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301. Mt Franklin Views - Dry Diggings Hike 12.7km

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 U3A Hike No 301 Hike Report By Marianne Kennedy It was a glorious autumn morning for our Mount Franklin Views - Dry Diggings Hike. The sun shone brightly and there was no wind: perfect conditions. After a convoy of vehicles from Kirks Reservoir to Daylesford and beyond, then a car shuttle to place a car at the end of the walk, 17 hikers set out along Porcupine Ridge Road under the leadership of Andrew. The peace and serenity of the natural bush provided a lovely atmosphere as we hiked on quiet gravel roads surrounded by wonderful natural bushland. We passed a new Monastery and a housing sanctuary featuring many interesting and very colourful sculptures all positioned in a beautiful bush setting. At the top of the rise the views of Mt Franklin were spectacular and the cows in the nearby paddock mooed quite loudly as Andrew gathered our group together for a photo. Morning tea was enjoyed on an embankment on an incline al
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300. Jubilee Mine & Heritage Area

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 U3A Hike No 300 Hike Report By Colin Eleven hikers set off from Bunnings Delacombe to Smythesdale to hike the Jubilee Heritage Walk. Rob brought his son, a geo-tech engineering student. After a cool start the weather warmed up a little resulting in pleasant hiking conditions. The hike was mainly on minor dirt roads, led by Jan under the expert tutelage of Andrew. The whip was Mark. We saw evidence of large scale historic mining - cyanide tanks, foundations for boilers, crushers, etc. plus the remains of a few early houses. We had a rest break beside a large dam, probably built for mining purposes. We had an early lunch at the Jubilee Mine car park. Andrew led a brief Remembrance ceremony to commemorate ANZAC Day. This was followed by a rendition of "I Was Only 19" ( the Redgum song about  conscription and the Vietnam War ) by  Andrew and Jan, singing and playing the ukulele. Photos By Andrew LINKS DOWNLOAD A GPX ROUTE FILE FOR GARMIN ETC INTERACTIVE MAP HISTORICAL NOTES BLAS
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299. Ben Major State Forest and Flora Reserve 10.6km

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 U3A Hike No 299 Have you tried to Google Ben Major? Maybe it was named for Major Mitchell but the early hits seem to be various TV identities, sportsmen and businessmen named Benjamin Major. Not a lot anyway about the area northeast of Beaufort to which 14 of us travelled and parked near the intersection of Granite Track and Ration Track. A hundred metres of so of bush bashing took us to Cosmopolitan Track. It had been recently graded, probably to give better access to fire trucks during the recent summer fires in the area. No sign of those fires on our walk but glimpses of nearby hills towards Mt Cole showed blackened areas. A wallaby near the track allowed us to get close enough for photos before it limped away. Light scrub surrounded our walk as we headed NW, along pleasantly named Grevillea Track then S around Ben Major Floral Reserve. Only one hill before morning tea but it was a good one! Morning tea was at an intersection of the aptly named Big Hill Track. Indeed it did t
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