U3A Ballarat Hikers

 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...

 U3A Hike No 354 Hike Report By Kath Cape After meeting at Kirks Reservoir, we carpooled for the pretty drive to the Castlemaine Diggings National Historic Park, epicentre of the Mount Alexander goldrush, north of Chewton, on a windless sunny morning.  The (just short of) 10km walk started from the Garfield Wheel car park. First stop was to admire the still impressive stone support remains of the historic Garfield Water Wheel, used between 1887 and 1903 to power the stamp battery for the Garfield Company Mine. Climbing the steps beside the site we set off uphill to join the Garfield Track to a barrier and junction with Dead Cat Mine Track. Turning right onto the track we followed the signs for the Monster Meeting Site.  The site soon came into view below us but before we got there, we stopped to admire the impressive remains of a Cornish chimney against the hillside, which was built to service a steam boiler. It wasn’t difficult to imagine the hive of activity that would ...