The answers to most questions are covered in the document, "Introduction to Melbourne Bushwalkers", which can be downloaded by selecting the following link. Select the questions below for answers to some of the more frequent questions:
The club welcomes new members. Membership is open to anyone who is 18 years old or more. To become a member you are generally required to:
Alternative ways to complete the qualifying walks include:
Please read the club's introductory document before coming to your first meeting. The link above will enable you to download the introductory document.
If you would just like to talk to someone about the Club you are invited to call into the clubrooms on any Wednesday night or send us an e-mail.
Melbourne Bushwalkers maintains a MeetUp site to encourage participants to join the club. MeetUp members are required to visit the clubrooms on a Wednesday evening to sign up for walks in the same way as any other non-member of the club. Registration as a member on MeetUp does not complete the requirements to become a full member of the club. To become a full member of Melbourne Bushwalkers it is a requirement to complete the qualifying process outlined in the separate "How do I join Melbourne Bushwalkers?" FAQ item above.
An online booking process is available for participants when they become members of Melbourne Bushwalkers.
Membership Fees are set annually in March at the Annual General Meeting (AGM), which is also the start of the club's financial year. Fees are due on the 1st April after the AGM. Current Membership Fees are:
| (per annum unless stated. New members joining after 1 October will pay a half year subscription at half the per annum rate.) | |
| Ordinary Single Membership | $45 |
| Concession Single Membership | $34 |
| Couples / Family | $90 |
| Concession Couples | $68 |
| Visitors (Temporary Member) Fee (per trip) | $10 |
Members who have nominated another Bushwalking Victoria affiliated club as their Home Club are eligible for a 50% discount on their Membership Subscription.
In addition, for Members and visitors (Temporary Members) travelling on the Sunday Bus to the Sunday Walk location, there is a charge of $25 ( $20 concession ) per trip. A $5 late-payment fee may also be applied if applicable.
Member Subscription Renewal is due from 1st April each year and must be paid by 31st June. If not paid by the due date you are classified as "non-financial" and not elligible to participate in club activities until the full year fees are paid. You can renew your membership using any of the ways itemised on the Membership Renewal Form which can be found in the Downloads area of this website.
If your Subscription Renewal is not paid by 31st March in the year after it was due you are classified as "deemed to have resigned". You can rejoin the club within five years after your last payment became due by completing the full year payment for the year in which you wish to rejoin. You may be asked to complete the personal details section of the Membership Application Form so that we can ensure that your recorded details are correct.
Melbourne Bushwalkers has introduced the Bushwalking Victoria dual membership scheme for Affiliated clubs. Under this scheme an individual need only pay once for the annual Affiliation and Insurance levee paid to Bushwalking Victoria. The club to which the levee is paid is designated as their Home Club.
For a Melbourne Bushwalkers' Member who is a fully paid up Member of another bushwalking club Affiliated with Bushwalking Victoria (their Home Club), the annual Membership Fees listed under Question 3 above are reduced by 50%. To qualify for the discount the name of the Home Club must be provided to the Membership Secretary.
In general, any club activity where the standard visitor fee is payable is a "qualifying activity" for the purpose of membership application. Qualifying activities include all regular walks, cycling, and skiing trips, but exclude tree-planting events and training days (the latter being aimed mainly at full members anyway, as preparation for walk leadership).
The number of qualifying activities that must be completed prior to submission of a membership application form is stated in the separate "How do I join Melbourne Bushwalkers?" FAQ item above.
If you are interested in becoming a member and wish to attend a Sunday walk, you must generally come into the clubroom on a Wednesday clubnight in order to meet the leader before you can book and pay for the walk. This must be done for the first three walks, but can be done with two visits to the clubroom since walks may be booked two Sundays ahead and a leader will be present. Once you have completed three walks you must submit a membership application prior to undertaking any further trips. Once you are a member, if Wednesday nights are still difficult, there are other options for booking Sunday bus trips (refer FAQ item below).
You can also participate on Sunday Bus and carpool trips without the need to visit the clubrooms provided an experienced member, who will also be on the walk with you, vouches for your fitness and suitability, and makes a booking on your behalf.
If you are interested in becoming a member and wish to attend any other scheduled club activity (i.e. other than Sunday walks), you must come in to the clubroom initially to obtain a club briefing prior to your first trip. At the same time, a copy of the printed walks program may be collected, with contact numbers of the walk leaders. If it is not possible to attend the clubroom on either of the two Wednesdays when bookings are being taken for the next trip you are interested in, you may phone the leader to give your own contact details and to make your booking, subject to acceptance by the leader and subject to places being available. Again, this is only applicable to activities other than the Sunday walks, as telephone bookings cannot be accepted for Sunday trips.
If Wednesday nights are out for you completely, you may want to view the list of clubs which are members of Bushwalking Victoria to see if there is another club near you but with a different meeting night.
To log in to the Members' Area of the website it is necessary for financial members to first register their preferred email address and a password.
The registration procedure and step-by-step guideline notes can be found on the Members' Area Secure Login page.
A list of upcoming walks is provided in the Walks Program with more detailed track notes provided in the activity links. Come in to the clubroom on Wednesday Club nights. We are open between 6:30pm and 8:30pm. Here you can talk to the Sunday walk leaders about forthcoming walks and book on a walk that suits you. Leaders of other walks may not be available but their contact details can be supplied. It is essential to come in person to book on a walk if you are a newcomer (or have an experienced member who will also be on the walk with you vouch for your fitness and suitability and make a booking on your behalf). Meetings are quite informal and visitors are always welcome. Two committee members will be on duty each night. Ask someone to point them out and make yourself known to them.
Members can book Sunday bus walks four weeks in advance. However, non-members must talk to a walk leader before booking and leaders will only be available two weeks in advance.
Being well prepared for a walk contributes to the pleasure and safety of everyone. Unless you are already an experienced bushwalker you should not attempt medium-hard and hard walks at first. Equipment for day walks is fairly basic and you will probably have satisfactory items already. There is no need to outlay much money until you see whether you like bushwalking, get ideas of what gear to buy by talking to others and seeing what is available. See Tips for New Bushwalkers for more details on day walks and Introduction to Overnight Bushwalking for longer trips.
The club room is open as usual every Wednesday night throughout the year, including public holidays (eg ANZAC Day) with the exception of a break over the Christmas - New Year period.
The Wednesday night(s) affected over the Christmas - New Year period depend on the dates of the public holidays. A notice will be prominently displayed in the club newsletter and on the Home Page of the club web site advising members and non-members of the Wednesday night(s) affected.
Visitors to Melbourne are welcome to do up to three walks with the club. To join a walk as a visitor you must:
Please read the club's introductory document before coming to your first meeting. The link above will enable you to download the introductory document.
Please note that cash in the clubrooms and cheques are no longer accepted for payment of a Sunday bus booking.
Prior to making a payment, please check the preview on the club’s website to ensure that the bus is not fully booked. It will be indicated on the preview if the bus is fully booked. If the bus is fully booked then payment can be made to be added to a waiting list in case of cancellation. If there are insufficient cancellations to allow those on the waiting list to attend then a credit for a future bus walk will be issued.
PAYMENT OPTIONS
Telephone bookings are not accepted for the Sunday bus.
NOTE: For options 1 to 5 it is essential that you advise sunday@mbw.org.au It is the advice to sunday@mbw.org.au that triggers your name being added to the bookings list. The club’s bank account is not checked for payments to reserve seats on the bus. You may miss out if you forget to email that you have made a payment.
Bookings using these methods will be accepted up to 4:00pm on the Thursday prior to the walk.
If the bus is fully booked then only by making a payment can a member be added to the waiting list in case of cancellations.
If not attending the clubrooms, members are required to book onto a Sunday Carpool walk by emailing sunday@mbw.org.au, not by contacting the leader directly. Bookings need to be made by 4:00pm on the Thursday prior to the walk.
When booking onto a Sunday Carpool walk you will need to advise whether you require transport, or will be driving. If driving, please indicate whether you wish to meet at the start of the walk (details in preview) or are willing to take passengers (generally, from the bus stop of Sunday bus walks). You can also indicate that you are willing to do either and your preference (e.g. driver from city/passenger – preference being driver taking passengers).
Please note, transport will only be provided if sufficient participants indicate that they are willing to take passengers. If requiring transport you will be advised of your driver (if available) after the 4:00 cut off time for booking on the Thursday prior to the walk or whether your booking will need to be cancelled due to a lack of sufficient drivers willing to take passengers. Allocation of participants to drivers will be based on the order that bookings were made, as will be drivers if there are too many offers to take passengers.
The cost for a Sunday Carpool walk will be advised by the leader in the walk preview and should be paid directly to the driver on the day.
Activity leaders are the backbone of the club and volunteer a significant amount of their time to ensuring the club's activity program runs smoothly. The club respects their privacy when not directly undertaking club activities and for this reason does not make their contact details available on the public web site.
Members can find activity leader contact details in the quarterly Activities Program forwarded to all members or in the Members Area of the website by accessing the Members' Contact Details form. (The latest copy of "The News" distributed to members and the latest quarterly Activities Program can also be downloaded fron the Downloads page in the Members' Area of the website.) In the event of a change of leader notified on the web site members can log in to the Members' Area or look for prior activities by the same leader to access contact details.
Non-members are expected to meet with the leader prior to taking part in any activity and the leader will, when appropriate, make contact details available.
Phone the walk leader as soon as possible, to enable the leader to contact the next person on the waiting list, and to let the leader know not to expect you on the day. In the case of a Sunday bus trip, notifying the leader as soon as possible will increase the likelihood that the Walks Secretary can issue you with a credit note for a future bus trip, if your cancellation is due to illness or certain other unavoidable circumstances. The leaders' phone numbers are on the printed walks programstrong>, which visitors may obtain at the clubrooms, and which all members receive by mail, or softcopy by email. If it is already later than the Wednesday meeting night, and you need to cancel from a walk on the coming weekend and do not have a copy of the program, the next best option is to send an email to our contact address given below, and we will endeavour to supply you with a contact number for the relevant leader.
All day activities are automatically cancelled if there is a Total Fire Ban in the activity area or if the temperature in the area is forecast to be 38 degrees or more. Activities may also need to be cancelled if there are active fires in the area even if there is no Total Fire Ban on the day. The leader has the discretion to also cancel an activity if they consider that although the forecast temperature is less than 38 degrees it is still too hot for the activity. The Fire Season extends from November to April each year.
If there is a need to cancel the leader will attempt to contact all registererd visitors and a notice of cancellation will generally be posted as soon as possible on the club website, however, if you have any doubts please contact the leader.
Please refer to the Fire Season, Total Fire Ban and Extreme Heat Policies which are available in a downloadable document.
A bank transfer from your account into the Melbourne Bushwalkers Club Account is straight forward, however, you must ensure that you include_once the necessary details outlined below so that your payment is properly accredited.
The account details for Melbourne Bushwalkers Inc. are:
Melbourne Bushwalkers
BSB 013-006
Account No 0058-46013
When making a transfer to the club bank account it is essential that you include the purpose of the transfer (eg Date of Trip or “SUBS”) and Your Name in the description/details section of the transfer. This information will appear on the club’s bank statement and will enable the Treasurer to identify who the funds are from and the reason for the payment.
In the case where payment has been made for a club trip, you will need to advise the leader of the payment. For a Sunday Bus Walk, payment will need to be advised as per option 1 “How can Members book for the Sunday bus?” in FAQs.
If a membership subscription has been paid by the transfer please advise payment to membership@mbw.org.au. If you have changed any of your personal details, or wish to alter the details to be available to other members, a “Membership Renewal Form” will need to be sent to the Membership Secretary, PO Box 1751, Melbourne 3001 or placed in the Membership Secretary’s pigeon hole in the clubrooms. Please note on the form that payment was made via transfer, the amount and the date of the transfer. Alternatively, you can change the details yourself by editing your personal details in the Members' Area of the website.
Melbourne Bushwalkers members wishing to have trip photos published in the new photogallery on the club's website should download and follow the Guidelines for Submitting Photos (pdf, 14kb).
Melbourne Bushwalkers activity leaders wishing to have photos published as part of an activity preview on the club's website should download and follow the Guidelines for Submitting Photos (pdf, 14kb).
Our clubroom is located on the first floor of the Mission to Seafarers Victoria building located at 717 Flinders Street, Docklands.
Club Secretary:
PO Box 1751
Melbourne 3001Email: Click Here
It is a simple method for people who become concerned that a person is late getting back from one of the Club’s Programmed Activities to find out about any significant trip delays. They ring the Club Mobile 0447 489 661 and listen to the recording for any messages. Remember that a 1-2 hour delay for a day activity and a 3-4 hour delay for an extended multi-day activity should not be a cause for concern as many things can happen that result in delays.
It also provides additional support for our higher risk activities, namely Pack Carry Walks, Walk-In Base Camps and Walk Previews, so that if the participants are seriously delayed we can assist the Emergency Services if necessary in locating them.
Simply ring the Club Mobile 0447 489 661 and listen to the recording for any messages on significant trip delays. Remember that a 1-2 hour delay for a day activity and a 3-4 hour delay for an extended multi-day activity should not be a cause for concern as many things can happen that result in delays.
Previews which often only have one or two participants have their own process of Preview Contacts and do not use the Club Mobile.
No, the Club Emergency Mobile 0447 489 661 is used for our Emergency Contact System only. It is left turned off, so a call goes directly to a recorded message.
If you have a general query please check the Website or email the Club on info@mbw.org.au if needed. If you want to contact a member or Leader use the Membership List that is available to Members or get the Leader's number from the Quarterly Activity Program distributed to Members.
