17 January 2004 Shepherds Lookout Photos
Maps: Umburra 8627-1S Second Edition 1:25000
Getting There

This walk was organised by the Family Bushwalkers Incorporated club and I attended as a guest.  11 of us walked.  We met at Cooleman Court and drove via Uriarra Road to Uriarra Crossing.  Takes about 20 minutes.  We parked on the eastern side of the crossing.

Walk

After many, many years I decided to take up bushwalking again.  I'd researched the local walking clubs via the internet and planned to join a walk on 18 January 2003.  That didn't happed (the day of the Canberra firestorm) and so, just on a year later our household had recovered enough for me to find some spare time.  Being an introvert's introvert, I screwed up my courage and went to the meeting place.  I must say I was warmly welcomed and enjoyed my first club bushwalk.

Leaving the cars, we walked back up Uriarra Road about 1km, then headed east across the paddock down a fence line to cross the Molonglo River.  Then up the side of the overflow dam of the Lower Molonglo Water Quality Control Centre and up to Shepherds Lookout.  It was a hot day and, of course, the area had been burnt out the year before, so it all looked a bit dry and sad.

However, there was a lovely view of a part of the Murrumbidgee River that I'd not seen before.

We retraced our path across the Molonglo, then headed across the fields to the road down to Camp Sturt.  The Camp, where I'd spent a fine father and son camp and led other youth camps, was no more.  But the fire could not take the swimming holes away and most of the group enjoyed a relaxing swim after a leisurely lunch.

We then followed the southern bank of the river back round to the cars.

Distance: 8km  Time: 10am-2pm, with 1 hour 30 minutes of stops.

1 Crossing the Molonglo River 2 Murrumbidgee River flowing North from Shepherds Lookout 3 Confluence Molonglo and Murrumbidgee Rivers

Home