U3A Ballarat Hikers

 U3A Hike # 356 Hike Report by Mark Hawley Whenever a month has five Thursdays - it means one thing for U3A Ballarat Hikers… Melbourne excursion. The start for we ten Hikers was at Woodlands Historic Park next to the northern edge of Tullamarine Airport. Also next to impressive horse paddocks with equally impressive horses grazing in them.   The walk headed initially northeast then mainly south through open rocky scrubland to a long fence line. This was built to protect the Eastern Barred Bandicoot which was considered extinct until a colony was discovered at a rubbish tip near Hamilton. The fence forms an elongated enclosure of several kilometres with wire angled out at the top and ground levels to keep out predators. However, the occasional gate meant we could enter it when required.   A long walk along the outside of the fence took us to Weeroona Cemetery where we explored the mainly Aboriginal graves and cultural area before continuing onwards to Gellibrand Hill...

 U3A Hike No 356 Hike Report & Photos by Teena Evans Eleven keen hikers met at the Tennis Courts in Buninyong on a cold autumn morning. Once the carpooling had been organised we set off for Bungal State Forest.  On arriving at our start point it was good to see the bridge had been reinstated so we could drive over it and park up, unlike the last time I had been on this walk, when we had to scramble down and through the creek to start the hike. We set off with Mark as the leader and Gordon as the whip. This hike took us in the opposite direction to what we had completed in the past, going clockwise, we went up a short incline through the forest and then travelled on to the open cut iron mine. As we walked, there was plenty of evidence of the iron mining in the rocks around us. We walked along rutted paths where some motorbike riders had been having fun, churning up the path. We had to be careful of our footing as we negotiated our way through. We passed an unusual...

 U3A Hike No 355 Hike Report by Fiona Deutscher This week fifteen hikers left Kirks Reservoir in cool & sunny conditions to drive to Tipperary Springs -within Hepburn Regional Park. We were looking forward to hiking this route again after extensive storm damage had closed the tracks in the area for an extended period of time. Prior to leaving we congratulated and sang Happy Birthday to Alan Evans who was celebrating his birthday on the day. We commenced the walk by crossing the bridge at Tipperary Springs and walking along the west side of the river gorge toward Bryces Flat. The Sailors Creek river bed was generally dry along the walk- apart from a few occasional pools of stagnant water. Care and concentration were needed to negotiate the narrow stoney path high above the river bed.  We noticed the bush about us was much drier than other times we had hiked the track. We admired the wide stoney creek bed as it wound along below us. Evidence of past storm damage included a f...