Sunday 17 September 2023, 9am and 11am to 12.30pm
Grade:
Ventemans Reach track is part bush track with a few rocks and tree roots to negotiate and part boardwalk.
Lovetts Reserve track is all bush track with rough ground, uneven and steep rock steps and tree roots requiring a high degree of sure footedness to negotiate.
Schedule:
At 9 am there are two walks starting in Blackman Park at the same time but going in opposite directions. A 1.5 hour return walk through Ventemans Reach and a 1.5 hour circle walk through Lovetts Reserve. They both return to the starting point in Blackman Park.
At 11am the same walks will be repeated to enable those who walked in one reserve at 9am to walk in the other reserve at 11am.
Our expert guides will lead you on a discovery of two very different ecological environments, explaining the history of the area and identifying the native plants and plant communities along the way.
Ventemans Reach (return walk back to Blackman Park)
The walk commences on a bush track through a great variety of vegetation. Above the track, amongst sandstone outcrops, Angophora costata, Banksia serrata, Grevillea sericea and linearifolia, Kunzea ambigua and many more. Continue on a boardwalk to Ventemans Reach, the most expansive and diverse wetland community in Lane Cove, with views over sedge marshes through Melaleucas, Casuarina and Mangroves to Lane Cove River.
Lovetts Reserve (circle walk back to Blackman Park)
This rocky track traverses the hill to the South of Blackman Park, offering expansive views over Lane Cove River. It passes through beautiful sandstone vegetation including Angophora costata and Xanthorrhoea. In the mid and under storey you will see various Acacias, Persoonia pinifolia and Crowea flowering abundantly. The track then hugs a high, mossy cliff with sundews (Drosera sp.) and Epacris longiflora between the ferns. At The Boreen, the site of an old cottage above the river, walk back a short distance and exit via Myee Crescent, then down through the bush to Blackman Park.
Note: We encourage you to book for both walks (1 at 9am and 1 at 11am) so you can appreciate the difference between the riverside vegetation (Ventemans Reach) and the dryer hillside vegetation (Lovetts Reserve). Each walk will return to Blackman Park where there are toilets and picnic facilities. There will be a short break for a quick snack and chat between returning from the 9am walk and commencing the 11am walk.
