Links to our Interest Groups below
Our Walking Group.
Our leader is:
Ron,
5622 1137, 
Email .
If Ron has not organised a walk away from Warragul we start at at 10 AM on Tuesdays.
31st of January Ron has organised a Bush Walk at Mirboo North, I am assuming it is at Lyrebird Walk. We are to meet at Burke Street Car park Warragul at 9:30 AM for car pooling. We will have lunch at the Mirboo North Bakery.
WHAT WE DO:
Normally, we walk for about an hour along the walking path. People walk at their own pace.
there must be at least 2 in a group.
There are many seats along the way, to sit and have a rest.
After about an hour we all meet back at the picnic shelter for a BYO cuppa and a nibble and natter.
20th of December we had a wonderful Christmas party after our walk. Every one brought along food to share. We had Christmas table cloths and a Christmas Tree and somehow Kevin brought along plenty of very hot sausage rolls and he even brought the Tomato sauce. Hope fully some Photos will be coming soon.
15th of November, Ron organised a walk at Yurralla Walk Trafalgar, We met at Burke Street park for car pooling at 10:00 AM, after the walk we adjourned to the Stump tea rooms Darnum at about 12:30 PM for lunch.
4th of October 2011,The Baw Baw Shire kindly organised this seniors walk including morning tea and lunch. About a dozen of our members boarded a Warragul Bus Lines bus along with many other people at the West Gippsland Arts Centre heading for Noojee. A delicious morning tea was had at the Noojee Picnic ground by the river. They then separated into 3 groups, 1 group went to Toorongo Falls another went to the Trestle Bridge and the other group went on the Loch Valley Tramway walk. They all met back at the Picnic Ground for a delicious lunch. They then came home on the bus. Thank you Baw Baw Shire for a wonderful day.
Faye's Photos of the walk.
Click on thumbnail (little picture) to enlarge.
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23rd of August 2011, 2 Photos of our HAPPY group having coffee after our morning walk, sorry to have to note that our regulars Margaret & Tony could not be there..
Click on Photo to enlarge.
26th of July 2011, We met at the Barn at Jindivick at 10:15 AM to go for a walk on the Nangara walk. This was a very interesting and pretty walk, the weather was cold and raining but it was worth it. We then adjourned to the Jindi Cafe for an extremely good and economical lunch they really looked after us there. We did take some photos, to see them please check your e-mails.
Stature of Stuart Hood at Nangara walk.
5th of July 2011, The Geoff Watt Walking track has been AT LAST resurfaced, no more walking through the mud.
1st Of February 2010, 21 members drove out to Neerim South to Janelli Gardens at Neerim South. Ron arranged for the Walking Group to go to the Janalli Gardens. A light luncheon was provided. This is a very large property and is very interesting they have worked very hard on it and it is a credit to them. The food that we had for lunch everything but the protein was grown on the property. The weather was very hot and very windy but everyone appeared to enjoy themselves. View an interesting photo of a bower birds nest in the gardens click on the link.
Gardening Australia's report about Janalli Gardens.
PETER CUNDALL: There's a very special garden in Gippsland
and right in the heart of it is a little part of Japan and it's brilliant.
Here's Jane.
JANE EDMANSON: In Japanese culture, garden-making is a high art,
intimately related to the linked arts of calligraphy and ink painting. Since the
end of the 19th century, Japanese gardens have also been imitated in our Western
gardens, and they invite quiet contemplation.
This is a wonderful example of Japanese style. It's in a garden called Janelli,
set in the beautiful rolling hills of Gippsland, south-east of Melbourne, and it
shows all the main elements that make up that oriental style.
The hills around Janelli make for a perfect canvas for a Japanese garden.
There's clumps of bamboo, the mass planting of Japanese Nandina and a beautiful
copse of Silver Birch Trees. From the top of the slope, you're invited to walk
into the garden and onto this wide wooden bridge that overlooks on one side a
wonderful lake that is very reflective of all the vegetation around it. On the
other side, it's something completely different, it's a dry creek bed. And
that's an important feature of this lower part of the garden. You have this
imaginary feature, deliberately left dry - the only bit of water coming from the
bamboo deer-scarer, which is quite a practical thing in Japanese gardens, where
deer can be a problem.
Rocks represent islands in the river and are quite symbolic in overall design.
Just in front of the bridge is the largest of the rocks, and in Japanese design
it also represents mountains, and this piece of granite - it was mined locally -
is a beautiful feature in the garden. Rock size is also important, as is their
location. The other thing is that they're always placed in odd numbers.
You may notice the one large rock by itself. This is another important element
in the design, as it represents tension. The rock has been placed in such a way
that it looks as though it could fall over. All of this is part of the
traditional Japanese sensibility that attests that rocks and stones are actual
beings with spirits that need to be treated with reverence.
In Japanese landscapes, green is the predominant colour, very rarely do they use
lots of flower colour, and that’s why, in mid-winter is a beaut thing. This is
Bambusa balcooa, and it's a beautiful, thick-stemmed, clumping variety.
One of the Japanese sacred bamboos is Nandina domestica. This one has got a
ferny, feathery foliage and bright red berries, and it is a very colourful
plant.
Another plant that's often featured in Japanese gardens are the conifers,
because they're very hardy. This is an evergreen one, Juniper. It's very
prostrate and its cultivar name is Blue Carpet, because of that sea of blue.
That effect is really good on the edge of the dry creek bed.
Not every plant has to be of Japanese origin. This is a cultivar of the old Arum
Lily. It's called Green Goddess and it does really beautifully along the
lakeside because it does like moisture. It has the most fantastic flowers -
they're cream and green.
This is the lowest and the most moist part of the garden and it's where the Iris
do well, they can handle that moisture round their roots, and this wonderful
boardwalk zigzags its way over the top of the dry creek bed, and that's
important because it's keeping evil spirits away. You will always notice that
very few Japanese landscapes have straight lines, and that is, indeed, to keep
the spirits out.
One of the features that I haven't made mention of is the subtle use of
ornamentation, artefacts, either in stone or metal, like this lantern, are still
used today to give authenticity but in the past the Japanese would have used it
to represent a father figure or a guide.
At the heart of all Japanese garden design is symbolism and meaning and it's a
chance for the gardener, or visitor, to reflect and soak up the surrounds. It's
a perfect location for quiet contemplation.
RECENT WALKS.
November 16th saw twenty keen walkers head to Cranbourne Botanic Gardens. Ron Vickers had arranged for a guided tour which took an hour and was most informative. All lunched together at a long table in the cafe. After lunch, we could walk around the garden at our leisure or visit the gift shop. A most enjoyable day – thanks Ron. As a "wind-up" to the year, the Walking Group enjoyed a B.B.Q lunch at Kevin & Veronica Quirk's home on December 21st. ~Veronica
Faye's Photos from the Botanical Gardens: Click on the underlined text to view.
Blue Flowers Pretty Flowers The Waterfall Dry A View of the Gardens Crimson Bottle Brush Crimson Bottle Brush 2 Dainty Little Flowers. Drum Sticks Protea. Dry Lands gardens Eating Lunch. Gymea Liley (Doryanthes) More Dry Lands More of the Gardens Most of us having lunch Native Pink Fuchia New Constructions Our Guide Pink & White Bottle Brushes Pink Bottle Brushes. Pink Flowers Purple Flowers Red Kangaroo Paws Some sort of Fern Still eating lunch The rest of us having lunch The waterfall Dry
On Tuesday the 5th of October, we went on a Baw Baw Shire walk named "Go for your life" We met at the Warragul Arts centre car park. We then be got on the bus and were driven to to the Rokeby Crossover rail trail. Lunch was provided.
On Tuesday the 9th of February, 20 of us set off to the TARA BULGA NATIONAL PARK. We stopped at the Open Cut viewing platform (Miners View) to view the Power Station works. Morning Tea was enjoyed by all and we were on their way again. Our route took us via Callignee, where the devastation after the fires last year was very evident. Burnt trees lined the road, and on arriving at the Tara Park ,were amazed to find it completely untouched. Just as beautiful as ever. It was a hot, humid day and the walk through the Rainforest was refreshing. Some of us left Tara to travel to the Bulga Park, but only about half of the walkers wanted to push on that far. Some of us came up to the tables at Bulga only to find that they had been deserted. So we had a very enjoyable lunch at Bulga and went home.
Loy Yang Power Station and surrounds, Hyland Highway
To view the pictures click on the hyperlink text.
Entrance to Miners View Lookout, Hyland Hwy
Car park and information shelter at Miners View Lookout
View of Loy Yang Power Station from Miners View Lookout
View of Loy Yang Power Station from Miners View Lookout
View of open cut coal mine from Miners View Lookout
View south along Hyland Hwy towards Morwell Rd
View east along Hyland Hwy towards Loy Yang Power Station
View west along Hyland Hwy towards Loy Yang Power Station
Some of the Ladies at Tara Bulga Car Park.
More of us having Morning Tea.
Joan and Sue having Morning Tea.
29/12/09 No walk was scheduled but 3 of us did the walk and then adjourned to the new Mc Cafe to try the new shop.
22/12/09 the last walk for this year, after the walk we had a sausage sizzle. 35 people came and enjoyed the meal barbecued by Kevin and Jim along with some other helpers..
In the Latrobe street Shelter our group having a sausage sizzle for Christmas 09.
Some of our happy bunch at the sausage sizzle.
The ladies table at the sausage sizzle.
22/09/09 we visited the Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne. 2 years ago we visited these gardens, and in that time the vegetation has matured quite noticeably. Lots of wild flowers were out and the insect and bird life had to be seen and heard to believe. We then had lunch in their cafe.
Kangaroo Paws in Flower at the Cranbourne Botanical Gardens.
Native Orchids in Flower at the Cranbourne Botanical Gardens.
Our leader interfering with trigger plant flowers, at the Cranbourne Botanical Gardens.
1/09/09 We walked as usual along the linear trail, but after that we went to the Stump Restaurant at Darnum for lunch to celebrate the first day of Spring.
21/07/09 a group of 22 keen walkers assembled at the Bourke Street Park, before setting off in convoy style by car for the Mt Worth National Park . Big tree walk. After an enjoyable, scenic drive through very hilly, typical Gippsland terrain, we had our morning tea. While we were enjoying our cuppa, a group of probably 12-20 wrens were hopping about not taking any notice of us at all. It was quite cool compared to the temperature in Warragul, but, very Spring like .We soon warmed up. The walk to the "Big tree" is 1.8km on quite level track. Along the way we saw enormous tree ferns and very tall old growth trees. On our return journey back to the car park, several of us were entertained by a young male Lyrebird. He was perched on an old log, just scratching about and doing his call. After a while he jumped to the ground and all enjoyed a very plentiful lunch.
09/06/09 This morning continued to scratch for food. It was lovely to watch. On our return to our cars, we all headed to the Stump Cafe at Darnum where we 12 very brave (foolhardy) walkers assembled at the Burke Street Park for our regular Tuesday morning walk.
We set off in very cold conditions (the outside temp was 7 deg when we left home) to do the Linear walk.
We managed to get as far as the railway bridge then by a unanimous vote we decided to abandon the walk in favour of a warm coffee in Beeches Café. (The coffee was lovely)
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