| Leader | Mentor | Understudy | Tail Ender | |
| Standards | Brent | Alan H | Jan Br | Shirley |
| Alternates | Les G | Norma | Ali | Marg E |
Distance 19km, ascent 660m, time 5 hrs
Another great day’s tramping with sunny skies and no wind. There were 35 trampers including visitors Judy S, Graham W and Neil M. Our bus driver was Viktor. The action started at Loburn Reserve (our comfort stop) where a woman was exercising a dog which was pulling a small parachute. The object of the parachute is unknown but it could have been to slow the dog down. This certainly seemed to work!
At the beginning of the tramp, I wished I had been as sensible as my wife, who was safely at home. And let’s be fair, any tramp which follows the “Blowhard ” and “Bypass” tracks is clearly worth considering carefully. On realising my mistake, I needed something to take my mind off it.
This led me to thinking about how the Club was organised and the people who carry out the various functions. Almost immediately I felt cheered up by the realisation that the Club has “good organisational bones”. And, just as importantly, the people who carry out the functions do so well and conscientiously. This is very comforting as you are unlikely to get badly lost. There is also that wonderful thing called a Personal Locator Beacon (PBL) which means, if needs must, you can be airlifted out at virtually a moment’s notice. And then there is the bus. The bus is a great idea as not only have the drivers been uniformly excellent but we can drive to one location and get picked up at another. This extends our range of walks substantially, which is one of the reasons why we have over 80 tramps to choose from. The bus trip is also a good way to judge the mood of fellow trampers. Usually there is lots of chatter on the bus in the morning. In the afternoon, especially after a hard tramp, the noise is much more subdued, more akin to a gentle purring.
But back to the tramp – the numerous beech trees in the area are an excellent source of honeydew. Honeydew is formed when a sap sucking insect taps into the tree and any excess sap is anally excreted. It is this rich mixture of sugars which is responsible for the black fungus growing on the beech trees. Honeydew is also favoured by bees and wasps. In the case of the latter this can mean very large nests as the food source is available for much of the year. Honeydew honey is also very yummy if you don’t think too much about its origins.
Along with the great weather, the walking was made even better by the strong bellbird chorus serenading the participants. Speaking of serenading, I have it on good authority the Standards women are going to sing a song at the top of the next Mount tramp. Apparently, this will be responded to by the Standards men on the following Mount tramp.
Text by Bill S
