The Conservation Council ACT Region will be leading Canberrans along the ACT/NSW border, in a series of walks to be held throughout November.
Celebrating one year since the Council’s 306km fundraising walk around the ACT border, the walks will explore the history and environment of parts of the boundary with NSW.
The 2017 walk saw 50 participants get involved, with 21 daily stages crossing through the varying range of ecosystems that make up the ACT border.
Rod Griffiths, president of the Conservation Council ACT Region, completed all 21 of the daily stages in 2017, and says the experience was “absolutely fabulous”, because he travelled through so many ecosystems including the “beginning of the Cotter”.
“The other fantastic thing was the number of people that actually joined me along the way; we had over 50 participant walkers and many of those did longer sections … It was really nice,” Mr Griffiths says.
When asked about his favourite section of the walk, he says he just can’t choose.
“It’s a bit like asking ‘what’s your favourite book?’ – there are so many highlights. I gave a talk last week about the walk and I really struggled to get it down to less than 50 minutes.
“We’re just starting to enter the planning for a walk in 2019 around the border, again a fundraising walk [for the Council’s work], but we’ll do it in the opposite direction.”
He says there are so many different things to see around the ACT, from “some of the best woodlands in Australia” on the northern border, rich history on the eastern side and the “wildness and incredible beauty” of the southern and western areas of the ACT.
Mr Griffiths says this year’s walks are designed to show Canberrans some of the different ecosystems and environments right in their backyard.
“These routes have been chosen because of accessibility and points of interest,” he says.
“Each one has a certain, differing style to them. [The walk on] Sunday the 4th has lots of history involved with it … [The Mulligans Flat walk] takes in the wonderful, grassy woodland ecosystems we have in the ACT.”
Mr Griffiths says the Council is “really keen” to get as many people as possible to participate in the walks and take the opportunity to explore the wonderful ecosystems in Canberra.
Walks will be held on each Sunday in November. For more information, find the Conservation Council ACT Region [@conservationcouncilact] or Walk the Border ACT [@walktheborderact] on Facebook.
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