Church Rock Walk

We joined up with the Walters/Jones and McCrae/Allison families for some public holiday fun at Tidbinbilla. While Belinda and Alison ran up to Gibraltar rocks for their long run, the children enjoyed the excitement of the adventure playground.

After the girls returned it was time for the boys to depart meeting up with a few other orienteers for their epic which started from Corin Dam ascending Stockyard Spur, then Mt Gingera followed by Mt Ginini (see Andy's attackpoint for more details).

So we had the whole afternoon to entertain ourselves....Belinda and the girls had another commitment for the afternoon, which left Al and myself to cook up a few sausages for a picnic lunch before embarking on another adventure.

Having been to Tidbinbilla on several occasions, we decided against going to the pelican feed and watching a sleepy koala and opted for a 2.5km easy walk! Church Rock walk began at Flints (named after Sid and Annie Flint) where a big mob of kangaroos hang out. We thought the walk would mostly be around the flatter paddock like areas and thus bike friendly...little did we know!

This area has a strong european history pioneering history from the late 1800's. Several families resided in Rock Valley and reading a few of the information signs within the first few hundred metres of our walk, it sounded like a tough life. The closest town was Queanbeyan, a 3 day round trip assuming the conditions were good and the Murrumbidgee river wasn't too high. Thankfully for us, these signs were a slight distraction from the uphill grassy slope our children were trying to ride up!

Ella was out in front only to have her first experience of a swooping magpie. In her panicked state she decided to throw her helmet at it! Once regrouping with us, the magpie seemed to lose interest. However no too soon after this, Mira was running out of energy fast, Ella found it difficult to pedal her bike uphill while Max and Katy kept plodding along. Incentive of tiny teddies seemed to perk the kids up slightly.

Luckily just around the corner of the now very steep hill (everyone was pushing their bikes), we found a perfectly positioned seat overlooking the valley. Energy levels once again boosted after consuming the teddies and with our encouragement about being nearly at the top we pushed on.

The track dipped for about 100m before climbing again! Mira was a little over 'riding her bike' (don't blame her really) so she enjoyed a shoulder ride with me while the others continued upwards. Finally we emerged at the top!! I'm sure Al was thinking the same as me - great should be nice (hopefully not too steep) ride downhill all the way back.



From here the track disappeared into a forested section and initially looked lovely. The track narrowed and began winding it's way through the forest before the first (of many) steps appeared and so the bike carrying began!! It was a lovely area with huge boulders next to the track. And then around one of the corners was Church Rock. Opportunity for another photo and information board reading. Known as Church Rock due to it's large spire-like shape, this rock had religious significance to the community as apparently masses and Sunday school sessions were taught up here.

Once leaving Church Rock, Mira was determined to ride her bike down the steps and did so with Al watching over her. Eventually we emerged at the top of the kangaroo paddock with a small downhill, over the dam wall, past the many kangaroos to the car.

The loop took us about 2 hours and was quite enjoyable but definitely not bike friendly. As a reward for their efforts we all enjoyed an ice cream at the visitors centre before driving home.