The Aussie Bushwalking website provides clear directions for many walks in our area. For details to follow the trails we walked today, follow the links to Malichrus Trail or Plunkett Park Cave Trail.
We walked close to home rather late in the afternoon this week so that we could have dinner together and watch a video of some friends who recently did Wainright's Coast to Coast Walk across England. We had recently walked to nearby Wickham Peak, but this time we combined the fairly easy Melichrus Trail and a climb to Plunkett Park cave. The Melichrus Trail is named for the plant Melichrus adpressus, a spiky native heath species that grows in the local area. The trail begins from the end of Flesser Road just behind Cedar Creek School. After crossing a dry gully we followed the clearly signposted circuit on a wide track through open forest with a mixture of swamp box, ironbark and spotted gum. Leaving this track we proceeded up a steep incline until we came to a large rocky outcrop. The next bit was tricky as we put ourselves into mountain goat mode and clambered around the rocks until we spotted the object of our search - a small cave near the top of the rocky ridge. We decided that the cave was worth closer investigation so we climbed further up. It was too difficult to reach from the front, but we discovered a tiny entrance to it from the rear and higher up. Gail and I braved the narrowness of the entry and slithered inside and we have the photo to prove it. The cave was much smaller than it looked from a distance, but the view out was spectacular. We had a light shower of rain on the way back to the car, but were glad of the cooler walking weather at last. Then it was back to Mt Warren Park for dinner and a movie. No fancy cafes or restaurants for us tonight, but the home cooked meal to which we each contributed was as fine a dining as we could wish for. The girls from our group who walked the C-to-C trail last year especially enjoyed reliving the journey across England as we finished the night with a video of friends who also recently completed the walk.
The Aussie Bushwalking website provides clear directions for many walks in our area. For details to follow the trails we walked today, follow the links to Malichrus Trail or Plunkett Park Cave Trail.
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Summer still lingers on here in Brisbane and we continue to take advantage of the brilliant blue skies and sunshine. Today we met at the old Boggo Road Gaol before driving to Victoria Park where we started our walk. After 119 years of operation Boggo Road Gaol closed its final section in 2002. Number Two Division is heritage listed and is the only remaining section. The gaol has an interesting history and today is a tourist attraction offering ghost tours, history tours, escape tours, graffiti tours and more. Markets are held here on Sundays and regular film nights show movies you might expect such as "The Great Escape" and "Shawshank Redemption". After walking through Victoria Park we had a short coffee break in the Kelvin Grove Urban Village which was abuzz with uni students. We reminisced about how we must have looked this young once and how we didn't have 'an urban village', but were terribly excited to have a canteen during our teacher training days. How times change. After coffee we walked through the Kelvin Grove Campus of Queensland University of Technology. Margot is the only one if us who completed her teacher training here and she has fond memories of being able to buy a crumbed sausage for lunch in the canteen. The main building you see below was constructed in 1930 to be a teachers' training college, but as a result of the Depression it was initially used as a school (Brisbane North Intermediate School). In 1942 it achieved its primary objective as the Queensland Teachers' Training College and then became: Senior Teachers' Training College (1944), the Queensland Teachers' College (1950), Kelvin Grove Teachers' College (1961), Kelvin Grove College of Teacher Education (1974), Kelvin Grove College of Advanced Education (1976), Kelvin Grove Campus of the Brisbane College of Advanced Education (1982), and Kelvin Grove Campus of the Queensland University of Technology (1990).
In 2001, Men of the Trees established the Bowen Bridge Heritage Track, a short but informative trail which was officially opened by (the then) Premier, Peter Beattie. It has art work and signs telling about the area, the Turrbal people who first lived here, and more on the history of Queensland.
All this walking was of course hungry work, so on the return route we visited the Victoria Park Golf Club and followed their wonderful herb garden out to the very lovely, out-doorsy Bar & Bistro. Here we rested our weary feet and enjoyed friendly service, a cool drink, and arguably the best calamari I have ever tasted. On the final leg home we passed by a lagoon where a lovely sculpture grabbed our attention. A giant serpent is held aloft by a group of Aborigines while their children play at the water’s edge. This spot, known as York’s Hollow, is at the centre of Victoria Park, and was once the meeting and corroboree grounds of the Turrbal people who roamed the areas around the Brisbane River. Another perfect day in Brisbane. Who could ask for anything more?
Back to the past today with a re-visit to Toowong Cemetery, this time armed with details of buried ancestors. With another warm day looming we met in King George Square to catch a bus to Toowong, but first a bit of fun with the forces of dark and light were in order. The new Star Wars movie is out folks, so we tested some light sabers and tasted some free coffee as part of the movie promotion before heading off.
I didn't find any actual graves of my many relatives, only the general areas in which they lie. The main office staff were very helpful and gave me more details of locating sites, so I shall return. After clocking up quite a few kilometres in the cemetery we decided refreshments were needed before walking back to the city along the Brisbane River.
Last year I went on an excellent Logan City Council Community Bushwalk through Plunkett Conservation Park just west of Cedar Creek, so today I took my bushwalking buddies to explore this trail. Although we are well into April it was a very hot day and some climbing was involved, so we sweated and huffed and puffed a bit, but the sky was clear and the bush invigorating. Miss Plunkett (a bikini clad, hula-skirted gum tree) welcomed us on the Quinzeh Creek Road where we entered the park about a kilometre on. Coming from Beenleigh, look for the entry on the left signposted "Wickham Timber Reserve". A clear trail runs for about a kilometre where you turn left at a bench seat and start the climb up a rocky slope to a lookout at Wickham Peak. After enjoying views of lush bushland towards Brisbane in one direction and towards another, not so attractive views of the huge new housing development known as Yarrabilba, we continued on the Calytrix Circuit. Further along the trail a path leads off to the left to another lookout - Grass Tree Lookout. The Calytrix Circuit rejoins the path at the top of the first rocky hill climb and then it is downhill all the way back. It is a 7 kilometre walk in total and well signposted, though there a few unsigned tracks leading off the main path which we might explore some other time. The area we passed through included dense and open eucalypt forests, shrubby areas of thick acacia, and densely vegetated gullies formed by rolling hills and sandstone outcrops. After our last few weeks of small walks and big feasts we enjoyed the rigour of this walk, but also enjoyed ending with a light lunch at the fabulous Green Frog Hollow Cafe at Logan Village. The candle holder on the table summed our day up nicely.
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