report
Spanish Steps Working Bee 28-29 July 2007.
Attendees.
Roger & Jill Sheath (Patrol)
Stan & Noelene Kynoch (Landrover Defender)
Glenn & Mitchell Evans (Patrol)
As usual Mitchell & I were last to arrive. (Mitchell has trouble getting out of bed) hence I have been given the task of doing the trip report.
We arrived at Zig Zag Station and aired down. The clouds were thick and grey so much so that we were having bets on weather it would snow or not. The wind was bitterly cold and went straight through us.
We drove to the base camp that the Association had set up the night before to find a group from the Association waiting for us and other clubs that promised they would be along to help. After a quick talk and a strategy discussion and several cups of hot coffee, we set off to the top gate of the steps that had been vandalised by unknown parties to gain access to the now restricted track. A working party had left earlier to work on the other access gate insuring that the track would be closed to those parties who did not have legal access to this Association area. We drove for about 30 minutes and turned off to the Spanish Steps track.
About 100 metres from the actual gate, a large tree had fallen across the track which gave us a chance to do some clearing and make sure that the Bush Fire brigade would have unlimited and quick access if required.
Once we arrived it was obvious that a large section of the fence had been destroyed and badly bent with 4 actual poles removed from the ground. We set about re digging the holes and with the aid of Rodgers winch, pulling the railings back into some sort of alignment so they could be welded into position again. While some of the members from the Association and Sydney District continued to dig the holes, a couple of us decided to walk down to the bottom to see if it would be possible to drive to the other gate to retrieve some equipment from the other working party. After about 1 kilometre it became painfully obvious that some type of monster competition truck had been through the track. The tyre print was about 45cm wide. We reached the bottom and to our horror the main track as well as the chicken track had been totally chewed out by these irresponsible vandals. The steps in some cases were up to 90cm high. The chicken track was also badly churned up. There is no way our trucks could safely go down this track.
We walked back up and told the others. This was disappointing to the other members and we made radio contact with the other working party to inform them of what we discovered. We still needed some of the equipment that they had so some decided to walk the track and bring it back on foot. This seemed to take forever but once they returned we managed to get things started again. The holes were dug but as we struck rock, it was decided that the posts would be reinforced with steel by drilling into the rocks and cementing them into the ground. This may not stop them but it would slow them down and hopefully burn out a winch or 2 by trying to pull the posts out again.
It was now about 3.00pm so we decided to call it a day and return to base camp where a BBQ was to be held.
As this was my first chance at getting the Patrol dirty, I wasted no mud holes on the way back and as it had been raining the week before, there was plenty to play in.
After the drive back to camp, I bid farewell to everybody and headed back home as I had a commitment that night.
Even though numbers were lower than hoped, the work was completed and unless we can continue to keep our tracks in good order and stop the wilful and deliberate destruction of our designated areas we will loose them. Let’s hope that the next working bee can be better patronised but as we had 3 trucks on site it was far better than most clubs who had none.
Glenn Evans