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402. Upper Yarrowee River Trail. Out&Back 10.2km

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 U3A Hike No 402 Hike Report by Fiona Deutscher 🍂 A group of 14 hikers met on a mild autumn day to commence the circuit trail along the Yarrowee River from Brown Hill Reserve to the Gong Gong Reservoir and return. The Yarrowee trail is part of the Goldfields track, being mostly a flat gravel path. It follows the Yarrowee River/Creek with pleasant bushland surrounds within Ballarat's outer residential areas. 🛤️ Initially, the track passed the Brown Hill oval then along the river before leading upwards and through the tunnel running underneath the freeway. Then it opened out into a cleared area before passing through the Ditchfield Bush Reserve. This area is renowned for its birdlife. 🏡 Once we crossed over Springs Road, it was interesting to view the various gardens of properties backing onto the trail. The track became more undulating and climbed gently upwards with various cross tracks and bridges. It was helpful to have interpretive signs displayed indicating native wildlife i...
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401. Ditchfield Reserve-Nuggetty Dam Circuit 10.7km Creswick State Forest

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 U3A Hike No 401 Hike Report by Deb Karmouche 🗺️ Local Discoveries Unexpectedly, the recent conflict in the Middle East has affected petrol prices and supply, which has meant we have discovered some terrific local walks. Gordon joined together a circuit commencing on the familiar Yarrowee trail, incorporating some of the Goldfields track and somehow joining everything up with a combination of the myriad of other trails in the Nerrina Goldfields area. 🥾 The Journey Begins 20 started out from the Brown Hill Reserve; the sun was shining and we headed along the Yarrowee River, through the tunnel under the Freeway towards the Gong before crossing the river and heading towards Black Hill. Evidence of established and more recent construction of trail bike paths reflected the popularity of this sport in our area, as many of the jumps looked to be very challenging. Evidence of mining was apparent with old mullock heaps and water races and numerous old mining shafts. 🍵 Refreshments and Ha...
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400. 10,000 Steps Walk-Woowookarung Regional Park 7.5km

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U3A Hike No 400  Hike Report by Kath Cape 🥾 Thirteen hikers gathered for this walk in Woowookarung Regional Park, led by Andrew, to test the newly created 10,000 steps walk. This was also the 400th hike for the U3A Hiking Group. What an achievement! 📍 We commenced our hike from the car park for the Woowookarung sensory trail, on the opposite side of Katy Ryans Road from the sensory trail. We followed the newly created path until it met Dozed Track, which climbed gently south. After about 1.5 kms we veered off onto Bailey’s Track, leading us to the start of the beautiful Grass tree nature trail, with its abundant display of grass trees. Along the trail we were also pleased to see some common heath plants in bloom – red, white, and pink varieties. ☕ After a morning tea stop, we continued up to the Lookout – always lovely, even on a cloudy day—and from there started our descent to the site of the former Canadian Rifle Range. We had a poke about some of the surviving ranges and build...
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