6 Apr 2017 Mt Ainslie AWM & Nth Sections with Melba Shed
I led this walk to Mt Ainslie with a total of 10 of us walking. 8 of us met at the Shed & drove in 2 cars to the parking spot on Kellaway St, Hackett where we met 2 more. From 8.30AM we headed around the base of Mt Ainslie to visit the AWM’s coffee shop for coffee & milk shakes, etc. It was a good practice walk for Mt Tennent which we intend to walk up in 2 weeks. The weather today was superb & sunny. Views over central Canberra, the War Memorial & Parliament house great.
Then we climbed to the top of Mt Ainslie on the Anzac memorial trail. There were a lot of other walkers on this part of the route. Ian advised us about some of the gums seen.
“The dominant Euc. was Eucalyptus rossii – scribbly gum with distinct pressure ridges at base of limbs where they join the trunk & often with numerous “scribbles” resulting from insect larvae feeding below bark. Growing in association with E. rossi was E. mannifera maculosa – red spotted or white brittle gum, this may also exhibit scribbles but NO pressure ridges. This is planted along Mugga Way and is proposed for Northbourne Ave”.
We reached the top lookout & then headed north on part of the CCT deviating off to the north on a special track & then went around clockwise using the East 132KVA Track & CCT again back to the 5 Ways & then down a steep trail to Ainslie houses track & around to the cars.
At the top we also saw some “…Exocarpos cupressiformis – wild cherry or cherry ballart, this has edible red fruits and a Cypress-like habit. The Acacia one with nasty small thorns was Acacia vomeriformis – ploughshare or dog’s tooth wattle.” Lower down “…there were a few clumps of Brachychiton populenum – “Kurrajong” or bottle trees”.
We also stopped to check out an echidna, which was brazen enough to stick out its tongue at us. Cheeky bugger!
This was a Medium-Hard walk of 11.4Km, taking around 3hrs 40mins including a coffee break. We mostly followed formed tracks although to the north we took a vague sort of track through the bush.
Walkers: Allan Bedford, Bob Salmond, Drew McDonald, Ian de Plater, John Edge, John Marsh, Tony Weir, Wally Bezeruk, Wally Kulesza, Greg Hutchison
Drivers: Allan B, Drew (bike), Ian & Bob
Botanical Data from Ian de Platter
Google Photos | Link to Melba Shed gpx files & Google Earth files
