Autumn At Its Best
Welcome to new members - Jan and Jaime Schmidt - their first activity with the club was the evening walk and farewell to daylight savings bbq at Baranduda on March 28.
And welcome to the colourful season - did you know there are some wonderful examples of australian native trees that rival the exotics for the colours that we get so excited about at this time of the year?
A Deciduous Beech tree in the Central Highlands of Tasmania (Source: Rob Blakers) - apparently Anzac day is the time to put on the boots and go walking to find the beech trees in autumn splendour - what could be more patriotic than that? you can read more about this unique Tasmanian plant thats a remant of our supercontinent past here
By the way did you know you can follow us on Facebook - thanks to Peter and Neil for getting this happening.
A number of club members participated in the inaugural Parklands Albury Wodonga (PAW) charity run/walk on March 25th which gave us access to tracks along the Kiewa and Murray Rivers and parts of the Wodonga creek not normally available to the public. Congratulations to PAW on another ground breaking achievment for outdoor recreation in our area.
When I reflect on the summer achievements of our club three things really stand out
1. Canoeing - an amazing 20 events were held and more than 220 instances of persons paddling which represents more than 2,000 river kilometres - in our first year of operation this is an extraordinary outcome. It would not have been possible without the fantastic support of Dave Breedon and Murray River Canoe Hire - our club's roots are now firmly implanted in the river.
2. Weekend and evening walks - these activities will always be the bread and butter stuff of our club - thanks to Hans for the enormous effort he has put in to ensure that nearly every weekend had a walk on offer
3. Abseiling - we are thrilled that Neil Brown was able to work through the issues associated with this activity and deliver a safe and diverse program in local areas that we believe will grow stronger this year - the next event is abseiling for beginners at the Albury quarry on sunday April 29 and intermediate abseiling on saturday may 12 - full details of abseiling events are available on the MVB Abseilers page
Kay organised the first club cycling event on March 31st - this was a delightful ride from Noreuil Park out to Thurgoona for breakfast at the Kinross and return.
In the afternoon of the same day Hans led a walk on the first half of stage 2 of the Hume and Hovell track which is a really interesting walk.
Easter Tony organised a two day overnight walk in the Chiltern Mt Pilot National Park which 6 club members participated in.
Whats On
There is an ongoing program of Wed afternoon bird observing and easy walking activities in the Wodonga Retained Environment Network - we have now visited 4 WREN reserves - management plans for these areas are currently being prepared by Glenda Datson of Baranduda Landcare. This is a great opportunity to learn about the birdlife of north east victoria. Check out the bird watching program here
Iris Joss is leading a Mt Feathertop walk this Sunday April 22nd
A short walk (about 4km) and guided tour of the Bonegilla Block 19 migrant facility on Saturday April 28
Neil Brown is offering another abseiling for beginners event on Sunday April 29
Geocaching - we have established a geocaching group in the club called Team MVB with its own email list and a premium account that allows us to download and explore this fun activity.
Public Meeting May 11
We are organising a membership drive and public meeting with a keynote speaker from Parklands Albury Wodonga on Friday May 11 to be held at the Thurgoona Community Centre hall - full details here
Club Development
Wodonga council is offering a series of 3 club development workshops held on weekday evenings in April, May and June. Peter will be attending the first on financial management Monday April 23 Neil will be at the second on digital and social media We are looking for a third person to represent the club on Wed June 6th which will be looking at ways to boost membership. Alll are from 6pm to 8-30pm at the council offices Hovell St Wodonga with light refreshments and snacks provided.
How To Book in for an Event
As always you can use the booking enquiry link on the right of event details pages or contact leaders by any of the ways listed in the event details if you wish to join an event.
Having trouble with the Booking Enquiry form? - if you cant see or get to the Submit button try this - hold the Control key down and tap the Minus key a couple of times. You should then see the button.
Regards
Tony Marsh
Secretary Murray Valley Bushwalkers Inc
Hello Murray Valley Bushwalkers members
This message is to let you know that we are going to kick off an after work canoeing program next Tuesday night October 11. If you have ever had the desire to have a soothing, leisurely paddle on the Murray river after work this is a great opportunity. Previous paddling experience is desirable but not essential. We can teach you what you need to know. The cost will be $10 and there will be a byo bbq after the event. For further details you can view this event on the club website.
Please contact Tony by any of the ways listed in the event details if you wish to join us.
regards
Tony Marsh
Hello Murray Valley Bushwalkers members
We had a false start last week but this week we really are going to kick off an after work canoeing program Tuesday evening October 18. If you have ever had the desire to have a soothing, leisurely paddle on the Murray river after work this is a great opportunity. Previous paddling experience is desirable but not essential. We can teach you what you need to know. The cost will be $10 and there will be a byo bbq after the event. For further details you can view this event on the club website.
Please contact Tony by any of the ways listed in the event details if you wish to join us.
regards
Tony Marsh
Hello Murray Valley Bushwalkers members
No doubt you have seen the photos of the canoeing program launch last Tuesday evening October 18. It was a fantastic evening with 10 members (more than a quarter of our membership) paddling followed by a bbq in the park.
We are paddling the next two thursday evenings - October 27th and November 3rd. Previous paddling experience is desirable but not essential. We can teach you what you need to know. The cost will be $10 and there will be a byo bbq after the event. For further details you can view this event on the club website.
You can use the booking enquiry link on the right of this page or contact Tony by any of the ways listed in the event details if you wish to join us.
At the after canoe bbq we discussed the idea of promoting our club on Facebook particularly with the idea of attracting young people to our club. It was suggested that I send with this message some links to bushwalking clubs using Facebook. The first one I found was the NSW Confederation with which we are affiliated. Hans then did some investigating and wrote
"To find out how other clubs are using facebook, use the search in facebook. I knew Albury Wodonga table tennis is on face book, so I searched them first. Then I searched "bushwalking club" and came up with 5 or 6 entries. Werribee bushwalking club just joined facebook, so not much to be seen. Bundaberg bushwalking club seems to have been on facebook for a long time, and I like the way they use facebook. I would say that we'd better open a facebook account asap, especially since there are so few bushwalking clubs on facebook!"
So if you have any opinion one way or the other regarding our club establishing a Facebook site please let me get back to me with your thoughts.
Hope to have you join us for paddling next Thursday
PS I still havent worked out a way of getting rid of that stupid {Disarmed} part of the email subject which is meant to soothe your concerns about the safety of this email message!
regards
Tony
