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Published: August 7th 2007
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Mannum to Adelaide pipeline
This faded sign painted on the pipeline that we followed on the the second half of our walk. To view as a slideshow, select this image and select the slideshow feature. Introduction
This week the hikers headed for Anstey Hill - the closest hill to our home - for their dose of serenity. The park is a recreation park (so dogs allowed and bikes in places as well).
Although we have been before (see Anstey Hill), we thought we might try a different route to see what we could see.
[h3How to get there ...
Anstey hill is located at the end of Grand Junction Road. We entered from Range road at the top of the hill which we accessed via Lower North East Road. See the route maps for more detail about how to get there, and the walk itself.
What happened ...
We started our journey on Range Road by going over a fence style where we saw the first glimpse of the bountiful harvest that was to await us - two large field mushrooms. We took the track north until the power lines and then headed west along the clearing underneath power lines. After a while the path stopped, but we continued through the low scrub until we came to a very definitive north-west path. From here we turned in North and made our
Range road
About half a kilometre away from Lower North East Road intersection was a place to park. way back.
About half a kilometre away from Lower North East Road intersection was a place to park.
to the place where we started our walk the last time we visited. After passing a house (that was producing the lot of smoke from a wood fire) and cleaning our shoes, we turned west and headed down the wide path. After going through a gate, we turned left on to a dirt road and headed towards Newman's nursery.
The nursery is an amazing set of ruins with remnants of an intricate watering and irrigation system and there were also many more field mushrooms and we were able to fill up our bags. After a brief explore we headed down the track further down the gully seeing the creek flow, albeit choked with many different types of weeds. When we got to the area where the Mannum to Adelaide pipeline comes close to the track, we stopped and had our picnic lunch. From here we decided to follow the pipeline back to where our car was parked. This was the first serious climb and although steep, and it was relatively easy compared to last Sunday. As we climbed we could turn
Over the style
A fence style was right near where we parked. We headed north here until we got to the power lines and then we turned west and walked underneath them. to see lovely views of the gully, Adelaide Plains and St Vincent Gulf.
A fence style was right near where we parked. We headed north here until we got to the power lines and then we turned west and walked underneath them.
pipeline was a series of three tanks which were surrounded by high fences with razor wire. We passed this on the left-hand side and continue to follow the pipeline. As we climbed a further the pipeline went into another enclosed area with high electrified fences, razor wire and security cameras which was the Water Treatment Plant. We were able to walk around the plant on the right-hand side. Next we headed briefly out into Lower Northeast Road before re-entering the park on another little road that eventually went alongside the pipeline again. We followed this until the pipeline disappeared into a hill. From here we follwed a small but distinct path on the left-hand side to finish the climb to the top of the hill. Once we got back to where the two sets of power lines crossed, we knew that we were not far away from where our car was parked, and headed cross country to
Under the powerlines
We followed the powerlines down a short way without a path finish the walk.
With breaks, it took us over three hours to do this and would be suitable for children eight years or older.
The mushrooms were absolutely delicious although we will probably be eating them all week!
Dan says...
Hello Readers,
Well here is some news for you, Dad goes psycho over mushrooms (yes I mean the wild field mushrooms) and he had trillions of mushrooms to choose from. They reminded me of a few things that I knew about mushrooms from reading my Scientrific magazine. Such as, did you know that mushrooms are part plant and part animal? And mushrooms can reuse things (the stuff that you would expect only humans to do)?
Well, here is how it works. Know the gills that you see under mushrooms? Well, if you look carefully with a microscope (full power) you can see bacteria getting squashed by the gills and if you get up close and personal, you can see that all the goop inside is getting squeezed out. This is because mushrooms eat bacteria, but like us, it can't eat the bones (cell wall).
When food is scarce, but it is full of cell walls, mushrooms are still able to grow as they can sap another plant's energy. Now I think you are wondering, how can it sap other plant's energy when it grows on rotting wood. Plants do create their own sugar and even when the wood is rotten, it still has some sugar in it.
Remember when I said it was a reuser? Well, mushrooms reuse the cell wall as a container for it's spores. The spores are like seed - they hit the ground and crack open to let a new mushroom grow.
Anyway, Dad collected heaps of mushrooms and had a big mushroom cook off when we got home.
And now it is time for a joke...
Q: Why do toadstools always grow close together?
A: Because they don't need much-room
We hoped you enjoyed this blog entry. Please leave us a comment. If this activity wasn't the right one for you then remember you can visit our Complete index of our walks/activities by location to find other walks and things to do in SA.
Yours,
SA-Hikers (aka Diana Peter and Dan)
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Edward
non-member comment
Another great post
Another great post. I particularly like the picture of the pylon. A reminder of our ability to create electricity.