Johnny Boy's Walkabout Blog

Saturday 7 September 2024: A morning trip to ‘Calvary’ * – M/M. ‘Calvary’ is a pise homestead site on the South Bullen Range. We will walk in via the crest of the Range, through Barnes Hill and another knoll. There are wonderful views to Gibraltar Peak and the Tidbinbilla Range. The descent to ‘Calvary’ is through open woodland and a little shrubbery. We will return on fire trail through the Miowera Pine Forest. With an early start we will be home for lunch. Around 12km and 300vm climb.

Summary

Walk 1: Calvary From Garmin Connect (recorded on Epix Gen 2) – Distance: 10.98km | Climb: 300vm | Time: 2:34 moving + 1:02 of stops = 3:36 | Grading: M/M; M(9).

Walk 2: William Farrer’s Grave From Garmin Connect (recorded on Epix Gen 2) – Distance: 1.88km | Climb: 40vm | Time: 0:27 moving + 0:11 of stops = 0:38 | Grading: S/E; E(5).

Photographs

View photographs here.

gpx file

Download the gpx file here.

Track Map

Here’s where we went.

Trip Report

I was asked to put on this trip last weekend. With arvo commitments, it had to be a quick in and out. I was last here on 20 Apr 24.

All I know about Calvary is here. If interested, have a good look through the ACT Heritage Council document.

11 of us motored out to the Travelling Stock Route (TSR) entrance to the area on Tidbinbilla Rd. There’s plenty of verge parking (be careful turning across on-coming traffic). Walking at 7.55am.

A cloudy day with a couple of spots of rain, but it cleared within an hour or so into a lovely blue-sky day. We walked in the fire trail for a bit, practising our gate crossing etiquette (climb over near the hinge – the gate doesn’t waggle as much and is not strained as much by your weight). Left the fire trail and climbed the southern spur of Barnes Hill.

Grand views, both to the next knoll for our hike and west to the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve and the Tidbinbilla Range.

Just past the second gate we visited a lovely quartz ridge, mere metres off the side of the fire trail.

A battle had played out, rock lost, tree temporarily won, fire prevailed.

Large areas of heath flowering, along with wattles.

Instead of cutting down to Calvary from the fire trail through the shrubbery (Kunzia?), the last time I was here we took a better line down by walking further along the fire trail to the start of the eucalypt woodland area. A very pleasant descent, not only through the nice trees, but a party member who had loaded my planned gpx file took the lead.

The division between treed area and shrub area was distinct.

Nearing the site, we crossed one of the feeder lines of Larrys Creek and arrived at a remnant fruit tree, just starting to flower. Apricot I believe.

We arrived at Calvary, had a look about and enjoyed smoko.

Pete found a nearby pile of stones. Grave? Well? There’s nothing in the doco.

Orchids on the way out.

We reached the fire trail in Miowera Pine Forest to return to the cars at 10.25am, so I knew there was time for a little surprise. I was dawdling, trying to make a phone call, so glad the other prepared navigator got us through the correct turns on the way out. Back to our cars at 11.30am.

I’d rung the property owner that contains William Farrer’s grave. No one in the party had previously visited the site, so a win all round. We got the nod to visit.

There’s an old stile over the fence beside Point Hut Road. A quick walk in to the special site.

I was last here on 9 Feb 24.

Shell pointed ouy heaps of Grape Hyacinths near the grave enclosure.

I think everyone had a great hike. Thanks for your company folks!

Party

11 walkers – Shell D, Peter E, Tam G, Heather McI, Karina J, Damien S, Lin S, Tilly T, Jenny T, Vhuong V, me.

AllTrails

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

Johnny Boy’s Walkabout Blog FaceBook Page

I’ve started up a FaceBook page. Each trip report posts to it. 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.

Additional Trip Reports

As I age, I’m doing a few more simple hikes. I don’t always produce a full trip report. If you’re interested, you can find details of them on the Completed Walks tab. There you can access the trip’s map segment, download a gpx file, see the distance, climb and grading, and link through to the photo album. Additional metrics are available by looking at the start waypoint on the map segment – moving time, stopped time, total time.

We got to the Gunning fireworks