ANNUAL QUEENS BIRTHDAY DESERT WEEKEND by
Adrian Jones with photos by Rob GiebelsHOME PAGE | WHAT WE DO | EQUIPMENT | CONTACTS | RISK MANAGEMENT | PROGRAM | PHOTOS | MAGAZINE | LINKS
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ANNUAL QUEENS BIRTHDAY DESERT WEEKEND by
Adrian Jones with photos by Rob Giebels
WYPERFELD NATIONAL PARK. JUNE 2011
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Attended by Peter and Maz Raymond, Tom Buykx, Lorraine Wood, Adolph Kemp (Switzerland), Adrian Jones, Mel Chua, Frank Mader, Annette Woodward (and friend), Rob Giebels, Jan Wilkinson, Rosalie Padovan, Masako MacEwan, Roy Burns and Krystyna Derwinska
One tradition of the club is that on every Queen’s Birthday long weekend we visit one of Victoria’s three main desert parks and this year it was Wyperfeld’s turn. Some did the long drive through the Wimmera and Mallee on Friday and the rest of us came on Saturday. Camp was set up at the Wonga campground at the southern end of the park, from which most did short walks on the Saturday. On Sunday we completed a circuit to the north of Wonga to Lake Brambruck and then the Everard Track and home on the Meridian Track.
The walking is so different to that on the eastern side of Victoria where much of the Club’s walking takes place. Dry lake beds, box and red gum woodlands, mallee scrub, sand dunes, some still with pines, and sandy heath-covered plains. Monday saw us head off to the south around the lignum swamp and across towards Eastern Lookout and Lake Brimin and back to camp.
Saturday night was a surprise for us. The ‘Friends of Wyperfeld’, made up of locals and Melbournites, had their AGM, which really seemed one big party. We were cordially invited and the climax of the night was the release of a Government-funded and very professional movie on the history of the park (1921 onwards). It featured much historical footage and interviews with some famous members, Leo Costermans and John Landy. Well worth seeing.
Sunday was another surprise, with the locals putting on a concert, great stuff if you like bush music (and like it loud). Lovely trip home through traditional Australia, parts had been heavily flooded and it was interesting to see the Rainbow rail tracks suspended five metres in the air (no embankment remaining).
