Enoggera Dam- place of water, place of breeze

One of the reasons I like living here is the proximity of SO MUCH beautiful countryside around me. No need for massive plans, trains, boats and planes - just a short car ride and we are in the most magical areas not that far from the city. I am going to tell you about two of them, maybe three, could be more, you see what I mean, spoilt for choice.

Just up the road along Waterworks Road which is the big main road not far from us is a place called Enoggera Dam. The history of the dam and the name Waterworks all make perfect sense now - so here is a potted history.The name is thought to be Aboriginal "Euoggera" and means "place of water", "place of breeze".It was the second major dam built in Australia and it was needed as the existing water dams in the city had grown inadequate. Enoggera was chosen as it was a larger catchment and there were lots of creeks flowing into it from the higher hills of the D'Aguilar Forest. Permission was given to build it in 1864 and the Board of Waterworks was established to oversee its progress.It was completed in 1866 and functioned until it was decommissioned in 2003 but then came back into use in 2006 and supplies the north western suburbs with water and continues to be used to this day. Nowadays people can stroll around its edge and enjoy the scenery, the birds and the wildlife. It is heritage listed. 

 Wallaby in the park

 There were many beautiful ducks and moorhens and we saw Kingfishers and bee eaters as well.

While lantana is without doubt a terrible weed and incredibly invasive there were vast tracks just covered with the most vibrant lantana flowers which for all their badness are just beautiful.