Balcombe Estuary Nature Park Trail, 13th April 2014

We've had a miserable week weather wise in Melbourne, so with Sunday dawning fine and clear Sam and I decide to go for a walk close to home. We decided to head to 'The Briars'  and walk along Balcombe Creek to Mt Martha were we could grab lunch before retracing our steps back to the car.

Leaving the car at 'The Briars'.

The start of the track.

There's always plenty of parking at 'The Briars' and I soon had my boots on and we were on our way. The track follows the creek and then the estuary all the way into Mt Martha, about 3.5 kilometres away. Its a beautiful easy walk on board walk for a large percentage of the distance. Initially the creek has a couple of tiny cascades before it meets the salt water. The early sections also had plenty of plant life in the creek.

The track going under the Nepean Highway.

Crossing under the Nepean Highway we kept close to the creek, there's a couple of side tracks that aren't signposted but it would be impossible to get lost, just stay close to the creek and head towards Port Phillip Bay. Not long after going under the highway we crossed to the north side of the creek and followed an old fire trail for a few hundred metres, before crossing back to the south side and continuing on the board walk.

Plenty of board walk on this walk.

The upper reaches of Balcombe Estuary.

Its around here that the estuary starts and the flowing water is replaced by still.The track tunnels through the paper barks and there are plenty of place to stop and check estuary for birds, we continued on, arriving at Mt Martha less than an hour after we started. The most important decision of the walk now presented itself, which cafe for lunch! We chose a cafe called 'The Milkbar', very nice. As seems to be a developing trend on my walks we spent a relaxing hour and a half eating, drinking and reading the paper (I thought this blog was called Goin' Feral, might have to rename it Goin' Lattè!).

Lunch was as usual was a long and relaxing affair.

Mt Martha boat sheds.

It was a beautiful day to be on the bay.

After lunch we walked over to the beach, checking out the boat sheds and the yachts on the bay. It was then time to retrace our journey. The notable excitement on the walk back was a tiny snake sun bathing on the board walk, I'm not sure what type it was as I was more concerned with where its mum was.

Balcombe Estuary opens into Port Phillip Bay.

Well at least the middle bit is in focus.

The Dirt
We did 8.9 kilometres by the time we checked out the shopping strip and the beach. Apparently we climbed 84 metres.
The walk is very easy with a lot of walking on a raised board walk.
We used the notes from Walks of the Mornington Peninsula by Ken Martin, he doesn't appear to have a web site so I can't post a link. It is walk number 5 in his book.
The walking track and the surrounding area is maintained by the Balcombe Estuary Rehabilitation Group a volunteer group and they do a great job.

Balcombe Creek.

No blogs for awhile now as I'm off to Queensland to do some walking.

I thought I was back in Corsica!

I've worked out how to post goggle maps, they're pretty useless to use on the actual walks, but at least they give an overview of the area I'm in. If possible I'll mark the start point on the map.