Ramblers enjoying adventures with the Illawarra Ramblers: an interview with Robert Lynn and Pat Robson from Oak Flats.

Can you start by telling me about your involvement with The Illawarra Ramblers?

We got involved with the Ramblers once we retired – we’d seen this group of people riding by Lake Illawarra and we eventually asked them who they were and so forth. As it sounded very much like our type of thing, we joined soon afterwards. We go kayaking on Lake Illawarra and surrounding rivers most Thursdays and on Mondays we join the Illawarra bike rides. We’ve also been on many of the multiday trips away and as we have a camper trailer, we’re well set up. We’ve also been to Lord Howe Island, which was well organised and put together, with excellent accommodation and food and a great group of people from the Ramblers and National Parks Association. The snorkelling was amazing.

I understand you’re keen bike riders and paddlers?

Robert introduced me into bike riding and we’ve done two of the Big Rides run by Bicycle NSW and the Sydney to Wollongong MS rides. Funnily enough we got into kayaking through Dragon Boat racing. We’ve represented Australia and raced in Penang, Singapore and New Zealand. As well as our involvement with Port Hacking Dragon Boat Club, we were also involved with the Illawarra Dragons Abreast when they started. Pat and I were both coaches and I was also an accredited sweep (i.e the person who steers the boat). We used to come down from Sydney to help train the Illawarra Dragons on alternate weekends. Since moving to Oak Flats, kayaking has taken over from Dragon boats – it’s a lot easier than organising a team of 20 plus a sweep and drummer!

Some of the long bike rides we’ve done with the Ramblers have included a 2-week trip from Narooma to Port Fairy in Victoria. Our most recent ride was on several Victorian Rail trails in Central Victoria and East Gippsland.  On this trip, my e-bike failed and I had to do a lot of pedalling uphill and into head winds! We succumbed to purchasing e-bikes a couple of years ago.

Atrocious weather on some of the kayak and bike trips has also made them memorable, with lots of reminiscences when we get together at happy hour.

We’ve also done Ramblers’ kayaking trips on the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers, Mallacoota area (before the 2019/20 bushfires), Southern and Northern NSW. One of the most scenic kayaking trips was in Tasmania which included trips from Dover, Southport and Huon River in the bays and rivers in the south east, then across to the west coast to kayak on the magnificent and pristine Henty, Pieman and Arthur rivers. The scenery and wildlife were amazing, we even saw Platypus and spent a day at the fascinating Zeehan mining museum.

We’ve had some pretty interesting times – Robert had a heart attack while paddling down the Murray River. On this trip we were camping out of the kayaks.

Oh my goodness, that sounds pretty serious!

It was scary at the time but he was very lucky, because of his general fitness. There were a lot of logistics involved in getting from the river to hospital! Pat had to organise collecting our double kayak, getting back to where we’d left the camper trailer and packing it up. During that trip one of the other women also had a major health issue.  All in all an eventful trip, not many Ramblers have had these experiences thank goodness. But it didn’t quench our enthusiasm.

We used to do walks with the Ramblers, but less so now. We’ve done most of the bush walks we really wanted to do around the escarpment, Pigeon House, Drawing Room rocks, Macquarie Pass etc.

What else do you like about the Ramblers?

The Ramblers are such a great group of people be with and we’re so glad we became members. They’re very sociable and helpful people. You’ve only got to get a flat tire and you’ve got five or six people watching you change it and all giving (helpful) instructions! The beauty of becoming a member is you look at the programme and decide what you’d like to do and feel able to do, as the activities are graded in terms of their difficulty.   There’s no commitment; you just go when you feel like it. We highly recommend that people who are looking for a variety of activities to suit their level of fitness and enthusiasm join the Illawarra Ramblers for friendship and a good time.

Interview conducted and transcript edited by Julie McDonald, Publicity Officer, The Illawarra Ramblers.