Mount Ommaney

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STARTING at first light at Riverhills, I followed a few roads as close as I can along the Brisbane River heading downstream until reaching Barcoorah Street Park, the first of several joined forested parks above the river. Reaching the start of the track at around sunrise under overcast sky, I follow it above the river with several good viewpoints to the forest on the other side, and seeing the erosion from last year's flooding.

The track continued above the flood line with several gullies bridged for nearly an hour before the parks end and I followed a couple of roads through the very nice suburb of Westlake running between the river and a small lake. After another half an hour the road descends crossing Mount Ommaney Creek from where I follow a side street a short distance to the start of the Mount Ommaney Walkway. The mountain is just a small hill as they are around here, but this entire side of the hill is steep forest park which the track negotiates its way through.

I followed the well formed track and boardwalks through the path. Initially there was a fence to the left protecting the forest downhill from deer which apparently graze the hill. The trees to the right were covered in colourful socks to protect them from the deer. The track undulated around the hill above the river for a good half an hour with frequent views to the other side before descending to an old quarry which had been long abandoned.

I rested at the quarry looking across the river to a couple of large properties in the forest, the scattered houses a good twenty metres above the river and a couple with stairs heading into the river to small jetties, one of which was still damaged following the floods from earlier this year.

From the quarry, the track rose moderately to a boardwalk ascending through the forest until reaching Mount Ommaney Drive, winding its way through the very nice suburbia before descending to Jindalee Park. From there I followed a couple of tracks (with one detour around Jindalee due to a bridge being out from flood damage). Once around the detour, I followed the new path continuing through parkland beside the river for another two kilometres before reaching Seventeen Mile Rocks Wharf, which has closed and been fenced off since I was last here two years ago.

Here I explored what was left of the cement works which mixed coral with other minerals to create concrete. Several pieces of machinery and a few conveyor systems were still in place here with the park landscaped around them. After resting here for lunch, I followed the moderately steep track up to Gordon Circuit and followed several roads through mixed acreage and suburbia land until reaching Oxley Station from where I took the train home.