Goorooyarroo to Mulligans Flat

This walk is loosely part of the Canberra Centenary Trail - starting at a
carpark near the intersection of Horse Park Drive and the Federal Highway

In order to do it "one way", we left a car parked at the Amy Ackman Drive entrance to Mulligans Flat, before driving in the 2nd car to the starting point. This put the climbs at the start rather than end of the walk!

It's all generally open woodland, bordering on the suburbs of Gunghalin on the one side, and NSW on the other. You can just see the main centenary trail starting at the little loop we did near the bottom, and running more or less straight up the valley to intersect with our track later. We opted to climb a few extra hills.

Here's the profile of the walk - in all, just over 13 kms
taking 4 hours at a leisurely pace (with some stops).

The first small climb is "Black Stump" hill, in the upper left of the picture.

You can see the carpark (where Leon's car is parked) on the
mid-line of the picture, 2/3rds the way across.

Its now obvious how the hill got its name!

We met a couple of ladies climbing this hill from
the Goorooyarroo carpark, doing it in style
with a cup of coffee in hand.

That's "Old Joe" (the largest of the hills) in the distance, between the two trees. Looks easy from here ... but first the "Gecko Hills" (off to the right).

Typical of the rocky hilltop terrain.

The views get better as you climb - Black Stump hill is starting
to look trivial from here (but it didn't feel like it earlier).

Turning 180 degrees, and there's still a way to go to the top
of the Gecko Hills, but its more gentle from here.

There are views ...

... and more views.

From here, we amble down to the fence-line that marks the
ACT/NSW border. At the corner is one of the surviving original
survey markers left by the surveyors who set the border in this
area based on the watershed (so that rain landing on the ACT
side would flow down into the ACT and vice versa).

Old Joe is the most significant climb of the day - not too
difficult with a few short brief rest stops to regain breath.

Can't resist taking a picture of yet another radio
tower - I believe this one supports Netspeed's wireless
broadband service in Gunghalin.

Sweeping views in every direction.

Leon snaps a few pictures.

Its me ... its me ... its me! (picture courtesy of Leon)

The views (on the ACT side) go from the airport through
to the Northern-most suburbs of Gunghalin

Leaving Old Joe, its more or less all down hill back to the main track.

With the temperature warming up, shinglebacks
are out looking for food and mates!

We're back on the main track here - gentle undulating woodland.

Here's the boundary between Goorooyarroo ...

... and Mulligans Flat.

Signs give a bit of the history of the area.

Mulligan's Flat features a number of dams - this one with a bush seat.

The old woolshed provides lots more information ... but its a bit hot under the tin roof (and the ambient temperatures in only around 20 degrees today).

This echidna scampered for cover as we approached.

Almost finished - the entry gate to Mulligan's Flat at the Forde end of the walk.

Relief! My car is still here waiting for us.

Woodstock Reserve

The walk starts at the Shepherds Lookout carpark - on Stockdill Drive - the road that leads down to the Lower Molonglo Water Treatment Facility.

The sign at the carpark shows the extent of the reserve.

Here's today's walk - in total 9.4 kms with a common stretch in the middle.

Its basically downhill to the river to start with, and back uphill to finish.

There's a good track (bitumen!) from the carpark.

The first highlight is Shepherd's Lookout - built out over a sizeable drop.

It provides a great view looking down the Murrumbidgee River valley.

A path that breaks away from the Shepherds Lookout loop marks
the start of the descent down to the river.

Its easy going - downhill always is!

There plenty of good views of the river on the way down.

Our route will circumvent that green hill in the middle right
of the picture, returning along the line of trees.

A neat little foot bridge provides a dry crossing of the Molonglo River.
Just discernible are some stones on the 2nd set of planks spelling out
"PLACE STONES ...". No idea quite how to finish this!?

Views upstream were quite serene.

A short uphill climb from the river.

Looking down the Molonglo to where it feeds into the Murrumbidgee.

A sandy track followed the river bank. Our "tour leader" tells me the last time that they did this walk the grass was so tall that only the shiny dome of one of the walkers was visible above the tall grass - but today was a little ahead of the main spring growth.

The river looks quiet, but there was a fairly good flow - perhaps
boosted by some showers on the preceding day.

Some of the wombat burrows would have been large
enough for a Cornish miner to walk down without stooping!

The Uriarra picnic area is a good stop a little past the half-way point.

A good time for morning tea - especially given the availability of
shelter for an approaching light shower.

The picnic area is well maintained with good facilities.

The return walk starts up the road leading into the picnic area - the
road's wet, but the shower has passed.

Some pleasant rural views on the way up the aforementioned "green hill".

That's the Lower Molonglo water treatment facility in the distance, and Shepherds Lookout on the LHS before the hill drops away down to the river.

A civilised way to enter a paddock full of cattle who haven't yet
quite worked out how to navigate such opportunities.

They were immediately curious and came over to investigate - no
doubt we were a bit of excitement to break the monotony of a boring day.

Not many folk pay as much attention to me as these cattle did!

Almost back to the Molonglo River crossing.

Looking downstream from the foot-bridge.

Wayne Cassidy makes the crossing - with Mark Rogers packing away
his rain shell in the background.

The sun is out again - just in time for a hot climb uphill

These little Californian Poppies were blossoming all around.

The track back alternated between flat stretches and
steeper climbs, with steps set into the track.

Back on the Shepherd's Lookout loop and a short walk back to the
carpark to finish the walk in an even 3 hours.