U3A Ballarat Hikers

Whitehorse Range - Mt Helen Circuit     20th December 2018 By Chris Charleson We welcomed 3 new hikers, Ewan, Tony and Dick for our final event of the year, departing from Valley Drive, Canadian. Led by Gordon, we were to see the "backside" of south/east Ballarat. An early surprise was the shortcut through Gordon's own yard as we climbed towards the Mt Pleasant pine forest. The trees cover an extensively mined area from the 1800's. Unfortunately the tracks through the area have more recently been used to dump household waste, particularly mattresses. Local residents have had this issue highlighted in The Courier. The $31 cost of disposal of a mattress at the transfer station is relatively high compared to other councils. The manager of infrastructure at the council contends that this dumping was a problem even prior to the introduction of tip fees. We do need to continue to bring this problem to our councils’ attention for them to make this a pr

Buninyong -Union Jack Hike December 6th 2018 U3A Ballarat Hike Number 54 By Marianne Kennedy    Commencing outside the swimming pool in Forest Street, Buninyong, 18 enthusiastic hikers followed our Pied Piper (Andrew), all with great expectations of an interesting hike. We, as usual, were not disappointed. The hike took us down Forest Street, through De Soza Park after which we wound our way around to Geelong Road and followed the trail up the hill to Mt Helen. It was actually quite warm when we commenced the hike however the occasional cool breezes were really welcome. We crossed Geelong Road into Gear Avenue and made the climb almost to the top of the hill. This section was all on the bush track that runs parallel to the road. We then crossed Gear Avenue and followed Chapman’s Lane through the bush into the Union Jack Reserve. It was lovely walking along the bush tracks and enjoying the natural beauty of the outdoors. Bracken was plentiful alon