This article contains 3 stories:
- Traversing the Landscape by Camel Safari
- 2015 Events + Introducing New Board
- Change of Walking SA Contact Details
Traversing the Landscape by Camel Safari
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A bushwalker’s addiction is to transform the horizon into the night’s campsite. A string of camels moving gently through a rarely visited outback landscape carry everything but your day pack. Here are ingredients for a memorable hike.
The safaris don’t often travel the same route or return to the same place. The exceptions are magical places, campsites that beckon and have done so for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. At one of these, an indigenous tool factory on the face of a sand dune is close to the stone ruins of a shepherds hut and only a few hundred meters from our campsite. In turn, the campsite is only a few giant Coolabah trees away from a motionless, nesting Tawny Frogmouth. One night laughing around the campfire did we imagine the leaves moving in the stillness?
Next morning, we follow a low sand dune towards the distant mesas that will be our camp for the coming night. The images from that day have the flavour of other days and nights – they linger in the mind: an expanse of tall purple-flowering pea; a claypan with remnant reflecting water patterned around with a crazing of bird prints; an orange-tinged bearded dragon motionless except for an eye blink; shimmering mirages; the soft cushioned movement of camel feet leaving little impression on sand or just a shine on stone; an orange chat darting across the gibber stones; the sky fitting like a blue dome over a landscape that seems to go on forever; night skies filled with an unimaginable number of stars; silence and timelessness.
2015 Events + Introducing New Board
Following the Walking SA Annual General Meeting held on 30 October, I would like to formally introduce our current Board and extend a warm welcome to Alan Bundy who is returning to the Board and Michelle Wilson, who joins us from the National Heart Foundation. The Board is dedicated to raising the profile of Walking SA, maintaining a strong connection with our existing members and building new members in 2015.
The Walking SA Board is:
- Wendy Keech, Chair
- Narelle Berry, Deputy Chair
- Ian Budenberg, Treasurer
- Margaret Gadd, Secretary
- Alan Bundy
- Jeremy Carter
- Bill Gehling
- Andrew Govan
- Jim McLean
- Melanie Smith
- Michelle Wilson
Our Board consists of volunteers and is comprised of highly committed members who possess diverse backgrounds bringing a range of skills including business management, community engagement, finance, policy, research, marketing, IT, trail design and maintenance. View profiles of our Board Members.
I look forward to overseeing the implementation of many new initiatives and monitoring the progress as our Strategic Plan is put into action. We will be holding some public events and promotions with an aim to increase the profile of walking as an easy to access, inclusive mode of physical activity that is great for social, physical and mental health. Details of such events will be released in the new year.
We are also holding a members forum in March that will engage members in the strategic vision of Walking SA.
I wish all of the Walking SA members and supporters a safe and happy Christmas break. We look forward to a productive, successful and progressive year in 2015 where we will strive to see the profile and participation rates of walking in South Australia significantly increased.
Change of Walking SA Contact Details
Please note that Walking SA has moved from the Greening Australia Building in Pasadena and we have updated our postal address.
Our new contact details are: PO Box 581, Echunga SA 5153
Phone: 0457 006 620
Email: office@walkingsa.org.au
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