Your First Bushwalking Skills Teacher?

[TerraMer]

Who remembers their first bushwalking, bush craft, survival skills teacher?

While I'm off my feet waiting for surgery I'm spending a lot of time day dreaming and reflecting on the good times. One thing I am very grateful for is learning at a young age how to walk and ski the mainrange safely. There was no holding me back once I had my kit together.

The first teachers of note were my Yr11 Geography teacher, Mr Sim at MHS, who taught the class some basic navigation and map reading skills before taking us on a field trip to Blue Lake. At the same time I was picking up survival and camping skills from a couple of more experienced fellow ventures at the Jindabyne Unit. Thanks CGT and DA for having patience.

Fortunately, I was raised in a family who enjoyed base camping and day walking in national parks almost every school holiday so I was learning camping and conservation in a safe controlled environment from about 8. But the leap from family friendly day walks to solo multi day hikes in my teens was a significant step in my life.

The map reading classes were the most important thing I learnt in high school and I'm not sure it was even part of the curriculum.

Life is a never ending lesson.

[neilmny]

I hope your surgery goes well and wish you a rapid recovery.
I had a bung foot earlier this year and couldn't carry for about 10 weeks. I was going bananas!

My first skills probably came from Dad but more to do with fishing and streamcraft and car camping
but in a tent that he made himself.
The main bushcraft early learning came from my scout group leaders.
XC Skiing and Alpine skiing and how not to come unstuck in the snow by a mate who was a PE teacher
who also was invoved in the school ski programs up Alexandra way. Now he is bloke I would trust to follow anywhere,
has a very cool head in a crisis that one.
These days my biggest teacher has been you all here on Bushwalking.com to which I say thank very much.

And yes life is a never ending lesson (says he at 59 and learning)

[Onestepmore]

Hmm, I'd have to say in the past my main teachers were the blokes who worked on properties when I was at uni and spent every single spare moment on horses on rural properties, mustering cattle and sheep, on cattle camps, mucking around with horses. I'm originally from a Sydney lower north shore suburb where there wasn't much camping done (lol), but I could ski and had my own horses (boarding stables) from age 13. We'd pack sandwhiches in saddle bags with a Drizabone on the front of the saddle and just go off for the day around Kuringai NP and Narrabeen Lakes area. Single parent family - the occasional trip with Dad gold panning or gem fossiking in Oberon. He used to shoot at a young man when he was fit but I only spent the odd week here and there with him on school holidays. We went camping a couple of times with mum but it was always sandy, saggy and hot. Poor gear.
I always bought 'bushcraft' books which i still have - how to make bough shelters, fences, things out of leather and stuff (not that I've really had a need to do any of these things, but it was fun to read and learn) Other books I bought as a teenager were ones like 'Huts of The High Country' and similar. I used to daydream I was a pioneer in the American midwest in the 1860's, or a settler here in Australia in the 1900's.
Once I was at Uni, beacuse I was a competant rider, I was so lucky to visit properties in the holidays and have the opportunity to learn from people who had spent all their lives in the bush - some of them couldn't read, and initially I found some of them hard to understand when they talked, but by God they have knowledge to share. I sucked it in. Scone, Barrington Tops, southern central Qld, NT between Alice and Mt Isa. I worked weekends as a 3DE groom and travelled a lot, just practical skills, self sufficiency and problem solving and handy common sense gained.
Had a break form outdoosy things (besides dressage horses) when I was married and had kids
Hubby and I have only recently started walking together the past couple of years, now our kids are a bit older and more self sufficient, so it's mainly self taught stuff from articles, the Web, and forums such as here.

So ...... a big thank you to the vast pool of knowledge you guys have. You are so generous for sharing so much of your time and accumulated 'know-how'!

[north-north-west]

Me.
Seriously, I just went out bush and worked out what worked for me, gathered knowledge, skills and equipment bit by bit. It's not something I ever thought you needed to be taught by some one else.

[Strider]

Me.
Seriously, I just went out bush and worked out what worked for me, gathered knowledge, skills and equipment bit by bit. It's not something I ever thought you needed to be taught by some one else.

+1

[Tortoise]

My Dad inspired in me a love of the bush through stories of his youthful adventures, but he was never well enough to take me. And he inspired a love of maps, though he didn't teach me how to read them. I read a lot of books, didn't take enough notice of the advice, and learnt most of it the hard way.

[Scottinforster]

Probably have to be Bobby Bunningurru. We often went out hunting, intially it was magpie geese, then water goannas. In the dry season we would head further out and so began our bush walking adventures- Arnhem Land in the 80's. learnt the skills of pace and timing, was taught night walking (without torches) but you had to have at least half to full moon. We camped and used flys for shelter carried our food and supplemented with what we killed- mostly lizard and scrub pheasant before noon and evening possibly bigger game.

The terrain varied and walking was open country with grass, breakaway country with slopes and small rock, then swamp plains either hard or sticky, finally walked along large coastal plains. Hard and tiring with no shade. Learnt a lot about looking at the environment all the time to see what is happening- a flowering gum here a nest here, some bees there and a cooler breeze some water there.

What I learnt most was that it was an interaction with the place not just a A-B exercise. I still didn't get the Yolngu perspective because I would always evaluate the trip "how good was that" I'd say. There was never a response because it didn't matter.

[Taurë-rana]

It's an interesting question. I taught myself a lot, like NNW, by roaming the countryside in England and then the bush behind Taroona from an early age. But what to pack, how to pack I picked up from going with more experienced people. A very big bushwalking influence in my life was Ray Spedding who led Scripture Union bushwalks when I was growing up. Scripture Union ran a lot of 'proper' bushwalking camps in the summer holidays when I was in my teens, giving teenagers the opportunity to bushwalk places we might not have got to otherwise and I'm very grateful to the leaders for giving me such a good start.

[Lotsafreshair]

Alas the schools I went to didn't do DoE and at the time, I probably wouldn't have been interested anyway. I discovered Bushwalking in my 20s and have a lot to thank www.sbw.org.au for. One leader in particular (who might still be lurking around this forum) was Maurice-the-walker. Thanks for your patience mate... You helped change my life!