Ray Mathieson reports -
I have lived in Vincentia for eleven years and have been a member of Shoalhaven Bushwalkers for most of that time. When I began with them the bushwalking explosion had not taken place and the club was small, with most of the people like Stuart Leslie, Alwyn Martin etc. at least twenty years younger than I was, and I quickly found out that I had a problem - I couldn't keep up!
The only person I can think of who isn't around any more is Wally Eastwood, who was secretary at the time. I went on a walk with him which was a two or three day camp to Quilty's Mountain, but apart from that I can only remember a couple of other camps, one to Ettrema Gorge.
The day walks were fairly infrequent and only held on Sundays and I had to be careful about which leaders I walked with. Because of these problems I walked a lot with my Sydney club - The Bush Club - which was then starting a project to walk from the Victorian border to the Queensland border, under Joan Adams. I spent a good bit of time on these walks and I also walked with the Milton NPA because both these groups were closer to my own age. Then I damaged my Achilles tendons and I haven't been able to walk much for the past five years. Thankfully these seem to be okay and I am thinking of trying to get started again.
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