Three Creeks Hike


Three Creeks Walk, Brisbane Ranges 

Sept 9 2018

By Anne Ottrey


We welcomed back Andrew (and Ingrid) to lead us on our spring walks in the Brisbane Ranges. Gordon set a new group record by getting lost before the walk even started. Finding himself alone at Kirk’s Reservoir at 7:45am, he made a note to self to read Andrew’s emails more carefully. Andrew kept the theme going by leading us on a short detour through Steiglitz, before back tracking and finding the correct turnoff.

Starting from The Crossing Picnic area, 17 walkers set off for a circuit walk exploring the three main creek systems in the rolling hills north of Steiglitz. We started out along Yankee Gully Creek in crisp sunny weather. We soon came across signs of mining, passing the Bernhardt Mine, a calcining site (where the ore was heated by wood fires to break it up), and the remnants of a steam driven battery at the Prince of Wales mine site. At the United Albion mine, we saw the brick remains of the winding gear and marvelled at the height of the mullock heap.
 


We were a little early for the spring wildflowers with wattle and the small white Early Nancy being the most common flowers to be seen. Two orchids were spotted – a wax-lip and a Pink Finger (Caladenia), and we also saw some Hardenbergia. Checking the distance somewhere around mid-morning, Andrew discovered that we had walked over 15,000km, as the GPS hadn’t been reset since he last walked in Europe!



We stopped for lunch at Grahams Creek Picnic area after a series of short ups and downs alongside Grahams Creek. From there it was only a couple of kilometres back to our cars, making the walk 14.9km according to my phone. It was a great day of hiking with beautiful weather, attractive bush country, the sounds of varied bird calls and a favourite coffee shop at Meredith to finish off the day.

Photo's by Andrew and Marianne.



























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