Woorabinda Bushland Reserves

Five minutes' walk from the cafes of Stirling, the road noise falls away and you are in a valley of stringybarks circling a reed-fringed lake. The Woorabinda Bushland Reserves knit together four pockets of bush — Stirling Park, Woorabinda, Hender Reserve and Madurta Reserve — into 34 hectares of trails, and they remain one of the best-kept local secrets in the central Hills.

Woorabinda Lake is the centrepiece, and it has a curious history: it was built in 1922 by the South Australian Railways to supply water to Aldgate Station for the heavier class of steam locomotives then being introduced on the steep Hills line. Today a path circles the water past boardwalks, picnic benches and a bird hide, and ducks, swamphens and the occasional koala supply the entertainment. A longer circuit of around five kilometres links all four reserves for a proper leg-stretch.

It is the ideal counterweight to a Stirling morning — browse the village and its galleries, walk the lake loop, then claim a table at The Stirling Hotel feeling thoroughly deserving. Entrances with parking are on Ethel Street and Branch Road.