This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
BUSHCRAFT <IitT 23-24 July Darryl Best
“Navigation and ather popular hints"
The brochure said 'sun' so I thought this had to be me. On the appointed Saturday morning it seemed to be rather colder and wetter than I had originally envisaged, and was relieved to hear from our tour guide and teacher of navigation, Geoff Crockford, that the trip had been cancelled. But this was apparently a joke!
After some evasiveness from Geoff the exact location was revealed ta be Smiths Creek. On arrival, lesson number one in basic havigation was provided for those of us not so endowed with directional skills.
Ye set forth with our new found skills to conquer the surroundings. I partly guaged our direction by the reaction of Eric and Geoff - the standard deviation was directly proportional to how smirkisch they looked! After not locating some questionably existent limestone sculptures we turned off the main track and attempted to find the main range descending into Smiths Creek; where did you say it was Geoff?
A very devious ploy was used to illustrate lesson number two: time travelled as judge for distance travelled. We picked up the real main ridge, took our bearings and descended. Geoff did some esoterical type navigation down to Smiths. On questionning Geoff's exact technique it apparently had something to do with the seat of the pants method, which wasn't explained in the first lesson. The flies were pitched at Smiths Creek and the evening meal of rice and fish started. The wind picked up to a gale while dining and flattened our accomodation twice before it was decided that moving was in arder, The elements though hadn't quite had their fun, as surface flooding of our new site in the wee hours caused some SOS's being sent from the downhill occupants. Someone suggested that it might have been the evening meal causing hallucinations (not surprising considering the twenty or so ingredients! >. Sunday saw the option of the direct route up to Dabson's Hut, or the 'tourist’ drive up to the Marchant ridge and down to Dobson's led by Eric ‘Fast Feet' Evans. The weather was more hospitable and provided some good opportunities to test out new skills.
Qverall valuable experience was gained by active participation and with the patient guidance of our leader Geoff and Chief Guide, Eric. But most of all a good time was had by all.