Johnny Boy's Walkabout Blog

Saturday 13 May 2023: Jerrabomberra Wetlands and bird refuge area * – S/E. The Latham’s snipe have flown north and the cattle are corralled. Hear an introduction to the area from Senior Ranger Miriam. First walk a couple of the tracks in the Jerrabomberra Wetlands. Then head down Dairy Road and, with permission from the Senior Ranger and the nod from the lease holder, walk the usually closed northern bird refuge area. See Lake Burley Griffin from a different perspective. Around 12km and pretty flat.

Summary

From Garmin Connect (Epix Gen 2) – Distance: 12.51km | Climb: 45m | Time: 2:51 moving + 0:43 of stops = 3:34 | Grading: S/E; E(6).

Photographs Photographs are available here.

gpx File The gpx file is available here.

Track Notes

I was here a year ago, on 10 Apr 22.

This time, Miriam wasn’t called away on duty at the last moment and she gave us a wonderful introduction to the area. Amongst other things, she covered the land use over time, the geography of the area and current pressures of urban encroachment. The Jerrabomberra Wetlands are indeed an oasis in the middle of Canberra, just a few kilometers from Parliament House. Thank you so much, Miriam.

We got walking and did the Kellys Swamp and Billabong Loop tracks.

Heading towards the Biyaligee Boardwalk, the Tortoise head is a little worse for wear.

Great on the Biyaligee Boardwalk, the reeds over head height in places.

Back on the Woodland Walk, we headed west towards Kingston, did a lap of a pond over that way and went down to the bank of Jerrabomberra Creek. We took a look in a bird hide.

The trees in this area are magnificent.

Miriam had asked us earlier – what are mature trees like this doing in a wetland/grassland area? The explanation – the spoil from the new Parliament House building site was dumped here and the trees planted! I certainly never knew that.

We walked the main shared path back to the car park, north down Dairy Road and onto the muddy and cattle-trodden track into the bird refuge area.

The vehicle track is raised and passes through pools and waterways.

Other raised areas provide footings for the high voltage power lines passing through the area. A convenient rise appeared at morning tea time.

The track map shows a few abortive attempts to reach the edge of Lake Burley Griffin. No joy, particularly at the edge of the main north-south channel. So we retreated back to the north (the raised vehicle track passes over the east-west channels). Another muddy track took us to the lake edge.

Darters drying their wings.

Our luck ran out as we reached the marshy area where Jerrabomberra Creek enters LBG.

We wandered back the way we came, visiting the Trench Trail.

A useful little stroll, as most had not visited the area before. Thanks all for your company!

Relive the trip

Track Map

Here’s where we went.

The AllTrails map is here, where you can pan and zoom.

Party

11 walkers – Jenny A, Jeanette B, Marianne B, Elizabeth C, Dagmar K, Julie M, Megan L, Karen M, Chloe P, Khuong V, me.

Johnny Boy’s Walkabout Blog FaceBook Page

I’ve started up a FaceBook page. Each trip report posts to it. So it’s another way to get some info to get out and breathe a bit of fresh air. Why not pop over and Follow the page, or give a post a Like.