U3A Ballarat Hikers

 U3A Hike No. 203 Hike Report by Anne 13 walkers met at Buninyong, huddled under umbrellas, to organise car sharing for our trip to Anakie Gorge. The further we drove away from Buninyong, the lighter the sky became, until we arrived at the Anakie Gorge car park to a day of mixed sunshine and clouds. After stern words from our leader Gordon about not entering tunnels or falling off cliff edges, we set off up the track into Anakie Gorge. We soon encountered one of the forbidden tunnels, which were excavated during the 19th century to allow water pipelines to pass through. We passed a number of these tunnels and walked beside the old water pipes which carried water from the Lower Stony Creek Reservoir to Geelong – its first water supply. After 1.3km, we turned left off the track, straight up hill onto the Ted Errey Nature Circuit. The track was rocky and uneven with some loose scree material, so it was eyes down until we stopped at our first viewpoint, 700m up the ridge. From ther...

 U3A Hike No. 202 Hike Report by Gordon It being a fifth Thursday of the month, and according to a tradition that we have been struggling to establish, it was time for urban bushwalking in Melbourne.  After Mark had a crash course in herding cats onto Public Transport, the hikers arrived at East Camberwell station, only to find that two members had been eaten by the train!  Fortunately, they were able to alight at the next stop and quickly catch a returning train. We then joined the Outer Circle Rail Trail and followed it north towards the Yarra River. The Outer Circle Railway was an attempt in the late 1800s to provide Melbourne with a circumferential, rather than radial line, passenger line. The line was never well patronised and was gradually discontinued until its final complete closure in the 1940s ( click on   link at the end of the photos to read the history notes ). Fortunately, the easement survived and has been converted to a shared walking and cycling pa...

 U3A Hike No. 201 Hike Report by Geoff It was a very dull, miselly start to our day when our group of 10 met at Kirks. However, with Andrew driving ahead on our way to Ballan, the murky conditions cleared, and we were able to walk in dry, and occasionally sunny, if not blustery conditions. Our convoy continued from Ballan, along Ingliston Road until, after going under the rail bridge, we parked at the Ironbark Gorge carpark. The walk first led us 400 m down a steep slope, with many steps, into Ironbark Gorge. Then along a side gully, winding our way uphill to the top of the gorge and along the ridge to a track junction leading either to The Granites or, in our case, taking the right fork to Falcon's Lookout. Onwards, mostly downhill, to this very spectacular lookout.  The rough, rocky surface proved to be slippery, providing some challenges as two of our walkers found that it was easy to take a tumble. Fortunately, both were up, and able to continue on, without serious dis...