Something I prepared a little earlier.....
There is a thread down on the NSW/ACT forum which I have a special interest in. It is of a recent trip made by Dobbo and his mates.
The following photos I sponged off the thread and I give credit to Scouse and Lokka for their use.
Scouse’s Photos:
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https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...09/08/1463.jpg
Lokka’s Photos:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/
The view down from the bridge
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/
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It does me good to see the bridge being used. In Nov 90 as the Lieutenant Troop Commander of the recently re-raised 3 Tp (Mech), 1 Fd Sqn, RAE, I was tasked with constructing the bridge.
We took a team out to construct it and knocked it over in a week. If you felt it swayed a lot, consider building it, when the steel wire ropes were not contained by the tread plates and sides. We had to put 3 blokes out at a time each of them working on a side, or the treadway. They used to become affected (motion sickness) and we had to replace them frequently.
Having been the new Tp Comd in a re-raised Fd Engr Tp which had earned it's reputation as the pioneering Tunnel Rats, in the Tunnels of Cu Chi in Sth Vietnam. I thought the bridge would offer a great opportunity to recognise the service of someone who had gone before us.
Sandy MacGregor had been the Troop Commander in Vietnam and has written a book called ‘No Need For Heroes’. It is a crack of a read. The Tunnel Rats are a tight organization and do a great deal for all the Sappers who had to do the job underground.
This is the foreword to the book:
“This is the thrilling hilarious and inspiring true story of a ragtag band of Aussie Army Engineers who redefined the word Heroes ... and reinvented larrikin too.
Among the first Australians to fight in Vietnam, they faced death every day defusing Viet Cong booby traps - then partied all night in a casino they'd built in secret.
They led hundreds of American troops to safety, but fought US military police to a standstill in the bars of South Vietnam. They built the Australian Task Force base - then sabotaged a headquarters conference, booby trapped showers and blew up a generator rather than kowtow to newly arrived officers.
And that's before we mention sex ...
Most importantly, the men of Three Field Troop discovered a huge Viet Cong tunnel complex and were the first allied troops to follow the enemy down into their underground city.
They were the original Tunnel Rats and this is their story.”
In doing some research I found out that CPL Bob Bowtell, of 3 Tp, had been the first Royal Australian Engineer killed in Vietnam. He was killed clearing a tunnel. It also happened that he was born in Katoomba, so I thought it fitting and appropriate to name the bridge after him.
His surviving family had to approve firstly, and I was able to trace them and they were very touched and keen for the recognition for their father and husband.
His children turned up for the opening and it was a very proud moment for me to see them thank my men for their efforts. This was the first time anyone had really recognised their Dad.
Since the opening ceremony I have never been back. I want to walk out from Katoomba one day and take my kids for a look. I think the bridge will prove to be one of my more lasting efforts.
Tiptoeing...through the tulips...
This is getting back into Mozambique.
A sizable part of the border between Mozambique and South Africa is the eastern boundary of Kruger National Park. It is fenced, and used to be mined. We had an inquiry one day by a chap who was studying the old migration paths of elephants. He wanted to know what we knew, about the old, supposedly cleared (by the Moz military...never trust the military to clear a minefield!!). I took it up myself to drive out that way with some copies of the mapping we had available.
The area he was surveying was an area to be opened up, to the north of the Massingir Dam in Mozambique. It is now known as the Limpopo National Park, and with Kruger, and to the north, Gonarezhou in Zimbabwe, it comprises the first cross-bordered park in Africa.
One thing though, that was not being well managed, was the interaction between the people of the bush, and the increasing numbers of wildlife. Both people and animals of course, have detrimental effects on each other.
I overnighted at Massingir in the camp with this bloke and his team, and in the dark, the fact there were elephants around was very evident by the noises they made, crashing through the mopane scrub, and trumpeting to each other...keeps you awake thinking...some.
The next day, the local Chefe or Regulo (Headman), came out to complain about the increasing numbers of elephants that were coming into their area, since the fence had come down. In all truthfulness, these people were supposed to have been relocated.
We went down to the nearby village to see what he was talking about. They people had been there for...well...forever, and they had well developed field (machambas) in which they grew corn, manioca (cassava), and chilis. The evidence of the elephants from the night before, even to a novice tracker like me:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...08/08/1071.jpg
Now, what sort of fence would you need to keep these buggers out of your veggie patch? Any suggestions?
