Thursday 29 April 2021

Sergeant Dan Spiller Memorial Reserve

Tuesday 20 April

Sergeant Dan Spiller Memorial Reserve, a  new trail found locally. Perfect for an auutumn walk, but perhaps not after heavy rain.

This reserve was offically named in March 2011, in recognition of Sergeant Dan Stiller's dedication to reducing illegal trail bike riding and its damaging enviromental impacts.


This was not lush green parkland, but a deceptive pond of green algae, surprising given all the rain.

Another stretch of green. This time just water logged grass. We had to bush bash to avoid.

A sink hole to avoid as well.


This dappled path drew us down to a lovely, if brown coloured, lake.


Shimmering, pampas grass, flower stalks.



Further on, a board walk took us through a gurgling brook area.




The Sulphur Crested Cockatoos love to nest in tree hollows.


Tranquill scenes.




More water on the trail.

We came to a halt here, as the creek was wide, unwelcoming in colour and more than ankle deep.

We were hopeful this crossing would get us back to the carpark. It was not to be, and unless we wanted to retrace our steps some 4 km, we had to return to the above crossing.

We felt it was safer to keep our boots on to cross. Thankfully it was only a couple of k's back to the car.

Time for a re-energising cuppa!

I would love to read your comment.

6 comments:

  1. I liked the light through the pampas grass. Your exotic birds always amaze me. It seems our backyard is being overtaken by blackbirds at the moment. I miss our wintertime cardinals.

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  2. It was a great trek despite all the water. The corellas are so pretty. I love seeing them! We never bring a table cloth for our picnics. It takes a picnic to a much fancier level for sure.

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  3. Those corellas are cool birds! I'm not a fan of water crossings either, but I guess they are sometimes a necessary evil.

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  4. I've been known to carry water crossing shoes because I dislike wet boots! But these days I hike in trail runners which dry quickly. Nice trail pics as usual.

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  5. Looks like an interesting place to walk, Helen, and the fact that Sulphur-crested Cockatoos are there is enough of a lure for me. Wet feet are not so bad when you consider the rewards. I am a little curious about Australia's vaunted suite of highly venomous snakes. Does anyone ever wear snake gaiters or are the snakes simply so rare the chances of encountering one are negligible? There are a couple of tours to Central and South America now that advise people to wear them in certain areas, especially in locations where Fer de Lance is present, a notably secretive and ill-tempered species. One of the guides at the Canopy Lodge in Panama was bitten by one - he survived!

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  6. The Sulphur Crested Cockatoo and not Corellas has been noted. A rushed post and we have 100's of Corellas on our golf course view at present.
    Re snakes. They are highly venomous. They are everywhere but on our 8 years of regularly hiking we may have seen 20 skittering off the trail. Depending on how wide or narrow, clear or overgrown the track is, we decide whether or not to wear our long trousers and / or gaitors. Snakes are generally inactive during the colder months as they are cold blooded. Last week [cool] I was reading a post on a hiking site, where the group found a death adder on the track. [highly venonmous] It took ages for them to be able to pass. All that said, we regularly pass hikers totally unprepared. Open footwear, no water, hat and definitely no first-aid kit. My group worry more about leeches and ticks.

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