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Q:What is MUAS?
Q:What activities do you do?
Q:What activities do you NOT do?
Q:Is MUAS a new club?
Q:Aren’t these activities dangerous?
Q:At what level do you do trips?
Q:How long do trips go for?
Q:Are there any activities that are seasonal?
Q:Must I be a student to be a member?
Q:How much is club membership?
Q:What do I get for the membership fee?
Q:How do you inform members of activities?
Q:How can I contact MUAS?
Q:Do you hire out equipment?
Q:I thought you had an indoor climbing gym?
Q:What can I do if MUAS does not arrange trips at a time, level or activity that suits me?
Q:Do you enter competitions?
Q:Are you affiliated with any other organisations?
Q:Does MUAS have any discount arrangements with goods or service providers?
Q:I’m a foreign student coming to Macquarie for a semester. Is there anything that I should bring to assist me in my adventure sport activities with your club?
Q:What is Canoe Polo?
Q:What is MUAS?
A:Macquarie University Adventure Sports is a voluntary, participative, university-based club active in outdoor recreational pursuits.
Q:What activities do you do?
A:Caving, Canyoning, Abseiling(Rappelling), Rockclimbing, Iceclimbing, Alpine Climbing, Bushwalking, Orienteering, Rogaining, Mountainbiking, Cross Country Skitouring, Canoe Polo, Paddle Sports(Kayaking,Canoeing,Rafting).
Q:What activities do you NOT do?
A:We do not do skydiving, sky surfing, base jumping, bungee-jumping, ski jumping, street luge, dog sledding or horse riding currently.
Q:Is MUAS a new club?
A:No.The roots of MUAS go back to the foundation of Macquarie University in 1967, when Macquarie Mountaineering Society was founded. A Caving Group separated off in the late 1970’s, but in 2000 the Caving Group and Mountaineering Society decided to re-combine into MUAS.
Q:Aren’t these activities dangerous?
A:Yes, these activities ARE inherently dangerous, as are driving a car, crossing the street, riding in planes, and engaging in sex. There are risks in most activities and in adventure sports people can & occasionally do die or get injured. We take measures to minimise these risks.
Q:At what level do you do trips?
A:We have trips intended for beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels of skill & physical exertion. The beginner & most intermediate trips are advised way in advance via email. Other intermediate & most advanced trips usually happen at short notice &/or have such stringent participation requirements that effectively inclusion is by invitation, although the fact that a trip is going to happen may be advised to the general membership.
Q:How long do trips go for?
A:Trips can be anything from a couple of hours for social mountainbike rides, climbing sessions, paddles or canoe polo training sessions to multiweek epics in isolated places around the globe. Most trips are day or weekend affairs, especially at beginner or intermediate level, but longer trips are almost always at an advanced or expert level.
Q:When do you do trips?
A:Many of the social programme trips happen during the week. All the beginner trips happen at weekends, as do most of the intermediate trips. Advanced trips can happen at any time.
Q:Are there any activities that are seasonal?
A:Obviously iceclimbing & cross country skitouring are limited in Australia to the colder months. Canyoning is limited to the warmer months. White water paddling tends to concentrate on the colder,wetter months or after rain. There are spring and autumn competitions for canoe polo. Heat and fire risk can limit bushwalking in summer in NSW.
Q:Must I be a student to be a member?
A:No. You must be a member of the Macquarie Uni Sports Association. That is automatically the case if you are a student at Macquarie. You may also be if you are staff at Macquarie. If you have previously been a student you can apply for Ordinary membership, which costs $158 per year. If you have never been a student you can apply for Elected membership, which costs $158 per year. Each MUSA member accumulates membership points. Full time metropolitan students accumulate 10 points per year. Once you have accumulated 60 or more MUSA points, you can apply for Continuing membership of MUSA which costs $70 per year. Honourary Life membership of MUSA is an honour bestowed by MUSA for exemplary service over 6 or more years & means you don’t pay for membership ever again.
MUSA members then pay the club membership fee when they apply.
Q:How much is club membership?
A:In 2003 membership costs $15. MUAS does not normally charge trip fees, except for external tournament fees. In 2002 for most technical beginners trips we have charged a fee to cover the unusually high wear & tear on the technical equipment that we provide for members’ use. This has been removed for 2003.
Q:What do I get for the membership fee?
A:Apart from the warm inner glow, you are put on our member email list and are electronically advised of all information for general distribution, including event notifications. The club has a heap of technical equipment that can be used for club trips; this equipment is the kind of stuff that is extremely hard or expensive to hire.
Q:How do you inform members of activities?
A:Our prime method of informing is via member email lists, because ”snail mail” is too slow & expensive while the noticeboard is out of the way & inconvenient for many. Our website is being developed (alas, ever so slowly) and we hope to post activity details to a webpage & introduce a bulletin board in the future.
Q:How can I contact MUAS?
A:The best method is to email us at:macquarieuniadventuresports@hotmail.com
This email account is checked every couple of days at minimum and the messages directed as considered appropriate.
Q:Do you hire out equipment?
A:No. Club equipment is for club trips and for safety reasons is not lent or hired out for non-club trips.
Q:I thought you had an indoor climbing gym?
A:At the end of 2001 “The Quarie” indoor climbing gym was suspended from operation due to the application of a new standard for anchors, which the existing anchors did not meet. MUAS members were able to climb at a discount($4) compared to general students($6) and non students($8). MUAS did not close “The Quarie”, and we hope that an indoor climbing gym will be reactivated in future.
Q:What can I do if MUAS does not arrange trips at a time, level or activity that suits me?
A:We run a programme of trips at beginner & intermediate level in most activities at the start of each semester. These are intended not only to give new members an introduction to the activities and the club, but also to give the trip leaders, committee, and members of the club an opportunity to be introduced to new members and thereby to assess their abilities and potential.
Once the beginner level activities have been run, we usually do not keep running them. There are several reasons for this:
- We assume that those members who are interested in participating in beginner level activities have availed themselves of these opportunities.
- The aspirations of most of our members have moved on.
- Beginners trips offer minimal fulfilment to our trip leaders.
We develop our activity programme in the hope that members will commit to going on the events. If members do not express interest in these events in numbers to warrant holding them, it is probable that the event will be cancelled and not reproposed. It is therefore in the interest of members that if they are interested in the event, they should express interest in the event, but state that they are unable to participate because of the timing. If there is sufficient numbers indicating similarly, events might be rescheduled or added to later.
So, provided that the type of event you would like has not already been offered, you can advise the club through email what it is you would like to do. Saying “I want to do something” will probably not elicit a positive response. Be specific if possible about activity, time, and level. The more you are prepared to assist in the organisation of the trip, the greater the likelihood that it will happen.
Q:Do you enter competitions?
A:Yes. Intervarsity & Eastern University Games when held for mountain biking, canoeing, canoe polo, rockclimbing. The Extreme Games. Escalade and Oceania Cup sport climbing. Other tournaments and events that take member’s fancy, often in rogaining & orienteering. Plus the Metropolitan Canoe Polo competition in Spring & Autumn.
Q:Are you affiliated with any other organisations?
A:MUAS is a member of the Australian Speleological Federation, the Kosciouszko Huts Association, and Australian Canoeing.
Q:Does MUAS have any discount arrangements with goods or service providers?
A:Currently MUAS has no specific formal arrangements with any service providers or outdoor gear shops. However, this does not mean that you shouldn’t ask whether a discount or bonus is available, particularly as you can produce your current club membership card and your current student card. The areas where you are most likely to be successful in deriving benefits would be in the acquisition of services and buying high profit margin accessories, rather than big dollar major items by well marketed brands.
Q:I’m a foreign student coming to Macquarie for a semester. Is there anything that I should bring to assist me in my adventure sport activities with your club?
A:Best to concentrate on the stuff which is: essential to have, is used frequently, is hard to hire, is particular regarding fit to the person, is expensive in Australia in comparison to your home country, and is preferably compact and light.
Top candidates are:
- Footware. Almost always imported. Break it in before you come.
- Mountain bikes.Pack it well before you leave, then once you have a final address here get it sent REGISTERED. They are very hard and expensive to hire here.
- Shell protective garments.You’ll need a good jacket at least. Good Gortex gear is made here and could be good value.
- Insulating protective garments.You’ll need a good pile jacket and pants to study in during the cold months anyway.
- Thermal underwear. It’s all imported, and good polyproplene or chlorofibre isn’t cheap.
- Quality down sleeping bags. Difficult and expensive to rent. Excellent gear is made here and could be good value.
- Do not bring: compasses (unless zone 5 or globally magnetised), or anything which creates customs problems like animal products, fuels, weapons.
Q:What is Canoe Polo?
A:The following is from the “Kayaksplus” website:
Canoe Polo is one of the best ways to refine your kayaking skills in a safe environment. Rough to the eye, it has all the action of a football game and yet is injury free. It is a fast, energetic and extremely skilful game that is played in swimming pools, combining the ball skills of basketball and water polo with kayaking skills for manoeuvrability.
Each team has up to eight players, with up to five being on the playing field at any one time. The field is 35 x 20 metres in size, with a goal suspended at each end, suspended 2 metres above the water. The rules are based on safety, allowing fast, exciting play, that is very entertaining for spectators. Each player paddles a specially designed kayak called a "polo bat" that is up to 3 metres long. Players in possession of the ball can be "tackled" by the opposition's kayak, or "hand tackled" on the shoulder and capsized. The ball is passed hand to hand as in water polo, or flicked using the paddle. Paddles can also be used to intercept passes and block shots at goal.
Canoe Polo has been played in Germany since the early 1920's. The sport, like all other canoeing disciplines, really took off with the advent of fibreglass. Canoe Polo is played in every state of Australia in all major cities and many country regions. The Australian Canoe Polo Committee holds National Championships each year, for both Club and State teams. A National League is also held each year with modified rules to make the game even more spectator friendly. The best place to get local information about the game, is from your local canoe association or canoe club.
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