U3A Ballarat Hikers

U3A Hike No. 108 Report by Chris Charleson After meeting in  Smythesdale , ten hikers and their 3 leaders travelled in convoy through the Ross Creek/ Enfield State Forest to the start of our walk.   For much of our journey we encountered various of the water race system set up to service the 19th century mining in the area.   T he race systems were hand dug by miners working for the various companies that the race served. Each race system had to be registered with the local surveyor before works could be undertaken. The water was directed to two relatively shallow dams.   The main one that we followed today was constructed by Thomas Boden who was responsible for much of the water transfer infrastructure here. Andrew shared with us a letter in a newspaper report from 1878 just after Boden’s death, where the then Secretary for Mines discussed offering Boden’s widow about half market value to buy the infrastructure! ( see link after photos to read more detail ) . Gold in

U3A Hike No 107                                                              Another good turn out saw twenty seven hikers in three groups starting fifteen minutes apart Hike Reports by Lyn Hooper, Geoff and Mark H: Report by Lyn Hooper Meeting in front of The Nerrina Tavern, the morning was crisp but sunny. In several areas a frost was noticeable, but this could only mean another perfect day for a hike....Goldilocks weather not too hot, and once walking, not too cold.   A short drive took our group of 9 to our starting point and after an uphill walk to the CHW pumping station* there was no further mention of being cold as we headed off into the forest. The tracks were typical of the Creswick forest at this time of the year, slippery and muddy in places with the occasional decent puddle. On our route we were joined by an early morning walker with her dog BJ (Boris Johnson) and three young roos who were basking in the morning sun stopped us in our tracks for several minute

U3A Hike No. 106 Hike report by Fiona Deutscher   Eleven U3A hikers completed the 16.6km circuit hike led by Gordon Talbett around the Sailors Falls area. The hike included sections of the Wallaby, Old Tom and Ryans Tracks.  We drove to the starting point at Sailors Falls in the Hepburn area through very cold and frosty conditions. The roads were icy and the countryside was pristinely white and picturesque. We began our hike by climbing carefully down the frosty iron staircase to the Falls. We walked past some mineral springs in the area before joining the Wallaby track leading along the creek bed. The track initially headed northward and descended downward through eucalypt forest. We were amazed to see condensed moisture falling from the trees- as rain through the shafts of sunlight. The sun also assisted us to ‘thaw out’ as we powered along the track! We eventually crossed Sailors Creek and turned southward onto the Old Tom Track. The track climbed up onto a ridge which

U3A Hike No 105 Photo of Gordon's Group Due to group size limitations we again hiked in three groups leaving fifteen minutes apart. Another great turnout with twenty-eight hikers! Summary report from Nita On a delightful June morning, Gold group headed off with our very able leader Tim and his trusty GPS thingo. From St George’s Lake we traversed some well used (and some not so familiar) tracks, a few with obstacles (fallen trees) and some steep climbs. We progressed to the very impressive remnants of Eatons Dam - built in 1862 to supply water to miners along Back Creek, and remained in use until the 1930's. It was subject to flooding and was no longer needed once the Cosgrave Reservoir was built, but still a wonderful example of the many pockets of history in this area. We found a lovely sunny spot for morning tea overlooking the Cosgrave Reservoir (and NO, we were NOT lost!) and managed to walk across the wall, (which was a bit dodgy for those of us vertically