U3A Ballarat Hikers

 U3A Hike No. 232 Hike Report by Janet This walk took us through forested area between White Swan Reservoir and Creswick which was the scene of extensive surface gold mining during the 1800s. The slight drizzle cleared as we arrived at our starting point on Wolfes Road and we enjoyed perfect walking conditions for the rest of the hike, sunny but mostly shady and very pleasant. As we walked along meandering and undulating bush tracks towards Slatey Creek camping ground, we saw evidence of last year’s storm damage with a number of fords across the creeks damaged. We stopped for morning tea at Slatey Creek Camping ground which was busy with lots of families and children taking advantage of the Australia Day holiday. The creek was totally dry in contrast to previous visits to this area. Two well equipped gold fossickers walked past into the bush. We hoped, with all their equipment that they would get lucky. From the camping ground we followed the Wallaby track for a while following

 U3A Hike No.  231 Hike Report by Joan Having had a week with a couple of hot days and a colder rainy day it was a pleasant surprise to have a perfect day to do the Beeripmo via the Bat Route planned for us.  With Mark H as our capable leader and Tail-end Gordon watching our backs, we knew we were in good hands.    With the sun nicely warming our backs we proceeded on our uphill climb on the Beeripmo track.  This part of the track was a bit rocky and uneven though we were rewarded with views of beautiful tree ferns as well as huge moss covered boulders.  On the way we could hear the sound of water rushing by as it made its way down to the creek below as well as had the chance to view Raglan Falls.  The beaut sights we saw along the way outweighed the effort on this uphill climb.    We reached the top of this part of the track and decided it was a good place to find a comfortable log to sit on to have a cuppa and a chat.  I was lucky to find a log that had a "fungi" named

 U3A Hike No. 230 Hike Report by Anne Eleven walkers assembled at Argyle Dam, Surface Hill, on a soft, foggy morning. The fog held off the heat which was predicted for later in the day, and was very atmospheric as we crossed the dam wall. We were setting out on an 10.3 km walk to explore some of the dams and water races built by Thomas Boden and Party during the 1860’s and 1870’s. Boden’s party were sluicing for gold around Watsons Hill, Surface Hill and Hard Hill in a quartz area south of Smythesdale. In the early years of operation, the water ran out in summer, so they started catching water in dams and transporting it from valley to valley to the gold sluicing areas. Near Watsons Hill, a wooden flume was used to move the water across a valley, and the water from Argyle Dam was pumped uphill to Surface Hill. More commonly, the water was moved by gravity through the extensive system of races. The system was constructed over several years, hand dug by the miners who worked for the co