See the little ants in the top left corner of the picture – yep, we were going there as well.
Echuca-Moama Bushwalkers. The name is simple, to the point, and correct, albeit a smidgen deceptive.
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It just isn’t the complete moniker, because it discreetly overlooks the associated trips, stumbles, occasional falls, frequent hands-and-knees scrambles over suspect surfaces and those bum slides down rock faces — planned and otherwise.
Even better, when it brings out its regular schedule of upcoming walks it grades them, for your convenience, from easy to medium/hard — and although there doesn’t seem to be any category for seriously intimidating, rest assured, occasionally it’s out there somewhere.
Recently a small but enthusiastic band of EMB members, including from Rochester, loaded up and headed for a daily double — first Pyramid Hill and then nearby Mt Hope.
Nothing beats a cuppa and a chat after a hard day’s bushwalking.
Rated easy.
And it was, in a very occasional way. Because the assessment neglected to mention the slippery rocks, didn’t even refer to the rocks you had to crawl over because the overhang you were crawling under wouldn’t have given a Chihuahua standing room.
Minor omission.
And occasionally there is a much easier path to follow.
Pyramid Hill and Mount Hope are rocky outcrops that dominate the surrounding plains and river flats, and the views from the top of both are worth the climbs, which, EMB admits, “can be difficult in places involving scrambling over rocks and through tall grasses, particularly on Mt Hope, which does not have a designated walking track”.
Then there are the rocks you have to crawl over because the overhang you were crawling under wouldn’t have given a Chihuahua standing room.
Leader AnneMaree Crosby said while the walks/climbs/challenges were a large part of being a bushwalker, the flip side was it was “a great social event in the great outdoors”.
“The bushwalking is brilliant, but it’s never a race, it’s about getting out there for the exercise and the fun of the walk, but we’re also a good bunch of friends — and we like to make as many new friends as possible,” AnneMaree said.
When you’re on top of the hill, you get a 360-degree view of everything, just like Major Mitchell did 190 years ago.
“Every walk we stay close together and have a good old chat as we head for our destination — and back.
“And don’t underestimate the popularity of bushwalking — the latest AusPlay data confirms bushwalking is continuing to thrive as one of Victoria’s most popular physical activities.”
AusPlay collects national, state and territory data on more than 600 different participation sports and activities in Australia and who is participating in them.
It’s a long way to the top if you want to rock and stroll.
According to its Victorian statistics, recreational walking is the number one physical activity, with almost three million participants.
Fitness/gyms come second at 2.03 million, jogging/running third at one million.
“And then it is bushwalking, at 937,035 keen trekkers, way ahead of swimming, cycling, Pilates, yoga, tennis, football/soccer,” AnneMaree said.
And it would not be an Australian bush setting without a monument to the ultimate bushwalker — Major Thomas Mitchell, who ascended Pyramid Hill in 1836 to get a better lie of the surrounding land.
“We’re fun, it is easy to do, you can set your own pace, you can pick the walks you want to tackle and as you get fitter and learn more about what we do you can start taking on tougher tracks.
“Also, you don’t just get the benefit of bushwalking, you get to visits places all around the state — and country, such as all or any part of the 1200km Heysen Trail in South Australia or the Bibbulmun in WA (at a lazy 1000km).
And it can often be just as tricky going back down.
“It also helps set you up if you want to travel overseas and tackle things such as the Camino, the Kokoda, the Inca trail to Machu Picchu — we’ve got or had members who have tried them all.”
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