WAITE – YURREBILLA TRAIL

Return : 2 hours 20 minutes, 7 km
YURREBILLA


Time to revisit the Waite Conservation Reserve and explore the Yurrebilla Trail which runs through (and beyond!) it.

•1    We start at the end of Hartley Grove again, first checking out historic Claremont House.

•2  Instead of heading up the hill, we take the more horizontal Easement Track which heads south along the border of the Reserve.

•3  At Station 12 on the Waite map there is a sample of a Grey Box gum – rather different from the standard eucalypt.

•4  We follow round the bottom area of the Park and find this Yurrebilla Track sign.  The track is easy to follow.

•5  The climb starts, but fairly gently.  The wooded grassland scenery is pleasant, and this is a more natural walking trail than some, which I enjoy.

•6  There are views out to the Plains, but nothing very clear today.

•7  The Trail winds around just below the Spur Lookout (see The Waite Circuit).  The occasional seat is a comfort for those who care to stop!

•8  This is the only Yurrebilla sign that we see on this walk.  Why do idiots vandalize attractive signs?  (or unattractive ones?)  This tells of a stand of grey box here.  I think the trees are not endangered, but there are few stands of them.

•9  Now we reach the Park boundary, and enter private property. It hs taken me an hour to get to this point.  I'm wary of private property with electric fences, but this gate indicates that the walk is OK.  The next stretch is 3 km return, and goes to the old Mount Barker Road.  We enter and follow the track left.

•10  I find the walk along this ridge completely exhilarating.  Views down both sides, and along the ridge.  I feel like an early  explorer discovering this country for the first time.  Mount Lofty is up ahead (somewhere!). [Click on this photo for a larger view; resize the window to enlarge.]

•11  Wonderful farming land.  Somehow I didn’t imagine this being here, just above the Freeway.

•12  Looking back.  We do have to retrace this path!

•13  The track avoids a large gum.  Old Mount Barker Road can be seen straight ahead in the distance.

•14  And here we are: this is where the track emerges.  If we were starting here, it would be hard to tell it is the right place.  No signs that I can see.  A funny old toll booth? shed?

•15  Why do farms get cluttered up with broken down ‘stuff’?  Quite picturesque though.

•16  There is a distant view of the Freeway where the Mount Osmond overpass crosses it.

•17  And here is a special find along the way ...

•18  As I return the sun is getting lower in the sky, and the lighting changes noticeably.

•19  After reaching the gate leaving the Reserve, it takes me another hour to return to it. Now back inside the Waite Reserve, some welcoming fungi.

•20  Also the return of the Waite informative signs.  I would like to say I saw one of these fellahs, but it would be a lie!

•21  No shortage of the beautiful lorikeets though.

So back to the car, descending the trail to Hartley Grove.  Rather slippery after recent rains.

I enjoyed this walk.  There appear to be even more tracks in the Waite Reserve, particularly in the eastern 'panhandle'.  Perhaps there will be another outing here ... .
YURREBILLA