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Published: August 24th 2006
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Wildflowers with a view
Black Hill, a park which offers great views of the Adelaide plains, is full of wildflowers at the moment. To view images as a slide show select Full Image and then use Next> to scroll through. Introduction
Our walk this weekend was a delightful one - a 3 1/2 hour walk in the Black Hill Conservation park.
This is our third visit to Black Hill. In October 2005 we did a 2 hour walk
Black Hill based on George Driscoll's recommendation in his book, 50 real bushwalks around Adelaide (see
Black Hill entry); and the summer before we did a 4.5 hour walk (not blogged) from the '20 Nature walks in Mount Lofty Ranges' book. This time, we made up our own walk. It was moderately difficult - none of the climbs were too steep, but there are quite a few of them. Dan handled it reasonably well, while I remember him complaining a lot on our other Black Hill walks, but that could also be because he is just that bit bigger at 9 years of age.
Maps and information about Black Hill is available at the
Parks-SA web site but although the maps look good on the computer screen, I have had trouble printing them (I had to do a screen grab (Prt Scr) and paste in word to be able to print it). It is also mentioned in the new
Walking SA web site.
What happened ...
Our walk map
This map, from parks-sa, shows our walk from Everest Ave, the Tetragona trail, Summit Nature trail to the Black Hill track, reverse, then right on the Ghost tree summit link and then the Ghost tree gully trail to finish. It was a glorious day that was very clear - we could even see across the Spencer gulf and make out the
Southern Hummock ranges on Yorke Peninsula. There were plenty of birds in the lower regions, mostly parrots and kookaburras. As we climbed higher the din of bird song was replaced with the rustle of hundreds of lizards who were using the opportunity of a sunny day to warm up a bit.
We had only intended a short walk through the Ghost tree gully, but as one of the signs pointed us in the wrong direction, we ended up going up the Summit Nature trail, which was just gorgeous, filled with so many different types of wildflowers and of course the lizards. We didn't actually go to the summit on this walk as the last time we went the trees were growing so well that there wasn't a good view, but when we got to the turn off, we found a nice log to have our picnic.
Our return journey was through the Ghost tree gully which was a completely different ecosystem to the rocky peaks. Tall ghost gums lined a deeply eroded water course in the wind-protected gully. The flowers were
Park entrance at Gate 5
Dan getting a head start on the Ghost tree gully trail replaced with meadow-like grass - perhaps the land had been grazed at one time - but you could easily imagine the setting being one for a fairy or pixie story.
Dan says ...
Hello readers!
Did you like my idea of symbiotic radioactive clones constructing the rocky staicase?
This was one of the best walks I have been on - the 3 1/2 hours went quick as it was pretty easy. The climbing may be a bit hard, but there were great rewards, such as the wildflower gardens and the lizards that you can find during the day. The Ghost tree gully had some trees with mouths on them that did look pretty ghost-like.
Do you want to know how to find lizards? I thought so. It was really easy at Black Hill cos there were hundreds of them and different types too - skinks, geckoes, dragons.
Well here is how it works.
- The best terrain for lizards is rocky and bushy areas where they can get some sunshine and they can hide from predators as well.
- If you want to be the one who spots the lizards, you need to be in front of your parents/carer on the walking path.
- First you use your eyes to spot the lizards on the path ahead of you and see them dart for cover into the bushes.
- Then you use your ears - by following the rustling sound that they make as they run for cover, you can often find them again under a bush or in a hollowed-out rock and get a good look at them.
Some of them were very keen to be stars and sat very still for Mum to photograph - I suppose there are not that many opportunities for lizards on Black Hill to make the big time and get on the internet!
Now, for this week's joke ...
Q: What is a rabbit's idea of a balanced diet?
A: Two carrots
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Tiny Schlegel
non-member comment
What time of year was this.
I love black hill pictures and like to find out what time of year did you go for that walk. Well done. Regards Tiny