Pajero Club: President’s Report
February 2020
For a quiet month when we have no meeting there seems to have been plenty of activity for many
Members. I mentioned at the December meeting that I would be overseas through January and that
Terry Barbie would be Acting President. He and I have been in contact when necessary and I am very
grateful for the way he and the rest of the committee have covered in my absence. Thank you.
My few weeks have been spent in Portugal looking at some rocks, writing and giving a few lectures.
My days always start and finish by looking at the Victorian weather and emergency website and
keeping in touch with my friends and family especially those in regional Victoria. Virtually every
person I have met in Portugal who finds out I am from Australia asked about the fires, and then
second question is the koalas. Some have read about the 20 or more fatalities and concluded that
Australia’s fires are not bad like Portugal’s in which 100s have died. What gets in the news about
Australia never ceases to amaze me.
Members will have received the news that the 2020 Pajero Challenge has been cancelled, and it has
been hard for the organisers to reach this conclusion after so much hard work. Full marks to Simon,
Liz and team for being decisive and realising that we may not receive the necessary permissions
anyhow if weather, fires or floods turn nasty in the days ahead.
Discussing the Pajero Challenge will be one topic we address on the strategy weekend in early
February and we realise that late Summer is not the best time for a major forest-base event. We
want to acknowledge and support the enthusiastic efforts by our Challenge leaders and all the
volunteers and make sure that in future we have something at a safer time that can be embraced by
all Members.
To those with trips cancelled or re-arranged, our apologies, but please also thank the hard-working
trip leaders as they put everyone’s safety first and work through their plan B and even Plan C. See
you all at February general meeting when there should be plenty of good stories to tell.
Neil Phillips #1744.
[email protected]