Johnny Boy's Walkabout Blog

SNAKE BITE INFORMATION

Allan’s excellent treatment of snakes and snake bites is here.

Video excerpt of compression bandaging here, or below.

Saturday 1 October 2022: Mt Ainslie and Mt Pleasant NRs * – M/E. In Canberra for the long weekend? Want a short walk and some downtime? Visit the two quarry sites on Mt Ainslie, the summit beacon and lookout, and the labyrinth. Return via the western flank, taking in the aboriginal war memorial. Cross Fairburn Avenue and use greenways to enter into and exit from the Mt Pleasant lookout with its cannons. Pop down to visit the Duntroon dairy. Around 13km and 400vm climb.
Canberra Nature Park – a breath of fresh air for busy walkers. There are 39 Nature Reserves in the Canberra Nature Park. How many can we walk in? These are numbers 28 and 29.

Summary

From Garmin Connect – Distance: 14.86km | Climb: 601m | Time: 3:34 moving + 1:20 of stops = 4:54 | Grading: M/E-M,ptX; M(10)

Photographs are available here.

gpx File

The gpx file is available here.

Track Notes

I was last on Mt Ainslie on 22 Mar 22 and Mt Pleasant and the Duntroon Dairy on 30 Jul 20. 

One of the benefits of walking with a Club is the wealth of information available through members’ knowledge and experiences. Today we had an excellent talk at smoko on snakes and a demonstration of compression bandage application. Thank you Allan!

There’s always something interesting to see in Canberra’s open spaces, as well as the opportunity to get out and breathe a bit of fresh air and to revel in our unique flora and fauna. Today was no exception, the visited places including two disused quarries, views over central Canberra from the Mt Ainslie summit, walking on bits of the Canberra Centenary Trail, a labyrinth, quiet reflection at the aboriginal war memorial, the cannons of the Mt Pleasant Lookout and the Duntroon Dairy (built around 1832 and believed to be the oldest standing building in the ACT).

It was a bit like “10 Green Bottles Hanging on the Wall …” today. 18 walkers booked, 4 cancelled, 1 no show. The walk leader had to count to 13 at the start. 2 pulled out at Mt Ainslie. 1 finished as we passed near the start, heading for Mt Pleasant NR. At last, could count the party on my fingers.

We met at the informal car park on the left, at the bottom of Mt Ainslie Drive. Fire trails generally NW to the bottom quarry. A fine painting of a kangaroo in a diver’s helmet up the top of the wall.

Then generally N-ish up via the old benched tramway to the main quarry.

A puff, for me, up the steep footpad to meet Mt Ainslie Drive near the top. We had a quick look from the beacon, then down to the main lookout area.

Next, along a bit of the Canberra Centenary Trail to the labyrinth. Lam was the only one to have a go at it.

For some reason I wanted to visit the old Ainslie tip site. Been up the tarred road to it before, but not from this side.

SW under the power lines for a bit, then a climb back up part of the NW flank of Mt Ainslie. We found a spot for smoko and Allan kindly shared some of his knowledge of snake characteristics and actions. See his truly excellent material here. In addition, we had a demo of compression bandage application.

Some snippets of information: “More likely to drown in your bathtub than be bitten by a snake”, “if you’re bitten on the butt, sit down, keep calm and wait for a PLB/SOS response”.

A fire trail bash S and a quick and quiet visit to the Aboriginal Memorial.

SE, then under Fairbairn Avenue and via a Campbell greenway into the Mt Pleasant NR. We took our life in our hands to cross Northcott Drive, then up to the lookout on the top.

A B-line down to visit the Duntroon Dairy.

Returned via a S through W to N fire trail arc on the flank of Mt Pleasant and another Campbell greenway. All safely across Northcott Drive again and Fairbairn Avenue.

Thanks folks. Canberra Nature Park Nature Reserves #28 and #29 of 39 ticked off. ¾ of them done.

Track Map

Here’s where we went.

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

Party

13 walkers. Helen B, Peter B, Malcolm B, Elizabeth C, Allan D, Charles J, John K, Lam S, Sandra T, Katherine T, Ana V, Robert W, me.