U3A Ballarat Hikers

 U3A Hike No. 202 Hike Report by Gordon It being a fifth Thursday of the month, and according to a tradition that we have been struggling to establish, it was time for urban bushwalking in Melbourne.  After Mark had a crash course in herding cats onto Public Transport, the hikers arrived at East Camberwell station, only to find that two members had been eaten by the train!  Fortunately, they were able to alight at the next stop and quickly catch a returning train. We then joined the Outer Circle Rail Trail and followed it north towards the Yarra River. The Outer Circle Railway was an attempt in the late 1800s to provide Melbourne with a circumferential, rather than radial line, passenger line. The line was never well patronised and was gradually discontinued until its final complete closure in the 1940s ( click on   link at the end of the photos to read the history notes ). Fortunately, the easement survived and has been converted to a shared walking and cycling path. We followed t

 U3A Hike No. 201 Hike Report by Geoff It was a very dull, miselly start to our day when our group of 10 met at Kirks. However, with Andrew driving ahead on our way to Ballan, the murky conditions cleared, and we were able to walk in dry, and occasionally sunny, if not blustery conditions. Our convoy continued from Ballan, along Ingliston Road until, after going under the rail bridge, we parked at the Ironbark Gorge carpark. The walk first led us 400 m down a steep slope, with many steps, into Ironbark Gorge. Then along a side gully, winding our way uphill to the top of the gorge and along the ridge to a track junction leading either to The Granites or, in our case, taking the right fork to Falcon's Lookout. Onwards, mostly downhill, to this very spectacular lookout.  The rough, rocky surface proved to be slippery, providing some challenges as two of our walkers found that it was easy to take a tumble. Fortunately, both were up, and able to continue on, without serious discomfo

 U3A Hike No. 200!! Hike Report by Chris The Haddon Common circuit walk of June 16 marked the 200th hike of the U3A Hikers.  Two dozen of us convoyed to Nintingbool Winery for the event, taking in the Haddon Common Bushland Reserve.  Users of the reserve include Haddon Field and Game who manage the rifle range, clay target shooting and bow hunting events. This information kept us all alert, especially Ken, who came dressed as a clay target. Search and rescue dogs are also trained there. The walk mostly took us along fire tracks not far from the perimeter of the reserve.  Vegetation included stringybark eucalypts with bracken and cassinia undergrowth. Plenty of varieties of mushrooms have appeared following the recent rains.  The "mizzle" cleared as we returned to the winery, where Peter Bothe showed us his two hectare Pinot vineyard and the equally stylish native tree and shrub plantings. Kunzeas, pincushion hakeas, ficafolias and correas took your correspondent’s eye. Peter