One Member's Suggestions For
An Alternative Type Of Bushwalk

There is no doubt that QBW is a good bushwalking club - in fact I would say it is an excellent bushwalking club. However, being of a somewhat shy and retiring nature, it does sometimes occur to me that the essence of bush appreciation is often overlooked.

Yes, of course it's marvellous to walk 40 klms a day with a full pack but, well, did you notice the trees? Or that beautiful rock with the fig tree roots entwined over its face? Or the Golden Whistler or the crayfish in the stream at Lamington? And what do you know about epiphytes? What is the range of Red Cedars? What's their botanic name? What does the timber look like? How did the timber-getters of not so long ago snig out the timber?

And back to that Golden Whistler. OK we can pick out the male (can't we?) but what does the female look like? How many eggs does she lay? What do they look like? What sort of a nest does she/he/they build? Who incubates the eggs? What is their main type of food? Are they nomadic, sedentary or migratory? How large a territory does a pair need? Are they a lowland or a mountain species? Do they occur in other countries? And what's that funny rock on Mt Tibrogargan and other Glasshouse Mountains? You know, the chalky stuff, like talcum powder that makes them slippery. And why are those funny shaped hills there anyway? The rest of the area's pretty flat isn't it, so why those oddities?

And what about the bush walker's friend, the leech. There aren't any at O'Reilly's or Binna Burra Lodge but plenty near the escarpment and especially when its raining - why is this? Those Antarctic Beeches at Lamington, you know, these Nothofagus-what-do-you-call-ums. They're pretty old aren't they. Somebody said 1000 years - or was it 3000 years? How can they live for so long anyway? And why the name Antarctic? I mean Australia, was never anything to do with the Antarctic was it - was it?

Far be it for me to ruffle any club feathers but wouldn't it be possible to occasionally go for a bush walk to LEARN ABOUT THE BUSH rather than just bash through it from A to B. The sound of the average bushwalk reminds me of a mobile (and somewhat disturbed) beehive. If you think this is an exaggeration, then perhaps take the time on the next walk to detach yourself from the chatter of the office, the school, the politics of this-and-that and LISTEN. You may be surprised!

No doubt the chatter is all very necessary but, well, aren't we in the bush to appreciate the bush for a few hours, and perhaps learn something of its glories, its secrets, its treasures of beauty and knowledge? And having gained a little knowledge, may we not be encouraged and enticed to learn more? And would this help us to enjoy the bush even more - perhaps to stimulate others to learn and appreciate our beautiful and oh so varied "bush"?

On the individual level, an hour or so spent in the library could be rewarding - e.g. I've always "wondered about that tree/bird/rock etc but have never got around to find out about it! Maybe National Parks could be a source of information, or how about joining the Ornithological Society to get among the "high flyers". Or Frog Societies, or Men of the Trees, or the Wildlife Preservation Society? The knowledge is there - it's just a case of having the interest and making a small effort.

At club level, a few walks could be organised to enhance our knowledge - for instance, bird watching at O'Reillly's in the early morning. All this would require would be a begged, borrowed or stolen pair of binoculars, a bird book (smallish) from your local library and a note book. Poke around the sunlit bush edges in quiet, slowly moving groups of 2-4. This number isn't too threatening to the birds. One or two people can do the bird spotting and describe the bird to the other member who has the identification book. Its not always easy - especially when you first start - to remember what the bird looked like and at the same time skip through the book to identify it before the little blighter disappears. Of course you can overcome this by the good old fashioned technique of shooting it, but in the long run this tends to be counter productive as it means the more bird watchers there are the fewer birds remaining in one wholesome joyous piece.

Another good way is to have a note pad with a "basic" outline of a bird on each page. When you sight "The Bird" you quickly draw in the main features e.g. long curved bill, over the basic outline. Add the approximate size - beak to end of tail -and write in the colours using a previously set-up code e.g. B = black. R= red etc. It only takes a few seconds. This gives a permanent reference for the bird book afterwards. One can expand on this by including: type of terrain, vegetation, altitude, time of year etc. Birds tend to be one of the trickiest occupants of the bush to identify because of their often rapid movement but I feel the pain is always worth the gain. If birds don't turn you on - well how about trees or rocks, mosses or lichens? They are much slower moving than birds so there's no hurry. And they are always in the same spot, so you can go back again if need be.

It goes almost without saying that being of a heightened sensitivity already to the spirit of the bush one would wear clothes that harmonise and even camouflage. Those hot pink pants are a marvel indeed -but please!

These are just a very few ideas. There are more. The observing could be the purpose of a walk, that is, the walk is based on getting to an area to find a certain bird, tree, crayfish, whatever or a walk could follow a bird-watching session of one or two hours at, say, O'Reilly's. Plenty of time to do a "good walk" afterwards. And who knows, one may even enjoy it a little more because of the knowledge gained and the realization that we are really an integral part of nature. Geoff Wright

---