U3A Ballarat Hikers

 U3A Hike No. 143 LINKS to interactive map, gpx download, historical notes and track notes after the photos Hike Report by Joan Brick Gordon may have thought that all of his warnings may have put a few people off from doing this walk but it did not deter ten of us that were looking forward to this adventure.  It truly lived up to the description given with steep ascents, steep descents , narrow water race trails with steep drops, open mine shafts near the tracks and walking through a river bed which thankfully was dry! The hike began at the Blackwood Mineral Springs Reserve.  Our first steady climb was on the track  to Shaws Lake.  The view of the Lake as well as the lovely picnic area made it well worth our while.  Remnants of gold mining were evident with the wide area of sluicing that occurred as seen in the area adjacent to the Shaws Lake.  There was also the evidence that a bushfire had gone through this part of the park though the regrowth on the trees and snippets of heath flo

 U3A Hike No 142 Hike Report by Frances The early morning light on the countryside between Kirks Reservoir and Daylesford suggested the day would warm but it was still quite cool when we met at Jubilee Lake.  Now a place of recreation, the lake created by damming Wombat Creek, was once the source of Daylesford’s water.   Twenty-six hikers dutifully posed as Andrew seized the first photo opportunity of the day as presented by the disused Daylesford to Creswick railway bridge, before setting out along the lake.  The path was damp and muddy in spots, but the walking was easy.   Just before leaving the lake area, we stood beneath a beautiful grove of mature elms, reminders of the Europeans who brought something of their old countries with them when they settled in the area.  There were further reminders later, some oaks and an isolated apple tree in a smallish clearing suggesting a long-gone cottage.  Near the lake there is also a mineral spring.   Before long we were walking along an undu

 U3A Hike No 141 Hike Report by Ian E Gordon’s introductory notes for the Nolan Creek Circuit walk, ‘This walk is in a remote location deep in the Wombat State Forest’, sounded somewhat ominous when combined with his advice that ‘The walk is hilly and includes the highest point in the Wombat SF, 250m above the level of the starting point’. It turned out that the ‘remoteness’ of Nolan Creek was one of its bonuses, with a mixture of high dry forests and shaded valleys with tree ferns and, throughout, an abundance of towering eucalypts. Although there were plenty of hills right from the start as we ascended the Nolan Ridge Track, which was also named the Nolan Valley Track at the top end (I guess it depends which way you’re going), there were also some nice downhill and relatively level stretches later on. All of the walk was on bush tracks/roads of fairly good condition, but quite rocky in some places on the steeper sections. The undergrowth in the dry forests was mostly sparse as th