Thirteen walkers, including two new members, took advantage of some beautiful weather to take a lovely walk in the Benandarah State Forest.
The forest is one of the forests, if not the only forest, in our area not to have been detrimentally affected by the terrible bushfires of last summer. It has, however, been subjected to some hazard reduction burns since summer and the evidence of that was seen at various times throughout the walk.
The walk was previously put together by the irrepressible Betty Richards and has all the hallmarks of a typical Betty hike. Some good hills (best described by the walk leader as deviations of terrain so as not to scare off potential walkers!), bike tracks, picturesque gullies, obligatory bush bashing and even a long abandoned marijuana cultivation site complete with Seasol containers, wire barriers and recently melted pots!
Recent fires have revealed some beautiful views off to the east over the water, one of the few advantages of the fires. It was also great to see water flowing in the creeks after recent rains. There was lots of new regrowth of beautiful ferns and the various understories in general. All in all it was a great day to be out in the bush.
report by Donna
Photos courtesy of Karen and Amanda
