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393. Hard Hill and Watsons Hill Diggings 10.9km

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 U3A Hike No 393 Hike Report by Sharon Moss 🥾 The Expedition   18 happy hikers  headed off under cloudy skies to explore a “new” walk in  Ross Creek State Park .  This particular adventure came about thanks to Gordon’s fascination with historic water channels!   ⛏️ Engineering History   The route took us along a water race engineered by  Thomas Boden  in the 1870s. These hand-dug channels—stretching  32 km  in total—were designed to transport water from various catchment dams to support high-pressure gold sluicing.   The scale of the operation was massive: approximately  22,000 kg  of alluvial gold was discovered in the Linton- Smythesdale  area. (Refer to the podcast for further  details .)   🧗 Terrain & Safety   The walk was gently undulating along well-made bush tracks, though it turned hilly in sections with  steep, slippery  ascents  and descents . The landscape  rema...
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392. Nerrina-Invermay Circuit 10.8km

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 U3A Hike No 392 20 Hikers assembled for hike start at  Deveson  Lane in Nerrina – good turnout!   Uphill walk north.   Observed remains of swathes of old goldmining works which was an ongoing theme for most of the walk.   Stopped at Ballarat North Water Pump Station. Observed water supply valves on the nearby pipeline to Ballarat.  Speculated  on the effect for Ballarat if we closed one of those valves!   Continued north past scattered bush and plantations to  Alkera  Road Invermay. Admired several grand houses and  avoided  vehicles  emerging  from them to do the school run.     Followed  Alkera  Rd northwards up more hills. Hills can mean views and that is what we got towards Ballarat if we looked back over our right shoulder.   Right turn into Glen Park Rd rewarded us with more hills and bushland .   After crossing  White Swan Rd at Five  Ways,  we soon joined the ...
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