BETWEEN FRIENDS

G'day,

Once again the year draws to a close and its time for the Annual General Meeting and barbecue. It will be held on the first weekend in December at Buchan, so it is very close. This weekend also coincides with the final working bee for the year.

This newsletter reports on the two working bees which were carried out during the year. Unfortunately the third working bee scheduled for 11th - 12th September was cancelled as insufficient people were able to attend the weekend to make it worthwhile.

In just under three months the next issue of Between Friends will be sent out to all members. It will contain the calendar of scheduled working bees for the year 2000. I have been assured that it will be Y2K compliant and we will not be afflicted by any bugs in the caves.

I look forward to meeting up with you all again in Buchan for the AGM, and to another year of useful work being carried out by the Friends.

The guide-hut at the Buchan Caves Reserve will host the AGM on Saturday 4th December 1999 commencing at 8PM. The important business of the meeting covers the presentation of the Annual Financial Report and the election of the committee for the year 2000. The dates for working bee weekends in 2000 will probably also be worked out.

The Friends will be offering a free barbecue before the meeting, starting at about 6PM, outside the guide-hut. Bring your own drinks. Salads, bread and cooked sausages and hamburgers are provided. The barbecue is a good opportunity to have an informal chat with other Friends and the Caves Reserve staff, especially regarding the activities that the Friends may undertake in 2000.

The $2 individual and $5 family annual membership fee becomes due at this time, so this is a good opportunity to renew your membership.

20 - 21 February 1999

Peter Ackroyd

Friends:

Peter Ackroyd	Cathie Cranston	Ian Sebire
Mick Adler	Steve Keating	Nola Sebire
Glenn Baddeley	Erica Maggs	Michelle Tisdale
Dale Calnin	Thomas Maggs	Steve Wood

This weekend's activities were focused on the Fairy Cave. Everyone helped clean the cave by hosing down the pathways, cleaning out the silt traps, picking up small items dropped by tourists and cleaning up the remaining debris brought in by the floods of July last year. In addition, some of the calcite decoration in the vicinity of Sciatica Alley was carefully cleaned by hand.

The Friends of Buchan Caves has been fortunate in securing two grants this year. An application for $3,000 from the Parks Victoria community grants fund was approved for the preparation, construction and installation of more interpretation signs in the Caves Reserve. A further $1,000 has been allocated to us from the centenary grants fund for the replacement of old and unsafe handrails in Fairy Cave.

During the working bee weekend, these projects were discussed and measurements made with a view to commencing design work.

Two members of the Friends arrived in Buchan on Friday afternoon and spent it examining the Friends' revegetation plot at the Potholes area north of Buchan. A detailed survey was made and some damage to the electric fence noted. This damage was in an out-of-the-way spot, well up the hill. Several electrical insulators had been broken off and some wire ties removed, allowing the electric fence to short itself out. This vandalism was repaired on Sunday.

Despite the damage, the trees are doing well with some of the wattles up to two metres tall already. There appear to be some significant losses on the east side of the plot but they are not serious enough to jeopardise the project.

It was a great weekend of fellowship in an environment we love. Don't miss the next weekend in May.

22 - 23 May 1999

Peter Ackroyd

Friends:

Peter Ackroyd	Michael Chapman	Iestyn Hosking
Mick Adler	Cathie Cranston	Michael Riney
Dale Calnin	Simone Duxbury
Robyn Calnin	Geoff Hammond

Several simultaneous projects were run on this Friend's trip. Saturday was spent by some of the party in Fairy Cave measuring and planning how to build new handrails at the base of the entrance steps. The remainder of the Friends removed the chicken wire in the vicinity of the Octopus Room at the starting point of the Royal Cave tour.

Saturday night was a barbecue expertly catered by Mike and Cathie and enjoyed by all in the crisp evening air at the Spring Creek camping area.

On Sunday, after a short time spent in Fairy Cave, most of the Friends drove up to the Potholes revegetation plot North of Buchan in order to carry out some weeding before the Spring growth commences.

The donation bins were cleared and $434.05 in donations collected.

Some research on the old files at the Caves Reserve was carried out in preparation for our new interpretation signs to be constructed as part of our grants for 1999.

By 2PM on Sunday most people had finished their tasks and after a brief bask in the wonderfully sunny Autumn day, we left Buchan to drive home to a wet and cold Melbourne.

Please note that all email addresses include ".trip89" as an anti-spam measure. Please remove ".trip89" to make them legitimate addresses.

Glenn Baddeley, 23 November 1999

During the year we received the fourth newsletter of the Friends of the Cobberas. The Cobberas is a wilderness forest and mountainous area about 80 kilometres North of Buchan, near the head of the Murray River.

The Friends of the Cobberas has now become incorporated, so that they can receive grants. Their first Annual General Meeting was held at Buchan on Saturday 17th April 1999.

Some of the activities they are looking at include a Rock Wallaby poster, feral horse exclusion plots, and sign posts for bush walkers. The newsletter included a contact and membership list (18 people) and an article by Scott Perkins, an Alpine Ranger based at Buchan, to introduce himself.

For more details, contact Ian Smith, 48 Riley Street, Bairnsdale VIC 3875, phone (03) 5152 3632.

Cathie Cranston cleaning calcite in Fairy Cave, Buchan Victoria. Photo: P J Ackroyd, October 1998