Brett and Karen Annual Letter for 2023

Hi All,

For almost 20 years we have been sending out a Xmas letter like this one, but this year we waited until the New Year to send out an "annual letter" rather than a "Xmas letter". Why try to produce a letter in the lead-up to Xmas when there is a week after Xmas when we have a lot less to do?

As usual, if you want to find out what we are doing more than once a year, you can visit our Facebook pages by clicking Karen's Facebook page and Brett's Facebook page. You can also see a whole lot more of our photos of bushwalks and trips on my Flickr page - which now has over 76,000 images on display.

At the end of last year's letter, we wrote that our planned activities for 2023 included a Kimberley coast cruise in Western Australia and an 8 day full pack hike (for me) in the wilds of Tasmania west of Lake Pedder in March. There was also a mention of a possible cycling tour of the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. All these things went ahead - plus lots more - see the details below!

Click / touch the thumbnails below for larger images then click / touch them again to make them small again.


Bike riding to Kosciuscko huts

In early February we joined six friends for a week of camping, cycling and walking to 16 cattleman's huts in the plains of the northern Snowy Mountains. Great weather and company. There was a lot of hard, rough riding but it was very rewarding. The only real downer about the trip was the huge number of feral horses we saw!

263 more photos on Flickr


Brett's epic in Tasmania

In early March I joined two fellow Shoalhaven Bushwalkers and a friend from the Canberra Bushwalking Club to do a 9 day traverse of the Frankland Range on the western side of Lake Pedder. An arranged boat drop-off fell through so the traverse became an out-and-back walk from near Strathgordon. The weather forecast for the first two days was so putrid everyone stayed at the lodge! The delayed start meant the 9 day hike was reduced to 7 days. Despite an improving weather forecast, the actual weather for the first 3 days of the hike was really bad - a total white-out and potentially life-threatening - and the fourth day wasn't much better either. Navigation of the un-tracked terrain was virtually impossible at times.

It was not only cold and wet, but the Roaring Forties were in great form - with cross-winds gusting to an estimated 80kph on the ridges during the first two days. Then one of the party got crook, so we spent three nights camped in cloud in an upland swamp! We did an epic walk out on the fifth day during a relatively good weather window before deteriorating conditions again set in. Great fun!

With the cost of flights, accommodation and special gear purchased (and needed) for the extreme weather, and the shortened walk due to illness and the elements, I estimated the walk cost me about $100 per kilometre!

Here are some photos from the last couple of days of the walk. Due to the white-out, rain and wind, I did not take any photos during the first few days of the walk! Despite the hardships, the walk and the scenery were both truly memorable!

122 more photos on Flickr


Yorke Peninsula and Flinders Ranges bike rides

In late April and early May, we spent three weeks in South Australia with six friends where we mountain-biked for 11 days and 620km around the Yorke Peninsula closely following the "Walk the Yorke" trail. After completing the bike ride around the Yorke, we all drove to Rawnsley Park in the Flinders Ranges for five days of mountain-biking and walking in the Wilpena Pound area.

411 more photos on Flickr


Kimberley cruise

In late June we flew to Broome for a 13 night cruise up the Kimberley coast. The journey started with a bus trip from Broome to Derby followed by 14 days on a relatively small boat called Discovery One - six crew looking after 21 guests. The boat had two "tenders" - Zodiacs (or similar) - which took everyone out on a couple of "scenics" (excursions) each day.

At the end of the cruise section of the trip, everyone enjoyed a helicopter flight over Mitchell Falls before landing at the Mitchell Plateau Airport to transfer to a plane for the flight back to Broome - which included a few loops over the top of the Horizontal Falls!

Everything about the trip - the boat, the food, the fellow guests, the crew - was excellent, but for a couple of birdwatchers like us the highlight of the trip was a sighting of a Chestnut Rail on one of the Zodiac trips on an otherwise miserable day! Given that Chestnut Rails are only found in tropical mangroves from the tip of Cape York to Broome - which is also the favoured environment for man-eating saltwater crocodiles - the chances of seeing a Chestnut Rail from land - safely - are rather slim!

The scenery - every day - was amazing!

508 more photos on Flickr


Broome and the Broome Bird Observatory (BBO)

We spent a couple of nights in Broome prior to the Kimberley cruise, and three nights at the BBO afterwards. It was a bit of a shock to the system for us to prepare our own breakfasts, lunches and dinners after two weeks of luxury aboard the cruise boat where all meals were provided by a chef!

The birds at the BBO were plentiful, but no new "lifers" were sighted. This is to be expected as our life lists are pretty extensive now ...

99 more photos on Flickr


Murramarang Walk

In August Karen led 11 other Shoalhaven Bushwalkers on a 3 day full-pack hike on the newly opened South Coast Walk. A great time was had by all, including me. I chose not to go on the walk as Karen and I had already walked this section of the coast years ago before the new track was created. While Karen was away, I watched all four "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies - something that Karen would definitely not have enjoyed!



Karen in Sri Lanka

In late September and early October Karen joined four friends for a trip to Sri Lanka. Brett was otherwise occupied - see next section.

Karen's group travelled around with a driver in a very comfortable new(ish) HiAce van. They did safaris to national parks and saw amazing animals - including a leopard, a sloth bear, crocodiles, turtles and lots of elephants and birds. They also saw lots of Buddhas, lots of amazing rocks, and visited all the old kingdoms - one dating back to before the birth of Christ - and the ruins were still spectacular.

They experienced a lively cultural show with front row seats, visited the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy - a world heritage site - and saw heaps of waterfalls and tea plantations as well.

Karen said the trip was really worthwhile, but she doesn't think she will be visiting any other third-world countries anytime soon!



Brett in the Australian Rogaining Championships (ARC)

At the end of September after yet another long search to find a suitable rogaining partner, I teamed up with Richard Robinson - a slightly younger, highly experienced and well-credentialled Ultra-veteran (over 65 years old) for the ARC at Goobang National Park near Parkes in central NSW. Despite a couple of months of solid training, I found the heat (mid thirties) and rapid pace of my fitter partner a bit too much at the start and I was reduced to a cramping mess less than 5 hours into the 24 hour event.

I soldiered on for another 19 hours and was extremely glad to eventually cross the finish line after covering a distance of about 70 kilometres - a lot of it through thick scrub!

Somewhat surprisingly, we scored 2420 points and finished a very close second in the Men's Ultra-veteran competition behind Australian legends Vic Sedunary and Mervyn Trease who scored 2460. Overall we finished 14th out of 84 teams, almost all of which were much younger than us. If Richard and I had collected just one more checkpoint we would have been Australian Champions in our age group! The reigning Australian Ultra-vet Champions from last year - Grant Battersby and Tony Slatyer - finished third almost 700 points behind us on 1730.

I am now looking for another partner for future rogaines and I'm wondering how well I would have done if I was allowed to rogaine solo and set my own pace.

The photos below show Richard and me at the finish, and the three place-getting Ultra-veteran teams.



Northern Rivers kayaking with Shoalhaven Bushwalkers

In late October and early November Karen and I joined a dozen other Shoalhaven Bushwalkers kayakers for a series of day-paddles on the northern rivers of NSW. We were based at Brunswick Heads for the first five days and did paddles on the Brunswick River, Simpson Creek and Marshalls Creek. One extremely wet day was spent in the campers kitchen reading, doing crosswords and newspaper quizzes.

It was not all kayaking though. One day we ventured inland to Nightcap National Park to do a couple of lovely rainforest walks, with Minyon Falls being a highlight. We then re-located our base to Kingscliff. The next paddle was from Tumbulgum to Murwillumbah via the Rous River - with great views of Mt Warning. Another paddle - and possibly the best of the entire trip - was on Clarrie Hall Dam in glassy conditions despite the coast being blown out.

Everyone did their own tourist stuff too. We visited the Fingal Head lighthouse and the Tweed Regional Gallery that featured Margaret Olley's art and fascinating studio replicas. Our final paddle was a return trip up Mooball Creek from Pottsville.



510 more photos on Flickr


Maryborough bike rides

In late November Karen and I travelled to the goldfields of Victoria to meet up with 11 friends for a series of day-rides around Maryborough. The rides included the four legs of the 210km Goldfields Track - a mountain-bike route from Mount Buninyong (just south of Ballarat) through Ballarat, Creswick, Daylesford, and Castlemaine to Bendigo.

Easy days of riding in the forests around Maryborough were alternated with the hard days of the Goldfields track and we totalled about 380 kilometres of riding over 9 days. Karen says that the distances covered each day were not as important as the number of hours we rode! One tough day's ride took about 8 hours and we only covered 44 kilometres!

109 more photos on Flickr


Shoalhaven Bushwalkers (SBW)

As seen above with the multi-day Murramarang hike and the extended kayaking trip to northern NSW, Karen and I continue to be involved with the SBW. Since Karen stepped down from the Presidency four years ago, the club has gone into a period of decline with many experienced committee members taking well-deserved breaks after years of service, to be replaced by people relatively new to the club and to the committee. While they have good intentions and plenty of ideas for how they think the club could be improved, the new committee members have little understanding of - or appreciation for - the club's history, philosophy or constitution.

After fighting an extensive series of extremely poor committee decisions - in my opinion - over the past couple of years, I finally called it quits in mid-September after yet another decision which was in total contravention of the club's constitution. I resigned from the committee and from my position of Webmaster after 23 years in the job. I simply did not want to be associated with any of the decisions that were being made by the SBW committee.

Because of the introduction of ridiculous (IMHO) "safety" requirements - that actually have nothing to do with safety - which increase the workload of walk leaders for no benefit, I will no longer lead walks for Shoalhaven Bushwalkers, but Karen continues to lead walks, with her six walks led this year increasing her lead in the Shoalhaven Bushwalkers "Hall of Fame" for most walks led for the club - now up to 271 walks and about 70 ahead of her nearest rival.



Wobbegongs

Karen still swims three or four times a week, and during Winter she competes in Sunday races with the Wobbegongs Winter Swimming Club at Huskisson. She also created and manages the Wobbegongs website - see the Wobbegongs website.



Shoalhaven Bicycle Users Group (BUG)

While I'm playing golf on Thursday morning, Karen is riding her mountain bike with the Shoalhaven Bicycle Users Group (BUG). She also does a couple of other rides every week and sometimes succeeds in dragging me along as well. Karen is now an accredited ride leader with the BUG, but has managed to avoid any committee duties with the group!



Bay and Basin Camera Club (BBCC)

I'm still on the committee of the BBCC, and still manage their website and Facebook page. Since stepping down from the role of Secretary a couple of years ago, I'm really enjoying my time with the BBCC a lot more. I take heaps of photos on bushwalks, bike rides, paddles and holidays, and tend to pick out images from these activities for BBCC competitions, rather than deliberately going out to create photos. This should be obvious from some of my BBCC comp entries shown below.

The first photo below was taken on this year's walk in Tasmanian, the second and third on SBW bushwalks, the fourth on a trip to South Australia and the fifth on the Kimberley cruise.




BirdLife Shoalhaven (BLS)

Not surprisingly, Karen and I are still avid birdwatchers, and we both continue to support BLS. Karen is still on the BLS committee as Treasurer. However, not only did I resign from the Shoalhaven Bushwalkers (SBW) committee this year, I also resigned from the BLS committee as well! Unlike my SBW resignation - which had been on the cards for some time - the BLS resignation was totally unexpected by everyone - including me!

Five days after the "Voice to Parliament" referendum was announced on September 11th, I was working in my office when an email from the BirdLife Australia (BA) head office came in, announcing their support for the "Yes" argument. The referendum was a divisive issue with the polls at the time saying that support was equally divided between the Yes and No camps. Why would a registered charity like BA take sides in the debate when it was highly likely that their stance would not be supported by at least half of their potential donors? In addition, it was likely to antagonise a similar percentage of their members - none of whom had been consulted about the BA decision - no matter which side they supported. BA's support was unnecessary and stupid - in my humble opinion - and I didn't want to be part of an organisation that makes such poor decisions.

Fifteen minutes after receiving the email from BA, I sent off my resignation to the BA CEO, cancelling my regular donation to BA at the same time. I also resigned from the BLS committee to further distance myself from BA. However, although I no longer support BA, I still support bird conservation in the Shoalhaven and will continue to edit the BLS e-magazine.

I may have become a grumpy old man, but the amount of spare time I now have is amazing!



Other Stuff

I'm still golfing once a week. My handicap has blown out from 8 to 11 and I tell people it's because I am "massaging" my play with a view to having a handicap of 18 sometime in the near future!

Karen and I still feed our resident Magpie pair - Ricky and Lucy. The Magpie visits are sporadic, so they obviously don't rely on the food they receive. They must come in just to stay in touch with their human friends!


Health

My heart continues to be a concern - to me anyway. My heart specialist put me on medication for three months during the year, but it made no difference. The medication was then increased by a factor of 3, but again it made no difference to my condition.

In the end, the specialist told me to stop taking all medication and let nature take its course, but to make sure I come back and see him if I experience any adverse effects - like sudden death!

Given Karen's relatively younger age, combined with her good diet, limited intake of alcohol, and solid exercise regimen of regular swimming, bike riding and bushwalking, it shouldn't come as a shock to anyone that she remains fit and well.


Plans for 2024

Assuming I remain above ground, Karen and I have planned two trips for 2024.

The first is six days of bike riding in March from Orange in NSW. The second is quite different - a ten week trip to Scotland and Iceland, with extended stopovers in Singapore and Dubai.

As always, Karen and I hope you had a great 2023, and we hope you will have an even better 2024!

Cheers,

Brett (and Karen)

P.S. Our revious annual letters can be viewed by clicking the following links - 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.