Friends

We’re moving shop/office to Pirie Street, Adelaide – some closure dates

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Shop/office location: Suite 203, Epworth Building, 33 Pirie St, Adelaide SA 5000We’re moving to:
Suite 203, 2nd Floor, Epworth Building
33 Pirie Street, Adelaide SA 5000

Our office will be closed this Friday 20th November. We will re-open for some business at our new premises on Monday 23rd November, and will be fully open on Tuesday 24th November (this is when our phone service will resume at the new premises). During this moving time the best way to contact us will be via email.

Apart from our address, all our other contact details remain the same.

Our new central location is in Pirie Street, adjacent to the Adelaide City Council offices.

Christmas Closure Dates

Our shop and office will also be closed over Christmas, from Friday 11th December. We will reopen on Tuesday 19th January 2016.

This Sunday 8th November – Morialta Centenary Picnic. 2 x Walks. Bid on Historic Images Auction

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Morialta Centenary Picnic Sunday 8th November. 2 x Walks. Bid on Historic Images AuctionJoin in the community events to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Morialta Conservation Park.

Free walks for the public to check out the Morialta Conservation Park.

  • 8:00am – 10:45am Friends of Heysen Trail guided walk into the higher areas of the park and back.
  • 9:00am – 10:45am Friends of Heysen Trail guided walk up around the top of First Falls, Second Falls and back.
  • Both walks are due back for the official program starting at 11am. 20 person limit to each walk.

11:00am Welcome to Country by Kaurna Elder Lewis O’Brien.

View all the day’s activities, including free face painting, slacklining, Bugs N Slugs, Violets, Ranger Talk.

Supported by us, the Friends of the Heysen Trail, Friends of Black Hill & Morialta and Natural Resources Adelaide and Mount Lofty.

Wednesday evening Twilight Walks begin this week

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With the warmer weather and daylight savings, our Wednesday evening walks have started.

Check out some of the upcoming walks below, or download the full program.

Walks commence at 6pm, and are 1.5 to 2 hours in duration. Cost is $5 per walk, MultiWalk cards accepted. Often an optional dinner afterwards.

Register online or via the office.

Taverna Brompton

6pm Wed 4th November

An urban experience in Bowden – Brompton, a heritage tour, an excuse to sharpen the appetites. There are lots of interesting things happening in this hidden corner of Adelaide.

View Walk

Anstey Hill – Tea Tree Gully

6pm Wed 11th November

A good walk up and down the hills face above Tea Tree Gully. Views across the suburbs. Historic ruins of Newmans Nursery (horseradish fame). Local scrub and quarries. Good walking with a couple of rough rocky sections – an eroded track. Optional after walk dinner at Thai restaurant.

View Walk

German Club Walk

6pm Wed 18th November

Eastern parklands walk before and after dinner, from Dulwich to Flinders Street, Adelaide, stopping at the German Club for dinner. Trio of sausages, Roast Pork hock, Kassler Steak, Jägerbraten with red cabbage, Beef Roulade, Hearty German fare on the menu, under $20 main meal, excellent German beer.

View Walk

Marino

6pm Wed 25th November

Enjoy panoramic coastal views along the sheer rugged cliff faces of the Marino boardwalk.

View Walk

Bushwalk.com eMag Featuring South Australia’s Best Walks

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Bushwalk.com eMag October edition cover - Best South Australian Walks featuring Friends of the Heysen Trail

The October edition of Bushwalk.com eMag is out – with a focus the best walks in South Australia. The articles include a profile on the Friends of the Heysen Trail.

Other SA articles include:

Other articles include:

View full eMag

Deep Creek Family Fun Day – 20 September 2015

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Deep Creek Family Fun Day - 20 September 2015Head to South Australia’s most scenic bushland reserve for a free family open day at Deep Creek Conservation Park.

  • Gourmet food and wine stalls
  • Enjoy kids’ face painting and games
  • Meet baby animals from the Native Animal Network
  • Meet animals including koalas from Urimbirra Wildlife Park
  • Learn about macro invertebrates with kids’ Water Watch activities

Drop in and say hi at our stall!

Read More

Lavender Federation Trail meets the Heysen Trail, extending to Clare

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Lavender Federation Trail meets the Heysen Trail, extending to Clare

The Lavender Federation Trail has been successful in gaining grant funding to extend the trail from its current trailhead at Eudunda onwards to Clare.

The 106km extension will be constructed over the next 18 months and will bring the trail to a total 320km length. The extension also includes an 8km Point Pass Loop Trail and a 7km Robertstown Spur Trail.

The trail extension will intersect the Heysen Trail at Webb Gab. A special event is in the planning for April 2016 to celebrate the crossing of the two long-distance trails. The event will be run between us, the Friends of the Heysen Trail, and SARTI (South Australian Recreation Trails Incorporated, the makers of the Lavender Federation Trail). The Lavender Federation Trail will also intersect with the Riesling Trail and Rattler Trails.

Kangaroo Island Long Weekend FoHT Trip, October

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Rocky River beach

Come hike Kangaroo Island with a fun-filled bus of hikers, over the October long weekend. Three walks in different areas of the island show off the varied scenery, flora and fauna of this special island.

Three days of hiking:

  • Rocky River Hike, stage 1 of 63km Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail. Following platypus pools on the Rocky River
  • Kelly Caves to Hanson Bay Hike, walking through coastal heath, woodlands, alongside freshwater lagoons, and over dunes to Hanson Bay
  • Murray Lagoon, see aquatic birdlife

Book via the website or office.

View Trip Detail

Welcoming our 1,000th Member

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Welcoming our 1,000th member, Rachel Faulkner, Friends of the Heysen TrailThe End-to-End 5 group caught up with the Friends’ 1,000th member, Rachel Faulkner, in Port Augusta earlier this month. Rachel lives in Whyalla and is a Trail Runner with her partner. Rachel explained that they joined the Friends as they enjoyed running the Heysen Trail. As the 1,000th member Rachel was presented Life Membership and a embroidered fleecy top by Julian Monfries, Secretary (and past President) of the Friends, representing the President.

Problems with NAB Payment System

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Payment processing affecting walk registrations involving payments, and online store payments

UPDATE: 9pm Thursday 4th June: login issues that commenced at 2pm today have now been resolved.

UPDATE: 3pm Thursday 4th June: There have been significant issues with our online payment system during May, until 2pm Thursday 4th June.

This was due to technical issues with the payment system provided by NAB. These issues affected 1,000s of Australian e-commerce websites.

Whilst we think these issues have now been resolved, we are monitoring the situation. We thank you for your patience when submitting payment processing details.

UPDATE 11:00am Wednesday 3rd June: payment processing is down. Please consider delaying making your registration until later this week, or contact our office to register for walks and make over-the-phone payment.

9:00am Tuesday 2nd June: We are experiencing significant difficulties with NAB payment processing. NAB has issued a public apology and is working hard to resolve their system failure.

Our e-commerce provider NAB has been experiencing ongoing issues. This has meant that customers have been experiencing difficulties submitting payments online. NAB recognises the impact this is having on customers and apologies for the inconvenience. NAB is working to resolve these ongoing issues as soon as possible.

View current status of NAB payment systems.

Negotiation for Re-route over Headland at Balquhidder Continue

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Billionaire Kerry Stokes' marathon land talks with SA enter sixth year

The State Government is still in negotiation to secure a re-route of the Heysen Trail across the spectacular headland at Balquhidder Station.

A story published in the Australian Financial Review on 15th April 2015:

Billionaire Kerry Stokes’ marathon land talks with SA enter sixth year

Marathon negotiations between billionaire Kerry Stokes and the South Australian government over a potential re-routing of a popular bushwalking trail through the $25 million Balquhidder Station pastoral property owned by the businessman are dragging into their sixth year, as talks also continue about a potential acquisition of adjacent clifftop land by Mr Stokes.

SA Environment Minister Ian Hunter says $1.1 million was allocated in the 2014-15 state budget for the Heysen Trail project on the Fleurieu Peninsula, south of Adelaide, but work hasn’t been able to start yet because the lengthy negotiations are still continuing. They first began in 2009.

Mr Stokes, who is the executive chairman of television and mining services group Seven Group Holdings which this week anointed his 38-year-old son Ryan Stokes as its next chief executive, bought Balquhidder Station in 2007 for close to $25 million through one of his private companies, Australian Capital Equity.

The SA government has been negotiating with the management of Mr Stokes’ private entities to gain public access to a spectacular clifftop coastal strip of the 3064-hectare property, and as part of the overall project there have also been lengthy talks over a proposal by Mr Stokes to buy a separate 31-hectare parcel of land which adjoins the property. That 31-hectare parcel at Tunkalilla Beach also has prime coastal views.

Mr Hunter told the SA Parliament last month that negotiations were still continuing, but the government was determined to press on with a “realignment” of the trail that would require the agreement of the private owners of Balquhidder Station, which runs large numbers of sheep and cattle.

“The ideal outcome would be to have the Heysen Trail continue along the spectacular clifftop landscapes down that part of the Fleurieu,” Mr Hunter said.

He said that section was one of the most spectacular parts of the region, with the Heysen Trail route currently moving back inland away from the coast around the Balquhidder Station land.

It is understood an agreement was close to being finalised just prior to the March 2014 SA election won by Premier Jay Weatherill. But then further complications set in, including changes in the people heading the negotiations.

The SA government had previously tried to negotiate with the former owners of Balquidder Station, the McGregor family, about gaining access to the coastal land to enable an extended 18-kilometre strip of the trail to proceed. The entire Heysen Trail runs for 1200 kilometres, starting near the Flinders Ranges in northern SA, but the most popular section is on the Fleurieu Peninsula closer to Adelaide.

The McGregor family had owned the pastoral property, which has more than nine kilometres of coastal frontage and spectacular views across the ocean to Kangaroo Island, for more than 50 years.