JOURNAL
JOURNAL
WILD BLUE MOUNTAINS
Operate In Remote Environments Assessment 17 May 2025 Today was the assessment for 20 Remote Area Firefighters (RAF) hopefuls. I was assessing three candidates who were well prepared. They swiftly navigated to the chosen waypoints in the Cuumbeun Nature Reserve, built their shelter and completed all the required tasks.As the sun set, we continued navigating in the dark until we reached our car. Needless to say, they were deemed competent!! Congratulations! I am sure we will see each other on […]
Hydraulics Course 3 May 2025 I volunteered to help with the hydraulics course this year. The format changed a bit from last year: we spent more time on the theory. We did have a demonstration on the effects of pressure, flow and friction which was quite an interesting exercise… Tomorrow will be a fully practical day but I can’t make it. Always happy to improve my skills in hydraulics!
Scrubby, Slippery, Nightmarish! 28 April 2025 The gully looked promising on paper… but we got into snags straight away! The proposed entry was possible without a nuisance abseil and getting wet. So we followed the cliffline but could not find anything until the end of the creek… The descent was slippery and steep: we snugged against the cliff and eventually came level with a small creek. It had looked scrubby from the top and it did not disappoint! We made […]
Operate In Remote Environments – Day 02 13 May 2025 Similar to last year’s course, the participants were split in smaller groups. This time I was stationed at the RAFT trailer showing the participants all the equipment at our disposal. We then relocated to Cooma for a debrief! And then it was back to the Mountains!
Operate In Remote Environments – Day 01 12 April 2025 The second Operate In Remote Area course of the year was in Cooma. After going through the theory and writing an Incident Action Plan (IAP), we relocated to the Coornatha Nature Reserve where we navigated through the bush and talked about all things RAFT. The terrain was up and down and the vegetation was not dense making it a good training experience. Nothing like last year swamps!
Mount Wilson Search 16 December 2024 Today we were looking for a bushwalker who has been missing for a couple of days in Mount Wilson. Our first tasking was a side creek of Waterfall Creek and was easy.Our second tasking was below Wynnes Rock Lookout: this was a scrubby mess but it was interesting.The third tasking took us to a rocky outcrop. Surprisingly there was a track below the cliff line although there was nothing outstanding to look at.We were […]
Bush-Bashed 14 December 2024 It looked easy on the topo map: two fire trails and a track: two hours max should do it! Then off track to a creek and down to the major creek and some exploration. Little did we know! We left early, drove to the locked gate and we were on our way! The first fire trail was a bona fide one! The second one was a fire trail in a former life: this was confirmed by […]
Three Stone Arrows 12 December 2024 Another hot day, another creek! Today: Explorers Brook! The ridge we followed must have been a fire trail a long time ago: two tracks were visible in one spot but it was mostly covered with vegetation. The views were fantastic! The trifecta: Mount Hay, Mount Tomah and Mount Banks. We found an old campsite with rusty metal parts and further along a cairn in the shape of an arrow! We continued to the end […]
