U3A Ballarat Hikers

 U3A Hike No. 245 Hike Report by Geoff As the song goes it was a case of drip drip drop little April showers today. But that didn't lessen the resolve of the 11 walkers who joined Gordon for our hike through the forest to the north-west of White Swan reservoir.  Most of us have never started a walk in steady rain before. Andrew was a notable absence as his presence seems to have assured us good weather through many years, although some of the group thought he let us down on the recent Enfield walk when thunder storms were experienced.  Nevertheless all members of our group were in cheerful spirits and it was nearly a case of singing in the rain, but not quite.   Our route led us north-east  from our car park, a little north of 'Fiveways' intersection, where we walked along sometimes sloshy, water affected tracks through the Glen Park State Forest. Gordon would have described the route as gently undulating and, on this occasion, it was true that there were no hills to challe

 U3A Hike No. 244 Hike Report by Chris Fourteen walkers enjoyed the calm autumn conditions at Mt Buangor State Park.   We noted lots of grey kangaroos, some placid red-necked swamp wallabies, heaps of raucous cockatoos and various honeyeaters and rosellas. The most common eucalypts were Messmates and Blue Gums. There were plenty of mature trees, some with hollows. Many saplings have sprouted since the 2010 fires (more than 1300ha. burnt) and the subsequent wind storms. The area is strangely zoned as a deer sanctuary, though we saw no sign of them.   The gullies feature many tall tree ferns. Heaps of understory shrubs, ferns and bracken also flourish.   These act as hideouts for bush leeches. Alan seemed the most appealing of us with a tally of six. Theresa’s neck attachment was more spectacular. She would not have been out of place on the set of a slasher movie. Ferntree falls and the Cascades were special features that rewarded the climb into the rainforest.   We carefully tracked bac

  U3A Hike No.  243 Hike Report by Leona Did you know that the Castlemaine Diggings became the first National Heritage Park in Australia? I certainly didn't. It's very fitting really, when you consider this unique landscape and all that it tells about the story of the goldfields and it's water supply.  Let's start with Eureka Reef. Meandering around mining remnants 12 adventurous walkers observed extensive areas of tunnelling, scattered quartz rock, mounds of earth and a plethora of mine shafts. Some of these were readily visible and just waiting for the inevitable rock throwing antics, while others were obscured by grass, shrubbery and accompanying mounds.   Droughts plagued the diggings and understandably a lack of water brought a halt to proceedings, hence the fascinating water races. We walked along a channel bank, negotiating some slippery clay sections and observing mainly grasses, wattle and eucalypt bushland.  As we continued through gully and bush we encountere