2011 PBT

The “PBT” is the SUBW President’s Bludge Trip to the Kowmung River on the October long weekend. The first PBT was in 1974 and they have been held every October long weekend since.

This year there were a number of challenges. Firstly the president, Helen had been injured on a cross country ski trip not long before and this meant she could only walk short distances. This problem was solved buy the trip this year going to that part of the river near Tuglow Caves. This meant she could get in by 4WD. Most of there rest of the party walked to the river via a variety of routes. A nice campsite was chosen not far downstream of the ford.

The second challenge was the weather. Like last year (and a few years before that) rain was forecast for the long weekend. Despite the forecast quite a few club members came on the trip and had a good time.

The Kowmung River is a special place. A long weekend gives one the opportunity to spend one day walking to the river, one day going along the river and then one day walking back out. The extra day in the middle has allowed most parts of the river to have been visited during the PBT’s.

The bad weather this time (it rained a lot on Saturday night – as well as constant light rain during Saturday and Sunday) was responsible for the decision being made to relocate the camp to the nice dry Dance Floor Cave at Kanangra Walls for Sunday night. Our Kowmung camp was now very muddy and in danger of getting trashed. Monday was spent in the Kanangra Walls area – walking to the end of the Walls and a short walk to the top of Kalang Falls.