Another day stolen from winter. And it was a grand one with lots of sun and no wind. The 12 punters drove in 3 vehicles to the road-end at the lakeside carpark. The only excitement was Kath's Subaru wagon having a boil-up due to a loose radiator cap. We refilled it with water of dubious quality from multiple water bottles and away she went with no apparent damage.
The air was cool but no frost as we packed up for our first walk on the nearby Braeburn track. This is a lovely loop track through lowland beech forest with a trail heading up/back to a fine waterfall. We were back to the vehicles in 1.5 hours and took our lunch at the picnic table out on the jetty. Calm with magnificent views down the lake to Mt Travers and some snow on the range.
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After a leisurely lunch we packed up again and headed the opposite direction to the Porika track. This 4WD road heads steeply up the ridge mainly under the power lines it is there for service. The fit group got up to the sort of plateau before it heads on down towards the Howard Valley and State Hgwy 65. They turned around there for the decent back to the Lake while the rest of us did the same but from lower down the road by a few bends. Nothing startling about this walk except it is a good leg/lung stretch and there are some elevated views of the beautiful lake.
Back down in the valley, Pat was the only one to avail himself of the Nature Walk (1km) that took him back to the vehicles by a slightly more scenic route route. There was a sign at the start of the old, long lakeside track to Sabine Hut which states it is permanently closed due to severe windfall (the first of many of our tracks that will share that fate under the new regime).
All in all, a very pleasant day out with about 14km walked and 500m vertical up/down (5-6 hrs not including the drive).
Leader: Pat. Holland; Members: Kath, Alison, Tony, Maaike, Graeme, Rich, Era; Visitors: Kathryn, Ly, Felly, Mike