A risky business

A risky businessWhy I support risk-taking

Over the edge: abseiling into Jenolan Caves

On a recent rock-climbing trip in northern Sydney, I fell. 

We’d had a tough morning of climbing, and decided to do “just one more climb”. It was a relatively easy, short climb on good rock, and I assumed I would just run up it, clip into the bolts for protection, and then help haul the other, less-experienced climber to the top.

Whether it was the slippery start, a latent illness I was carrying, or just a bad climb, I slipped and fell uncontrolled, plummeting towards the ground. Thankfully I had clipped into a bolt a few metres below me, and as I fell, my belayer did his part, and the bolt did the rest, arresting my fall a couple of metres off the deck.

Rock-climbing, like many of the activities I enjoy, involves responsible risk-taking: placing yourself in a precarious position, but with the knowledge that you have taken ‘adequate precautions’ (to use a euphemism). 

Ken Eastwood caving, Jenolan Caves

Whether mountain biking down a rocky slope, scuba diving through the shark caves of Fish Rock, canyoning in the Blue Mountains or taking a long overnight hike through rugged terrain, many of the outdoor adventures I undertake have two elements of risk: known risks and unknown risks. A wise and experienced lover of the outdoors becomes used to weighing up these risks; factoring in weather and solutions to all the known risks, and being prepared to encounter the unexpected.

It’s these skills that I find so useful in other parts of life, whether planning to direct a camp with more than 100 unpredictable teenagers, bringing up two kids, a holiday with the family, or the rush and adrenaline of a deadline.

One of the best Australian exponents of responsible risk-taking is highly successful entrepreneur and adventurer Dick Smith, who I worked for briefly in the Australian Geographic offices at Terrey Hills. A recent story in the International Business Times said, “his story has always been about venturing into the exciting world of the unknown… [but] Dick says he will never get into a business unless there's a good chance of success in it. Even in his recreational adventurism, he says he would only dabble if there’s a huge chance of him coming out of it successfully. It is called responsible risk taking.”

Dick, and the Australian Geographic Society, support the “spirit of adventure” which led to young Australian mountaineers such as Christopher Harris becoming the youngest person to climb the potentially lethal Mt Cook in New Zealand, at just age 12. His dad, Richard, told me, “I’ve certainly never worried about what other parents think – if you worried about that you wouldn’t do anything.” With a focus on getting his kids into scouts, Outward Bound, caving and rafting, Richard has encouraged and motivated them to push boundaries into areas of high risk. 

“When it comes to kids and wrapping them in cotton wool, I have a theory that we have more teenage suicides than ever before, and it’s because they aren’t having any near-death experiences, so they don’t learn to fear it,” he said.

Whether or not we admit it, we all face huge, insidious risks every day. Statistically, the most dangerous part of rock-climbing isn’t the abseiling or the actual climbing. It’s the drive to the rock face.

Parents have become obsessed with stranger danger, but statistically, strangers in Australia offer miniscule danger to kids. If they are abused, it is almost certainly going to be by someone they know and trust.

We fear our kids playing in the bush by themselves, but I recently heard of a girl who tripped on a long dress while playing “dress-ups inside” and broke her arm.

If we don’t encourage kids to get out and have their own adventures, what about the far more insidious risks of obesity, laziness, lack of imagination, depression, inability to make their own wise decisions or going through life thinking mediocrity is the goal?

Away from the marked trails, exploring Ku-ring-gai National Park

Dr Helen Little, lecturer at the Institute of Early Childhood at Macquarie University, began research into risk-taking in children in 2005 with a PhD titled Children’s physical risk-taking in outdoor play: the influence of individual, social and environmental factors. “Although the term 'risk-taking' often has negative connotations, the reality is that the willingness to engage in some risky activities provides opportunities to learn new skills, try new behaviours and ultimately reach our potential. Challenge and risk, in particular during outdoor play, allows children to test the limits of their physical, intellectual and social development,” she wrote.

She’d noticed an increasing trend of parents giving a blanket ‘no’ to their children who want to take risks, such as climbing trees or walking around the outside of the playground equipment, “without struggling to think ‘why am I saying no? What is the issue and is it really an issue? There is no risk-benefit assessment. Sure, as a parent you do [need to] look at the risks and the hazards in the environment, but you weigh that up against the benefits – motor development, spatial awareness, confidence – any aspect of their social development.

“If a child doesn’t do these things, step out of their comfort zone, they are going to stagnate, they aren’t going to develop.”

Responsible parenting means taking risks

It’s the same with us, dear grown-ups. We all too easily retreat to the comfort of our own mediocrity, unwilling to step through any doorway that might, possibly, make us uncomfortable. And as a result, I fear, we will continually set ourselves and those around us an agenda of stagnation.

Go against the trend. Be bold. Take a risk this week. Do something you’ve never done before. Weigh up the risks, and have a go. And let me know how it goes.

www.kensbigbackyard.com.au

Our own Grand Canyon

Our own Grand Canyon

A Grade 2 canyon ­– 1 abseil, 1 long swim, 1 fun half day

Many, many people’s favourite walk in the Blue Mountains is called the Grand Canyon loop. It takes about 2.5 hours, going through little caves, eucalypt forest, rainforest, crossing creeks and then steeply up to one of the best lookouts in the Blue Mountains. It’s featured in my recent book, Top Walks in NSW.

But there is a great way to make this little adventure even more fun, and see a part of the canyon that few people do. In recent years some bolts and a chain have been put in a sensible spot to make the one abseil needed safer and so as not to cause any more damage to the one tree that people used to abseil off.

Grand Canyon, canyon, Ken Eastwood

The canyon is graded 2/6 on the canyoning scale, which means it is considered fairly easy, but as the abseil is overhung and slippery, it would definitely be advised for all to have had at least a little abseiling practice. The canyon section isn’t particularly long and the main, long swim is right at the end, so it is fairly safe, and my 13-year-old daughter made it through the canyon no worries. It is also a canyon in which it is almost impossible to get lost, as after about an hour or so in the canyon, you run into the main walking track.

However, as with all canyons, this should not be attempted during, immediately after or just before rain. Canyoning can be a dangerous sport, and so it is strongly advised that at least one person in your party has canyoning experience, and that you take all precautions against hypothermia, injuries, dehydration etc.

Start

I find it best for both this canyon, and the Grand Canyon loop walk, to park at the Neates Glen trackhead, near the bottom of Evans Lookout Road in Blackheath. It means the final 1.5km uninteresting walk back along the top from the lookout to the car can be done by the fittest person, while the others enjoy an extended stop at the lookout.

Walk in

The fun walking track includes a creek crossing and lots of birdlife, with the track at one point going behind (or under) a waterfall, and then through a short tunnel. 

Waterfall on the walk in, Grand Canyon Loop

After about 30 minutes of walking, you’ll notice the slot canyon on the left-hand side (steeply below), and the track goes under some low-hanging sandstone overhangs, with a chain fence beside the track. On the left-hand side, just beyond the chain fence, you’ll notice a fixed abseil chain, and about 4 metres below it, a large black hole. This is the abseil point.

The abseil

The chain is sensibly set up so that the start of the abseil is easy, allowing newbies to get comfortable before disappearing over the edge. The worst thing is that the set up is so far back that if anything goes wrong, it is very, very hard to communicate with people who have already gone over. Still, nothing should go wrong.

In total, the abseil is about 16m high, and the last 10m is an overhang. You drop into a beautiful big cavern, with a gravel and rock base, and unless the water level is very high, you should be able to stand there without getting wet.

There are no more abseils, so harnesses can be put away.

Those who are going to wear wetsuits (highly recommended, but not essential in this canyon - if no wetsuit, wear thermals and/or wool jumper) are advised to put them on before abseiling, or once you get to the bottom.

Having fun yet?

Heading downstream (i.e, to the right!) you will be delighted with the green balconies of ferns, the thin canyon wall letting in occasional shafts of light, mosses, huge orange yabbies, plunge pools and the signs of the ferocious destructive force of the river when it really gets pumping. Have a look at the size of the logs that have been rammed against walls, and you’ll know why it is never advised to go canyoning after or during rain.

Ken Eastwood and yabby

The rocks can be incredibly slippery. However, those who don’t want to get wet may be able to carefully weave their way around the plunge pools. With a wetsuit on, it’s more fun just to plunge in.

After about an hour, another very small canyon comes in from the left. It’s only about 40m long, with a waterfall shower at the end, and worth clambering up to see. Then there’s a swim, described as 30m, but it may not even be that long.

The end

Pop out the other side of the swim, and soon you’ll see a couple of distracting tracks disappearing up to the left. Ignore these, and stay following the water for another 50m or so, until a little track appears on the right hand side of the river. Follow this instead, and you’ll find the main walking track (that you left earlier).

Those wanting another small canyon to round out their day can walk to Jugular Canyon from here. It will take another couple of hours to complete that canyon.

Where the main walking track crosses the river (back over to the left), is often a good place to stop, get changed into something dry and or warm and have a bite to eat. A smaller track goes straight ahead, following the river for a bit longer, called the Rodriguez Pass Walking Track, and in 15 minutes or so it reaches the lovely hidden Beauchamp Falls.

If you are cold after your canyon, don’t worry, the walk up to Evans Lookout will soon warm you up. It is steep and long enough to test most people, but the stupendous views at the end are your reward. And the coffee and hot chips in Blackheath.

www.kensbigbackyard.com.au

All photos in this post by Ngaire Beckett.

Doofus guide to creating your own website

Doofus guide to creating your own website

At the beginning of this year, I didn't blog, I didn't tweet, I didn't have a Facebook account (still don't) and certainly didn't have a website. 

I was probably as close to a technological doofus as you could find.

Neither of these animals are keen social media users.

As a freelance journalist I've certainly known that I should do at least some of those things, and the plan was always to start a website "when I had time". But the time of a freelancer, well a driven one anyway, is rarely "free", as there is always something to do. 

So, when a quiet period of work did eventuate over summer, I decided to do a one-day social media course, run by the patient, "simple language" instructor Stephen Lewis, who runs an informative social media website called the Taleist Centre and an excellent blog. He has a whole heap of online courses too, and I've since done one of them as well, about self-publishing.

Stephen wasn't even fazed when I said that I loathed all social media.

He got me tweeting, and got me thinking about making my website and starting a blog. I guess I'm just pointing out that I have NO EXPERTISE in this area, and this blog is purely for first-timers who may want to start their own website. 

Basically there are three simple steps.

1. Buy a domain name (that's the website address)

It is not necessary to do this first, but it might be good just to see if the domain name you want is actually available. In Australia, if you want a .com.au domain name (not all providers sell .au addresses) I suggest either Crazy Domains or Go Daddy. They often have specials.

To purchase the domain name www.kensbigbackyard.com.au cost me $50 for two years, by the time I paid for private registration and directory listing. Neither of these is essential, but when I read the blurbs they seemed to be good things to get.

I later also got www.kensbigbackyard.com (i.e, without the .au) for free (see below).

2. Work out who will host your site

Your new website has to "live" on a computer server somewhere, and unless you have built one yourself (unlikely if you are reading this blog), you will need to pay someone to host it. Companies that sell you domain names are also keen to host your site.

I found it best though to choose a host based on who had the best software to design my website (see point 3.)

3. Design your site

This is not as frightening as it sounds.

In my search for website software that I was happy to use, I ended up designing three different websites on three different platforms over three different days. I spent about half a day on each. First I tried Crazy Domains software. I found it difficult, and not at all intuitive. It took me over half an hour just to work out how to get an image on the page.

Next I tried Wordpress. If you are primarily going to be blogging, then this comes highly recommended by many people. Stephen Lewis certainly recommends Wordpress. You can set up a blog for free (without having to pay for a domain name, but it will just be a long address and not your 'personal one').

However, I just couldn't seem to make it do what I wanted to do - combining a blog with other information etc. Others have succeeded, but I struggled, so I gave up.

Then a designer friend recommended www.wix.com.

As soon as I started designing on Wix.com, I knew I had found the software that would work for me. It was so easy to use and just made perfect sense to this "doofus". It is easy to take a blog feed from Google Blogger or from Tumblr, and also easy to add Twitter feeds, Facebook etc

On top of that, three times I emailed their customer service people questions about using the software and each time they got back to me within 12 hours, with an answer that I could understand. 

Not all the issues have been resolved, and the website is far from perfect. I think looking at the blogs on the website is particularly odd: I have chosen a "grid" format, which means that each of the blogs lose their formatting until you click on them, and then all the headings etc come back. And for some reason on the iPhone and iPad, the blog page acts particularly oddly (apologies if you are trying to read this blog off my website on an iPad or iPhone). As I find software issues like that, I let customer service know and they claim they will hopefully fix them. 

It is free to design a website on Wix.com, and you can even make it live for free. However, to choose your own domain (or use the one you bought) you need to click on "premium", which means you are paying Wix.com to host your website. However, by doing that, you then also score a free domain name (so I secured www.kensbigbackyard.com and then linked it back to the .com.au domain name quite easily). It still isn't that expensive - all up costing me $99 for two years. As a freelance journalist, I think a tax-deductible $75 a year is a pretty good investment.

Overall, my wedsite is basically how I wanted it to turn out. It is relatively easy to update, and at last I have an online presence. For better or worse. Or richer and poorer. Sorry, website, not wedsite!

Please feel free to comment or let me know how you'd improve kensbigbackyard.

www.kensbigbackyard.com

 

Five top winter outdoor activities

For some reason, the arrival of winter in southern Australia drives many into a semi-comatose hibernation, avoiding one of the great joys of the year: cooler weather. But there is so much to enjoy! Here's five top winter activities you may not have considered.

1. Check out ancient rock engravings

Sydney and its surrounds are rich with rock engravings, of animals, spirit figures, tools, weaponry and other images. It is little known that the best time to see these is in winter. Many of the images are now quite worn and hard to distinguish for much of the year, but in winter the low sun angle helps pick out many of the images, and engravings that you may have passed over before suddenly become quite distinct.
Best places around Sydney are Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, Royal National Park and around parts of Sydney Harbour, such as Berry Island. Start off with known, marked sites, and as you get your eye in, you can start exploring other likely rock surfaces and you may discover many of the unmarked ones.

2. Go to the beach

Pambula Beach, winter

For some reason many Sydneysiders just assume the beach is off limits in winter. But due to a lag in warm currents, the water often stays reasonably warm until at least half way through winter. For example, at the start of winter, water temperature was still 20°C. So, often it is warmer in the water than it is standing around. The water is less crowded than in summer, and a swim on a cold day really helps you feel you're alive!
Even if the thought of getting in the water is abhorrent, a brisk walk along a wind-swept beach is one of winters great joys.

3. Bust out the bikes

Cycling: okay, it isn't Sydney. It's around Lake Jindabyne.

For me, not much in winter beats slogging along a muddy fire trail on a mountain bike, spattered in mud. But obviously that isn't for everyone.
Sydney now has a wealth of brilliant bike paths, and a winter ride is a great way to justify ending up  at a cafe or warm bakery. It doesn't really matter what sort of bike you have, as long as it has working brakes and a means of propulsion. My recommendation for those who can ride, is the loop along either side of the Parramatta River and through Bicentennial Parklands at Homebush. There is a great cafe and even art gallery at Blaxland Riverside Park, and you can hire bikes there as well.

4. Camp with a campfire

Campfire camping at Wollondilly River Station

Few things in winter are nicer than sitting by a campfire in the "hotel of a thousand stars". Many campsites, particularly in protected areas of national parks, no longer allow campfires, but there are still plenty of places that do. It's usually best to take at least some of your own firewood. Best suggestions around Sydney for a campfire: the Watagans National Park and the Mill Creek campground in Dharug National Park.

5. Take a hike

Yes, the cooler weather is actually the best for long hikes. Take on something challenging, with lots of hills, or a longer walk that you haven't considered in summer. Just remember the days are much shorter, and the onset of darkness could catch you out.
There are plenty of bushwalks suggested in my book Top Walks in NSW and particular winter favourites are National Pass, Blue Gum Forest via Perry's Lookdown (both Blue Mountains), Mount Gunderbooka near Bourke, and Uloola Falls in Royal National Park.

I hope you find many ways to get out there and enjoy the great outdoors this winter. Of course, there's always skiing too... but that's another story.

www.kensbigbackyard.com.au