Granite Tor bush walk

I always try and do something fun for my birthday and with this year being my 50th (blimey!) I decided to head to Granite Tors in nearby Ororral Valley.

It was about an hour's drive from home, but Canberra is so fortunate to be situated in such beautiful countryside with a large National Park just to our south.

The Ororal Valley used to be used to be home of a large space tracking station built in the mid-60's. It's use continued throughout the 80's and was probably used as part of the American's Star Wars, Space Defence Initiative used to track harmless satellites around the universe.

It provided communication to many of the Space Shuttle missions up until its closure in 1985.

Considering it used to be the largest tracking station outside of the US, it's peculiar that all of the buildings were bulldozed in the early 90s. All that remains are a few concrete slabs and European trees from the once immaculately landscaped gardens.

How it looked during the height of the cold war  period where important scientific research was going on

The walk was a fairly short 9km and it was a beautiful warm day with a slight breeze that made walking pretty easy. I set off from the car park and walked across the plains, being observed by a few inquisitive kangaroos who lazily lifted their heads from the comfort of their shady resting spot beneath the gum trees.

When I reached the path proper I found that it was actually pretty hard work. The path itself isn't all that steep (although it is in places) but it's more that it's a constant uphill. The road was an access road to the geodectic observatory at the top, so you could imagine military scientific vehicles chugging their way up the road/path.

I met some Americans half way up (they were on their way down) so we chatted for a while which broke the walk up a bit. When you finally reach the top (it probably took me just over an hour) the observatory and the surrounding views are well worth it.

You can actually go inside the observatory (looking at the bushwalker book you sign at the beginning of the walk it looks like only one or two people ascend the hill every day so I think it's a bit immune to vandalism). There are plans to open up the top storey as well which would be really fantastic if they do.

The geodectic observatory had apparently been used to measure the rotation and movement of the moon. When the Americans allegedly landed on the moon they placed large mirrors on the surface and the observatory fired lasers and tracked the results. Latterly it was also used to track military satellites.

Coming down was a bit trickier than going up. The steepness meant that you almost ran some sections. I got home in time to collect the kids from school. It was a fun walk and it was a great way to spend my birthday.

felt a lot steeper than it looks

I knew I shouldn't have licked it