345. Nerrina-Invermay Circuit - Creswick State Forest 10.9km
U3A Hike No 345
Hike Report By Geoff Howard
It was a much cooler morning for the start of today's hike. 15 walkers came together at Lofven Street, before driving to our starting point on a rough track which is designated the name of Jindabyne Street. This lies down an unnamed track, just off the north end of Lofven Street.
On our arrival a woman walking with her dog had been enjoying a peaceful walk until our ten cars parked beside her. Gordon jumped out and tried to be reassuring but, with his bush ranger appearance she took a little time to calm down. Gordon said "It's alright we are from U3A" where upon she asked what U3A was. Gordon said she would be welcome to join but she decided to walk in the other direction.
Although named as a street, Jindabyne Street, like many of the streets we walked along, would not be considered a vehicle track to anyone other than a maniac four-wheel-drive owner, certainly not Rob. Heading north from Jindabyne Street we linked through to Tanunda Street and then onto Alkera Road, all gravel tracks. The walking continued to be pleasant with cool breezes blowing upon us as we wound our way through the forest of eucalyptus and occasional pine trees, with only relatively minor hills to conquer.
After heading north for about 4 km we cut east along Glen Park Road, again nothing but a gravel track. This gradually curved around south, near to White Swan Reservoir and eventually, we left the gravel road to walk on the Goldfields Track continuing south. This took us near Dead Horse Gully where, fortunately the smell of the unfortunate animal had long gone. Soon after, we came upon Nuggety Gully Dam and this seemed an appropriate place to stop for morning tea.
After our break we continued south until we came out of the bush past several houses, into Nerrina. Along the greener road verge we saw copious evidence that kangaroos found this to provide good feeding. There was later some discussion, following closer investigation, as to whether this was all evidence of kangaroos or whether this evidence was somewhat cuboid, thereby indicating wombat activity. Without more detailed analysis, consensus had it that these were more likely deposited by kangaroos.
Passing near to our cars we overcame any temptation to end our walk early and instead, continued into the Little Bendigo area where we stopped to look at Little Bendigo Primary School. Once a thriving school in a community of 3000 residents, in gold mining heydays, the school population dropped to only 7 pupils in the 1980s before rebuilding to now reporting 74 pupils. None of the 74 were however in evidence, presumably learning quietly in their classrooms.
A little further we came to the former Anglican church, now a private residence. Here again, stories of the churches history, including bat infestations were shared. Leona also shared a tale of the unsavoury characters who have been known to frequent this, more isolated part of Ballarat, causing her to run for help on a previous, late afternoon walk.
Gordon and Geoff stopped nearby to talk to a surveyor working on his own nearby, with new modern technological equipment. This allowed for one person surveying and Gordon asked about how water races would have been surveyed in the 1800s. Once he was satisfied that Gordon wasn't a bush ranger out to attack him, he advised that rudimentary theodolites were in use in the late 1800s. Soon after we returned to our cars to enjoy our early lunch. having hiked 10.7 km.
Thank you again to Andrew for leading this very enjoyable walk.
It was a much cooler morning for the start of today's hike. 15 walkers came together at Lofven Street, before driving to our starting point on a rough track which is designated the name of Jindabyne Street. This lies down an unnamed track, just off the north end of Lofven Street.
On our arrival a woman walking with her dog had been enjoying a peaceful walk until our ten cars parked beside her. Gordon jumped out and tried to be reassuring but, with his bush ranger appearance she took a little time to calm down. Gordon said "It's alright we are from U3A" where upon she asked what U3A was. Gordon said she would be welcome to join but she decided to walk in the other direction.
Although named as a street, Jindabyne Street, like many of the streets we walked along, would not be considered a vehicle track to anyone other than a maniac four-wheel-drive owner, certainly not Rob.
Heading north from Jindabyne Street we linked through to Tanunda Street and then onto Alkera Road, all gravel tracks. The walking continued to be pleasant with cool breezes blowing upon us as we wound our way through the forest of eucalyptus and occasional pine trees, with only relatively minor hills to conquer.
After heading north for about 4 km we cut east along Glen Park Road, again nothing but a gravel track. This gradually curved around south, near to White Swan Reservoir and eventually, we left the gravel road to walk on the Goldfields Track continuing south. This took us near Dead Horse Gully where, fortunately the smell of the unfortunate animal had long gone. Soon after, we came upon Nuggety Gully Dam and this seemed an appropriate place to stop for morning tea.
After our break we continued south until we came out of the bush past several houses, into Nerrina. Along the greener road verge we saw copious evidence that kangaroos found this to provide good feeding. There was later some discussion, following closer investigation, as to whether this was all evidence of kangaroos or whether this evidence was somewhat cuboid, thereby indicating wombat activity. Without more detailed analysis, consensus had it that these were more likely deposited by kangaroos.
Passing near to our cars we overcame any temptation to end our walk early and instead, continued into the Little Bendigo area where we stopped to look at Little Bendigo Primary School. Once a thriving school in a community of 3000 residents, in gold mining heydays, the school population dropped to only 7 pupils in the 1980s before rebuilding to now reporting 74 pupils. None of the 74 were however in evidence, presumably learning quietly in their classrooms.
A little further we came to the former Anglican church, now a private residence. Here again, stories of the churches history, including bat infestations were shared. Leona also shared a tale of the unsavoury characters who have been known to frequent this, more isolated part of Ballarat, causing her to run for help on a previous, late afternoon walk.
Gordon and Geoff stopped nearby to talk to a surveyor working on his own nearby, with new modern technological equipment. This allowed for one person surveying and Gordon asked about how water races would have been surveyed in the 1800s. Once he was satisfied that Gordon wasn't a bush ranger out to attack him, he advised that rudimentary theodolites were in use in the late 1800s.
Soon after we returned to our cars to enjoy our early lunch. having hiked 10.7 km.
Thank you again to Andrew for leading this very enjoyable walk.
Photos By Andrew Parker
LINKS
SIMILAR (LONGER) HIKE IN RAIN & FLOODS 2021 on YouTube
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You're funny, Geoff :-)
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