U3A Ballarat Hikers

Lerderderg Track Stage One U3A Hike No 60 14km  By Anne Ottrey Stage One Bacchus Marsh to Mount Blackwood Our 27 walkers made quite a crowd when we met at Swans Road, the starting point for the first leg of the Lerderderg Track. We welcomed two new walkers – Nita and Monica, then set off up a steep slope to commence our walk. The walk was accurately described by Andrew as a steady uphill climb all the way. We largely walked through eucalypt forests which varied in height depending on the landforms and underlying rocks. We took quite a few rests due to the steady uphill nature of this walk. At lunchtime, Geoff discovered an interesting bug that we called the Melbourne Bug, due to its beautiful blue and red striped body.  From time to time we caught glimpses of our destination, Mt Blackwood, with its distinctive

U3A HIKE NO 59 10KM By Janet McKay We had to again postpone our intended start of the Lerderderg track due to weather conditions and track closures and so we met at Andrew and Ingrid’s home for a relatively gentle hike into the newly created Woowookarung Regional Park. We numbered 26 walkers, welcoming several new members (Geoff, Peter and Jane) and set off in cool conditions, enjoying the freshness of last night’s rain. The walk took us through diverse vegetation, very dry at this time of the year. We saw some impressive stands of grass trees and extensive areas of gorse removal to allow for regeneration of the native vegetation. The plans for the Park, including walking and cycling tracks, conservation and regeneration as well as visitor amenities are really exciting. We took a quick detour to look at the site of the Mount Clear Railway Station, one of seven stations on the Bunny Hop Line between Buninyong and Ballarat. Andrew has added s