War in the Middle East has reached out to touch us, and the first two articles in this edition are a great response. With fuel costs so high, there’s no better time to have another look at public transport options for outdoorsy people. And of course, it turns out that there are still plenty.

The first article tries to make hiking using public transport as practical as possible.

Of course, it’s not as good as it once was, as you will discover twice. The first is Mike Round’s article which looks both forward and back to when the car was not king. The second is an article from the club’s third year. It describes the herculean efforts required to reach the Gammon Ranges in 1949. It gives the sense of both how much easier we have it and how much we have lost.

Another way to not use the car is to walk THE WHOLE WAY. Wait until you see the collection of 17 Australian Thru Hikes we’ve put together. You already know about half of these, I’ll guess. But there are quite a few others, thanks to industrious and slightly mad people from across Australia. They’re good for vicarious dreams at the bare minimum.

Ann Ward has sent in another of her beautiful wildlife photos. Not everyone loves scaly critters, but how magnificent is the Perentie! Surely the king of lizards. And so nice that it naturally sports its indigenous name (did you know that ‘goanna’ is not? It is a bastardisation of ‘iguana!’)

Next we say farewell to Frank Hall, one of our most significant members. Here’s just one example: it only occurred to me after being there last weekend that the route I chose through Wilkawillina Gorge and The Grindstone Range was Frank’s. In fact, his may have been the only other visit to this area. I’ll feature it next month.

Last we have a review of the book on everyone’s lips: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Death and Disappearance in Tasmania’s National Parks, Reserves and Wild Places by Paul Helleman.

Once again, thank you to everyone who’s contributed to making this issue a success.