U3A Ballarat Hikers

  Hike No. 82  Hike Report by Greg Anderson 10 keen hikers  met at the Ballarat Aquatic Centre as planned at 7:45 am and made our way in 4 cars through Coghills Creek to The Dam car park at the base of Mt Beckworth . With no car shuttle we set off hiking by 8:30am  and quickly climbed our way up to The Oval then on to the Northern Ridge Track where we climbed up to the The Lollipop Tree and finally to the summit of Mt Beckworth. We enjoyed our morning tea break taking in 360 degree views of the surrounding area. All refreshed we made our way down by the Southern Ridge Track with many stops to admire the clear surrounding views, birdlife overhead, varieties of native orchids and, would you believe an echidna [spiny ant eater] in its burrow.   Congratulations to Mark on spotting the first native orchid.  We then hiked on to the Manna GumTrack and after passing the manna gums picnic area  we were back at our cars by 12:15 pm with 8.8kms completed. 

U3A Hike No 76 HIKE REPORT BY FIONA DEUTSCHER On Thursday 5th September the ‘Southern Chapter’ of the U3A Hiking Group walked 8.5km from Maldon to Mt Tarrengower. The weather was relatively mild & we managed to avoid the predicted rain. The walking track commenced along the outskirts of Maldon on Parkins Reef Road. We were soon reminded of Maldon’s early gold mining history as we passed the relics of the North British Mine ( which we investigated later) and the Carman’s Mine Tunnel. Both of these gold mining ventures began in late 1800’s after the initial alluvial gold rush  (in 1853) gave way to quartz reef mining. However, there were varying levels of success. The North British Mine was claimed to be the largest & most profitable quartz mine in the district. It employed over 100 men & was the last major mine to close. In contrast the Carman Mine’s attempt to drive a tunnel right through Mt Tarrengower was much less successful. Very little gold