Finding the Namadgi Trail Documentary - Meet the Cast
Producers Introduction
I'm always amazed at the local Canberra community. There are so many personalities, and very willing to give of their own time for a worthwhile project. Tim the Yowie Man is no different and when approached with an invitation to appear in the documentary, he accepted with enthusiasm, quickly providing an array of stories that he could share with the viewers. It will be a pleasure having one of Canberra's best known names appear on the documentary and I look forward to the wonderful and unique stories that Tim the Yowie Man has become famous for.
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Editor
Steve Cooke
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Profile - Tim the Yowie Man
Tim the Yowie Man was so named after spotting a yowie in the rugged Snowy Mountains of Australia. He has since carved out a curious career as mystery investigator and cryptonaturalist (the study of strange and hidden phenomena) and is an authority on paranormal and unusual phenomena in Australia.Tim has an extraordinary enthusiasm for all things spooky and has dedicated the past fifteen years to travelling the length and breadth of Australia in search of haunted and unexplained happenings.He acts as a location and historical advisor for international television programs on unusual phenomena and has featured in documentaries about Australian and international mysteries.A member of the Australian Society of Travel Writers, Tim has hosted a national travel radio show and is a ghost-tour guide. As the National Museum of Australia’s ‘resident cryptonaturalist’, Tim can often be found snooping around in the museum’s galleries and revealing the inside (often spooky) stories behind many of its exhibits. a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
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More about Tim the Yowie Man
John Evans - AKA Johnnyboy
It will be a pleasure having John involved in the documentary, and I look forward to hearing about how John found his very own Namadgi trail.
Editor
Steve Cooke
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Profile John Evans
I’m a Johnny-come-lately to bushwalking, having only discovered this wonderful pastime a bit over ten years ago. Due to other responsibilities, it’s hard to get away overnight, so I usually only day walk. I prefer to walk off-track and Namadgi National Park provides tremendous opportunities. Sitting on the high hills in the centre of the Park – Mts Namadgi, Kelly and Burbidge – one feels like a soaring eagle, rather than a flapping old chook managing everyday life. Whether it be for a day or a week, there is something quite satisfying about leaving home with the necessities of life on your back – forget something and you’re cold, wet, hungry, thirsty or lost.
I have an interest in historical sites and the markers defining the ACT border. Geocaching provides another reason to get to some place not previously visited.
I walk primarily with the Canberra Bushwalking Club, having cut my teeth on their fabulous Navigation Refresher course in 2004.
I get by as a map and compass navigator, but am in my element with a GPSr and planning and analysing walks using digital maps.
I chronicle my walks on Johnny Boys Walkabout Blog, in the hope that it might encourage others to get out and breathe a bit of fresh air.
Producer's Introduction
You wouldn't expect a picture depicting an avid bushwalker lying down, but John Evans (aka Johnyboy) perhaps epitomises what it is all about. Getting out into the wilderness and appreciating the natural beauty and peaceful tranquility, relaxing and taking it all in. John is arguably the best known bushwalker in the ACT and has been bringing his stories and descriptions about Namadgi walks for a number of years. Although very humble, only ever proclaiming to be a 'newcomer' to bushwalking, there is no underestimating the impact that John has had in promoting the many walks of Namadgi National Park and beyond. Dedicating stories and descriptions about his adventures on his own website, John has gained a large following of other bushwalkers, eager for information about the many destinations that can be visited.
More about Johhnyboy
Phillip Moses
Producers Introduction
It seems that until recently, stories of Namadgi and the immediate surrounds have been based on area history, or personal accounts of walking adventures. More recently however, there's been a surge in fictional stories that are based geographically in Namadgi and nearby.
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Phil's most recent novel (Clancy's Hat) is one such story. It follows the adventures of 'Tim', who walks from the suburbs of Canberra, through Namadgi and all the way to Kosciuszko. For good measure, Tim turns around at Thredbo and walks all the way back to Canberra!
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I'm pleased to have a storyteller such as Phil appearing on the documentary, particularly as he's also an avid bushwalker, with many years experience trekking through Namadgi.
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Editor
Steve Cooke
Profile - Phillip Moses
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Phillip Moses has been bushwalking in Namadgi and Kosciuszko National Parks for more than thirty years. Phillip is mostly a solo walker with his emergency beacon and satellite phone for safety. He believes in the benefits of solitude. He particularly loves snowshoeing in winter. He chooses this season to walk from Canberra to Kosciuszko. Occasionally he has kept going to Bogong and Mount Hotham. His undergraduate degree was in geography and he compared alpine grazing in Victoria and New South Wales as his major research project. He has also studied Literature and History at undergraduate and postgraduate level. He is the author of four novels. His most recent, Clancy’s Hat published in 2017 is a fictional account of a person walking from Canberra, across the urban – rural divide into Namadgi and onwards to Kosciuszko. In this book he particularly attempts to capture Ngunawal story, knowledge and language about the high country.
For more on this book click here
Rod Griffiths
Producers Introduction
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Namadgi National Park stands as a testiment to the hard work of people like Rod Griffiths. A National Park is not just about identifying an area, defining its borders and then labelling it so. It must be managed and preserved on a number of different levels, from the local indigenous, preservation of fauna and flora and perhaps above all, monitored closely to ensure that the current and future directions are balanced from an environmental conservation perspective.
Rod has dedicated many years, contributing to the conservation oversight efforts and it's therefor no surprise that we encounter him now - on the eve of a 21 day fundraising walk around the border of the ACT. We look forward to capturing Rods journey and sharing his story in the upcoming documentary.
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Editor
Steve Cooke
Profile - Rod Griffiths
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One of my favourite things is to be out bushwalking, particularly hard walks where you have to be focussed solely on the moment. It’s really a form of mediation.
I learnt to bushwalk in the rugged sandstone gorges of the Sydney basin, a very different landscape to Namadgi.
But I don’t get out as much as I should as one of my other passions is the environment and, particularly, working to ensure that our wonderful biodiversity is adequately protected. I have been involved in the environment movement for more than 34 years and one of the things I am really proud of is have been the president of the National Parks Association of the ACT, one of the driving forces in the creation of Namadgi National Park.
I’m currently president of the Conservation Council Act Region, the “voice“ of the environment in the ACT, which represents more than 45 environment groups across the region. This also means that I am acutely aware of the constant need for the Conservation Council to raise funds to maintain the important role it plays in championing the environment in the ACT since 1979. And because of this I am undertaking a 21 day walk in October 2017 around the ACT’s border to raise funds for this important organisation.
Come and share the journey with me and help support the fund raising effort via www.walktheborder.wordpress.com
More about Rod Griffiths
Cheryl Hodges
Producers Introduction
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As we move closer to the commencement of filming, I'm continually amazed at not only the support from members of our community, but the artistic talent that we have locally.
This is certainly the case with acclaimed botanical artist, Cheryl Hodges and I couldn't think of a more fitting person to appear in the documentary than Cheryl, who brings to life in paint form, the wide array of local flora.
Cheryl's ability to reproduce images of flora in such graphic form has won her numerous artistic awards and her exhibitions continue to hold a special significance to the local region and attract national attention.
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Cheryl will bring something very special to the documentary, taking viewers on a journey into the Namadgi National Park to identify a native flora species, which she will then bring to life paper.
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Editor
Steve Cooke
Profile - Cheryl Hodges
Cheryl was raised on a property near Hall and now lives in Jerrabomberra. She has always had an appreciation for nature and art. Studying different art styles and mediums over the years finally led her to botanical watercolour painting in 2000.
Cheryl’s style of painting involves building up the colour in many layers of soft washes, creating an almost translucent effect. She intensifies the final painting with dry brush work. She particularly enjoys painting Australian and recently she has been painting insects.
Cheryl has won several awards in recent years including Best in Show at the Botanical Art Society of Australia exhibition and also at the Wildlife and Botanical Artists exhibition. Since 2005 she has exhibited in the renowned Botanica exhibition at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney. In 2014 she was invited to join the Florilegium of the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney with her painting Eucalyptus tereticornis accepted in to the permanent collection in 2015.
Cheryl, her husband Phil and their two school aged children enjoy bushwalking around Canberra. Cheryl likes to paint local wildflowers so often takes her camera, ruler, paints and sketchbook on her walks. Although her children are often impatient about the time taken to photograph the flora, they also enthusiastically search for new subjects. She hopes that she is encouraging a love for the environment, and that one day they will look back on these walks with fond memories.
Click her for details of Cheryl's latest exhibition
More about Cheryl Hodges