Bungal State Forest Loop - 12 Kms
U3A Hike No. 248
Hike Report by Teena
We set off towards the
Bungal State Forest surrounded by a lot of fog which we hoped would disappear
by the time we reached our destination. Arriving at the carpark, we were met
with drizzly rain, but the fog had lifted and so the twelve of us set off.
First obstacle was the fact
that the road was closed due to the bridge being washed away during the floods
last year. We followed Andrew’s lead past the ‘Road Closed’ sign and down the
bank into the creek, through the creek and up the other side. Watched by a very
bemused camper. We continued up into Bungal State Forest following the
Moorabool River which offered a perfect opportunity for the group photo. After
climbing down to the river and the photo being taken Anne pointed out the face
in the rockside opposite. It certainly looked like a Monkey’s face, but not
everyone could see it. Anne felt it was a special place so she named it Anne’s
Secret Sanctuary, the smell of the Eucalyptus trees were quite fragrant and
gave the area a very relaxing atmosphere. All we needed was a few massage beds
and some gentle music and that’s where the walk would have ended!
But no, off we scrambled up
the bank and continued northwards. Climbing up a
steep path, we were all looking forward to morning tea once we got past the
top. We stopped for our break at the ‘log café’ where there was plenty of
seating to be found and we sat and enjoyed the sun shining through the forest
trees surrounding us.
Before starting off again,
Andrew found some empty rifle shells on the ground, there were quite a few which
held our interest for a while. After we had collected what we could and handed
them over to Colin, we walked on through the forest on good walking tracks,
cutting across the bush at times. We found an old iron mine, which looked more
like a quarry. The lumps of iron we found were surprisingly weighty for their
size.
We came across a covering of
white on the ground, which Andrew 'tongue in cheek' explained was, ‘sponge’. Most likely a form of coral lichen and possibly 'Pulchrocladia retipora' (see link after photos) It certainly looked
like you could use it for a good rub down. Nearing the end of the walk we
discovered a large European wasp’s nest at the bottom of a tree trunk, leaving
the wasps in peace we continued back to the starting point. We carefully
negotiated the creek banks, and the creek, to safely arrive at the cars again.
Getting out our chairs we sat together to enjoy our lunch, a little way from the
cars, where we were joined by an uninvited guest, Mr (or Mrs) Rat. (native bush rat) It certainly enjoyed some of our lunch which
we happily donated to our little friend who brought us so much entertainment at
the end of the walk.
A great walk, thank you, Andrew, and Jan for navigating our way around the walk and also to Gordon for keeping us together as the whip. It was good to see Mark B back with us again and taking photos for the blog. Congratulations to Annette for completing the London Marathon, it was good to see you back with us again too.
Photos by Mark B and Andrew
LINKS
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Unfortunately, all the feedback I've had regarding our 'bushrat' is that it is a rattus rattus (common black rat). The key point of difference is that this one has a tail much longer than its body whereas the bush rat's tail is shorter than its body. The bushrat also has a pointed nose and rounded ears.
ReplyDeleteIt was a very cute rat.
ReplyDelete