Wallaby Track - Wolfes Road, Creswick Regional Park - 13.5 Kms Circuit

 U3A Hike No. 165

Hike Report by Joan B

The Sprightly Seven, despite the weather forecast threatening to rain, lightening and thunder on our parade through the bush, soldiered on to discover the scattered remnants still visible from the goldmining era.  

The rain from the night before formed many mud puddles that we tactfully avoided sliding into as well as it contributed to the swollen fast flowing creek resulting in a change of course and a quick demonstration by Gordon of how to wring out wet socks! The hike included venturing on sections of the Goldfields track in addition to exploring other areas in the park  that help paint a picture of the hard yakka for those involved in digging the water races and dams that were essential to Alluvial gold mining  via sluicing. Gordon explained how this form of goldmining caused problems for the surrounding farmlands, animals  and other water storage areas because of the resultant  sludge.  We could easily see the effects of mining in this area as we hiked up and down rocky tracks and gullies eyeing smaller lanky trees, scattered piles of quartz and channels dug out in all directions.

As we approached a ford where we had to cross the fast moving Slaty Creek, decision time was upon us…walk across with boots on, walk across in bare feet or check out the large log  further down and crawl across it. Well…three people decided to just get their feet wet (Jan excited to the finally use the towel she kept in her bag and Mark H who really loved this part of the walk), two who walked in their already wet boots (guess who) and two who decided to crawl along the log (which was a real highlight for Annette).   

Having overcome this obstacle we made our way to Slaty Creek picnic/camping area for a well earned morning tea break.   Lucky for us, the  weather forecast did not live up to expectations (which made Andrew’s day) and so we continued on another section of the Goldfields track taking in our surroundings with blue skies and just a few clouds overhead, making it a really nice walk in the park.

After a relaxing lunch break we started on our return journey back to the cars.  We again came upon the same ford to cross but this time we all decided to walk across over the log with 100% success rate! 

As we meandered along the track in full sunshine (which made Gordon one happy chappy), we  were excited to see a few clumps of Birds Orchids which made Fiona’s day and a beautiful wall of tiny maiden hair ferns which was my highlight.

We arrived back safe and sound, enjoyed a nice cuppa and chat and ventured off appreciative of the day out in the Australian bush and great company to share it with. 

Thanks to Gordon and Andrew who make experiences like this possible!

Photos by Andrew and Joan B



















Comments

  1. Jan16 October 2021 at 22:32

    That was a very fun report Joan. It made me smile a lot 😊

    ReplyDelete

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