U3A Ballarat Hikers

 U3A Hike No. 246 Hike Report by Leona "May the fourth be with you" This announcement to the 11 assembled hikers was from our worthy leader Mark Hawley, opening our briefing in the carpark at the North British Mine on the outskirts of Maldon. The skies were cloudy and grey, but the air still, with not a breath of wind. We counted our blessings.  Our walk commenced with an exploration of the mine area, including reading the information boards and asking some very insightful questions. Well satisfied with logical and detailed answers, we proceeded along a well defined track passing a dam, three cyanide tanks and various brick and stone mining remnants. Three large ovens were of particular interest. They were used to heat and weaken quartz so that the gold could be more easily extracted. Though this no doubt seemed like a great idea at the time, it was apparently, later abandoned as not so brilliant after all. Our gravel path, now wider, continued up,  UP...

 U3A Hike No. 245 Hike Report by Geoff As the song goes it was a case of drip drip drop little April showers today. But that didn't lessen the resolve of the 11 walkers who joined Gordon for our hike through the forest to the north-west of White Swan reservoir.  Most of us have never started a walk in steady rain before. Andrew was a notable absence as his presence seems to have assured us good weather through many years, although some of the group thought he let us down on the recent Enfield walk when thunder storms were experienced.  Nevertheless all members of our group were in cheerful spirits and it was nearly a case of singing in the rain, but not quite.   Our route led us north-east  from our car park, a little north of 'Fiveways' intersection, where we walked along sometimes sloshy, water affected tracks through the Glen Park State Forest. Gordon would have described the route as gently undulating and, on this occasion, it was true that there were no hil...

 U3A Hike No. 244 Hike Report by Chris Fourteen walkers enjoyed the calm autumn conditions at Mt Buangor State Park.   We noted lots of grey kangaroos, some placid red-necked swamp wallabies, heaps of raucous cockatoos and various honeyeaters and rosellas. The most common eucalypts were Messmates and Blue Gums. There were plenty of mature trees, some with hollows. Many saplings have sprouted since the 2010 fires (more than 1300ha. burnt) and the subsequent wind storms. The area is strangely zoned as a deer sanctuary, though we saw no sign of them.   The gullies feature many tall tree ferns. Heaps of understory shrubs, ferns and bracken also flourish.   These act as hideouts for bush leeches. Alan seemed the most appealing of us with a tally of six. Theresa’s neck attachment was more spectacular. She would not have been out of place on the set of a slasher movie. Ferntree falls and the Cascades were special features that rewarded the climb into the rain...