury requiring an Ambulance and SES recovery. We were able to provide some basic first aid assistance. Jan bandaged the ankle, Tony relayed gps location information to the ambos and Carmen provided the bandages and lent her walking poles to help the injured walker descend to a point where the ambos could take over with a stretcher. As the person did not have ambulance insurance and the incident was attended by ambulance, ses and fire crews this clearly was going to be an expensive exercise. This prompted us to consider the likely implications in the event of a similar incident for MVB members and guests. Members and properly registered guests are covered under the clubs personal accident insurance in these circumstances - however the maximum payable by insurance is 80% of accident costs to a maximum of $3000 and there is an excess fee of $150 associated with each time a personal accident insurance claim is made. Typical ambulance recovery costs in Victoria are detailed in this page - as you will see it can be extremely expensive to have to be rescued.

http://www.ambulance.vic.gov.au/About-Us/Fees.html

The cost of rescue needs to be compared to the cost of ambulance insurance - single membership of Ambulance Victoria providing full coverage of costs is just $42 per year. For those relying on their private health insurance for cover, Ambulance Victoria recommends contacting your fund and using the Ambulance Cover Checklist as a guide to determine if you have sufficient ambulance cover.

http://www.ambulance.vic.gov.au/Membership/Join.html

The Bushwalking Australia website has full details and FAQ document of our three insurance policy types - Personal Accident, Public Liability and Association Liability - explore the items under the Insurance menu on the website here

Morgans Lookout Walla Walla

After The Rock walk Pete took us on a driving wander down memory lane of his childhood and this included a side trip into the Lookout. What an amazing location - despite the horrific circumstances surrounding this bushranger one couldnt help but feel this place had some magic about it. It was probably the magnificent ancient yellow box trees and the massive granite boulders that tower over the site. The Nature Conservation Trust of NSW describes the Yellow Box, Eucalyptus melliodora, as a majestic tree some of whose amazing secrets are only just being uncovered. Great whirls of peeling bark at its base, creamy white smooth bark appearing on the upper trunk and on the limbs, copious amounts of rich nectar when it flowers, the species is not only a striking feature in the agricultural landscape but also an important source of food and shelter for myriad of animals. However it thrives on fertile soils so that has just about sealed its fate. Who knows what quirk of fate allowed these giants to survive.

Evening Walk and BBQ at Baranduda Last Friday

The latest MVB Geocache called Kurrajong - Found It!

MVB Committee Meeting

The second of four meetings of the committee for the year was held on Leap Day Monday Feb 29. This is the one time every 4 years a woman is allowed to propose marriage and a huge and wonderful MVB wedding is just what the club needs!

A number of important issues were discussed as you would expect - perhaps the minutes may divulge matrimonial secrets!

Geocaching - Team MVB

Hiding and finding little treasure stashes in the bush using gps and the incredible resources available online at geocaching.com pretty much sums up this activity which the club has engaged in since its inception. Hans Kaspers has been one of the main instigators - we have 20 caches stashed in great local spots on Nail Can Hill, Baranduda Bushlands, Chiltern Mt Pilot NP and most recently at Mt Jim on the Bogong High Plains. One of the joys is reading about the experiences (or in this case watching a video) of other geocachers when they seek to find our caches.

You can watch a video of the First To Find the cache called E. Pauciflora (snow gum) at Mt Jim

https://youtu.be/8nc5UKKNZZA

New Members

Since the last time we welcomed new members the following have joined - thanks for expressing confidence in our club!
Welcome to Skye McDonald, Helen Macauley and Michael Courtney all of whom have participated in club events already!

Financial Membership Total as at March 1 2016 is 103

However at the same time since our inception there are 70 people who have been but are no longer financial members. This is something we really must address to remain viable as a club. It would seem we are not meeting the needs of a substantial proportion of the people who join the club. It has been suggested we survey members to get some feedback but the people we really need to hear from are no longer members.

MVB Bulletins

The method of communicating with our members via the bulletin is failing. More than half the members who are sent this bulletin do not open the email we send. No doubt there are a range of reasons for this including spam filters, folder redirection, member email fatigue, information overload etc.

Whatever the reasons clearly this method of communication is failing our members. We are investigating alternative strategies and the most obvious alternative is contacting people through messaging to their mobile phone and/or social networking. Let us know if you have any thoughts on this.

MVB Facebook Site

Lots of event photos and comments about club events are posted on the clubs Facebook site which now has 199 likes

Its a great way to give wider exposure to club activities. You dont have to have a Facebook account to read whats going on - check us out here

https://www.facebook.com/murrayvalleybushwalkers

Event Reports

There are three new event reports that has been posted since the last bulletin

http://mvb.org.au/index.php/news/event-report-submissions

Event Photos

There are two new sets of photos on the clubs Flickr site https://www.flickr.com/photos/murrayvalleybushwalkers/sets/

regards

Tony Marsh and Peter Presutti

news.mvb@gmail.com

Murray Valley Bushwalkers New Events Posted This Week

Day Walk Grade 3 and Car Camp at Falls Creek

From February 20, 2016 7:00 am until February 21, 2016 5:00 pm

At Langford West Aqueduct Categories: Cycling, Carcamping, DayWalks
Cape to Cape Grade 4 Multi Day Walk

From October 01, 2016 7:30 am until October 10, 2016 8:00 pm

At Cape Naturaliste Lighhouse Categories: DayWalks

NOTE BOOKINGS REQUIRED VERY SOON
Across the Nullarbor to Perth and back

From October 19, 2016 8:30 am until December 20, 2016 6:30 pm

At Perth WA Categories: Geocaching, BirdWatching, Carcamping, LongCarTours, DayWalks

Murray Valley Bushwalkers Events On This Week

After Work Canoe#19 Grade 2

From February 18, 2016 5:15 pm until February 18, 2016 8:15 pm

At Noreuil Park Categories: Canoeing
Day Walk Grade 3 and Car Camp at Falls Creek

From February 20, 2016 7:00 am until February 21, 2016 5:00 pm

At Langford West Aqueduct Categories: Cycling, Carcamping, DayWalks
Early morning loop Grade 3 Day Walk Khancoban

From February 20, 2016 7:30 am until February 20, 2016 10:00 am

At Corryong Categories: DayWalks
City 2 City - Grade 2 Walk

On February 21, 2016

At Albury Wodonga Categories: DayWalks

Looking for something to do at Easter? check out the Easter Historic Pubs and Huts Tour in the

full list of upcoming events click here

Evening Walk and BBQ at Baranduda Last Friday

Mitta Mitta River Paddle Last Sunday

Sasho Dillow and Catherine Byrne led a group of 10 on an exciting 22.5 km paddle down the Mitta River from Pigs Point to Tallangatta

MVB Facebook Site

Lots of event photos and comments about club events are posted on the clubs Facebook site which now has 190 likes

Its a great way to give wider exposure to club activities - a recent post on the Mitta paddle last sunday has had 850 hits in 24 hours!

You dont have to have a Facebook account to read whats going on - check us out here

https://www.facebook.com/murrayvalleybushwalkers

Event Reports

There are three new event reports that has been posted since the last bulletin

http://mvb.org.au/index.php/news/event-report-submissions

Event Photos

There are three new sets of photos on the clubs Flickr site https://www.flickr.com/photos/murrayvalleybushwalkers/sets/

regards

Peter Presutti

news.mvb@gmail.com

Murray Valley Bushwalkers Events This Week

After Work Canoe#18 Grade 2

From February 11, 2016 5:15 pm until February 11, 2016 8:00 pm

At Noreuil Park Categories: Canoeing
Baranduda Grade 2 Evening Walk a Dip in a pool and bbq

From February 12, 2016 5:30 pm until February 12, 2016 8:30 pm

At Jamison Drive Reserve Baranduda Categories: EveningWalking
Mitta Mitta Grade 4 paddle 2016

From February 14, 2016 8:00 am until February 14, 2016 4:00 pm

At Pigs Point Categories: Canoeing
Mt Buffalo: Galleries and rocks

From February 14, 2016 8:30 am until February 14, 2016 6:30 pm

At Mt Buffalo Categories: DayWalks

Looking for something to do at Easter? check out the Easter Historic Pubs and Huts Tour in the

full list of upcoming events click here

Walking Action Last Weekend

Iris Joss led a fabulous car camp at Sawpit Creek Mt Kosiuscko National Park with two day walks last weekend

sawpit creek campground

Paddling Action Last Weekend

Tony Crawford's back channel paddle from Ryans Creek to Wonga Wetlands

After Work Paddle and Dinner Last Thursday

birthday girl

MVB Facebook Site

Lots of event photos and comments about club events are posted on the clubs Facebook site which now has 190 likes

That means 190 people are notified when new posts are made - thats way more than the number of people that read bulletins like this!

You dont have to have a Facebook account to read whats going on - check us out here

https://www.facebook.com/groups/murrayvalleybushwalkers/

Website Security

The committee of MVB responsibilities and duty of care are quite well understood when it comes to safety and well being of all participants on club events. A perhaps less obvious responsibility lies in the protection of members privacy particularly in relation to the information we store. As a consequence of consideration of this we have recently put in place a secure system for the membership registration and event bookings - in fact you will notice that all internet references to the website are now prefixed with https. This means that all data transferred between users and the website is now heavily encrypted before transmission. This dramatically enhances the privacy of information transfer.

For most of us I suspect this change will not be obvious at all. However if you are using an old version of Windows such as Windows XP you may well receive scary warnings about our website not being a safe site to visit. This is a false alarm and if you get an opportunity to tell your browser to allow you to access the site then go ahead and do so. If you find this is a problem you cant overcome please feel free to messsage or ring the website administrator Tony Marsh on 0417687842 or greencomputing@gmail.com for assistance.

Event Reports

There is one new event report that has been posted since the last newsletter - Tony Crawfords Ryans Creek to Wonga Wetlands paddle last Saturday.

http://mvb.org.au/index.php/news/event-report-submissions

Event Photos

Check out the pics on the clubs Flickr site https://www.flickr.com/photos/murrayvalleybushwalkers/sets/

regards

Peter Presutti

news.mvb@gmail.com

Murray Valley Bushwalkers News #105 Jan 29 2016

Thurs Feb 4 After Work Paddle and Dinner at RiverDeck Cafe

This is definitely peak period of the canoeing season - plenty of great opportunities for all including guests and beginners.

You are welcome to join us for the paddle and dinner, or just the paddle or just the dinner!

The event on the clubs website has more info including a link to the dinner menu

Click here for full details and to book in

Apart from the regular thursday after work events we've also got

Tony Crawford's Bonegilla Island to Wonga Wetlands on Feb 6

Sasho Dillow's Mitta Mitta paddle from Pigs Point to Tallangatta on Feb 14

And another fabulous weekend at Bundalong on the ovens River on March 18-20

Walking Action

Hans led a fabulous walk to Mt Jim on the Bogong High Plains last weekend - click the photo for more pics of this event

Iris Joss led a walk to the Back Wall at Mt Buffalo recently

Kosciusko National Park Car Camp

Check out this opportunity to join Iris at SawPit Creek for a fun weekend of walking

http://mvb.org.au/index.php/the-program/calendar-events-2/event/1956-car-camp-saw-pit-creek-caravan-park-kosciuszko-nat-park

The Rock Nature Walk

This is an exciting half day walk is scheduled for Saturday Feb 27

http://mvb.org.au/index.php/the-program/event-listing/event/2051-the-rock-nature-reserve-loop-grade-4-walk

MVB Facebook Site

Lots of event photos and comments about club events are posted on the clubs Facebook site which now has 190 likes

That means 190 people are notified when new posts are made - thats way more than the number of people that read bulletins like this!

You dont have to have a Facebook account to read whats going on - check us out here

https://www.facebook.com/murrayvalleybushwalkers

Tarkine Wilderness in NW Tasmania

Tragic news on the Tarkine

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/27/world-heritage-forests-burn-as-global-tragedy-unfolds-in-tasmania

Welcome to new Members

Since the last time we welcomed new members the following have joined - thanks for expressing confidence in our club!

Welcome to Carol Gardiner and Michelle Campbell who are regular Thursday evening paddlers already!

Financial Membership Total as at Jan 29 2016 is 108

I have had another go at revamping the membership system - now when you login to the website it takes you straight to your subscription status - here's hoping this makes it workable

Tony Marsh