U3A Ballarat Hikers

 U3A Hike No 29 Hike Report By Geoff Howard After experiencing a day of extreme fire danger on Wednesday, our group of 11 aggregated at Ballarat station on Thursday morning in cool, overcast and even damp conditions while we waited for our 8.20 train to Melbourne. Soon after arriving at Southern Cross we caught a tram on the light rail system to Saint Kilda and soon after 10 o’clock we were ready for our walk along the bay. Conditions continued to be cool and windy for the first two hours of our walk  encouraging many of us to maintain our extra layer of clothing for much of our walk from Saint Kilda through to Elwood.  We were pleased that we were able to walk on pedestrian only paths for most of our route, thus avoiding conflict with cyclists.  Along the way we saw, to our left some valuable real estate and, to out right we were able to look out across the bay to see many ships coming into or departing from Melbourne ports. We also passed several marinas containing some big toys for

 U3A Hike No 291 Hike Report By Jan Herperger ** Ken’s back! It was great to see Ken back with us today and looking so well. ** Because today’s forecast was for a 37 degree total fire ban stinker, Gordon decided to lead us around the Lake Wendouree and Victoria Park circuit. So, 11 people met at the Inclusive Playground and walked around Lake Wendouree pausing to check out the Olympic Rings, saying farewell to Ken as he headed off towards Pipers cafe, choosing the scenic route through Fairyland and hearing some historic details about the rowing course. There was a strong warm wind blowing that helped keep us cooler but played havoc with our sunhats. We stopped back at our cars and had morning tea at a picnic table in the shade. Then we all headed off on the path around Victoria Park and again stopped at points of interest including the old, now grassed-over velodrome, an information board explaining about the protection of indigenous grasslands in Victoria Park and the Disc Golf course

 U3A Hike No 290 Hike Report by Peter Treby A large group of 18 hikers assembled at Kirk’s Reservoir car park and headed by car convoy to the long-gone gold era mining town of Wombat, and the rotunda that marks the site of the Wombat Railway Station. This was the start of a delightful 10.8 km circuit walk in perfect weather, with blue skies and temperature reaching the low 20s. We first headed North along the Wombat Station Track. There were plenty of droppings left by the marsupial after which the forest is named. Ever wondered how a wombat manages to produce a cuboid scat? So have interested scientists. The 2019 Ig Nobel Prize for physics was awarded to Patricia Yang and others for their investigations reported to the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics.     Why did wombats evolve this talent? (see link after photos)  “ The shape is good for communication, too. Wombats have terrible eyesight but an excellent sense of smell, so they use faeces as a way of communicating to tell each o