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| Looking out my lounge room window over the fog covered Wannakladdin Wetlands first thing this morning. |
If there is anyone out there in blogger land who actually reads my waffle then they may have picked up that to keep a bit of pork off I ride my mountain bike to work most days. Now that normally entails a ride of just under 30 kilometres each day, with the good news being that it's almost completely on a bike track, even if it is a bit of a goat track in spots. Recently I was tootling home from work one afternoon with the soothing tunes of Sepultura bringing me down after another rich and rewarding day. Turning a corner a small cardboard sign caught my eye, doubling back to check it out I discovered that my path was going to be closed for a little while, while some remedial works were being carried out, yep my track was going to be closed from May to October! Fuck me, when they re-open it I hope it's paved with gold. Anyway there was some good news, the parks people had supplied a map that showed the possibility of a bypass for the closed section, the bad news is they suggested that if you did try and use the bypass route through an industrial estate then you will probably die - crushed under the wheels of a B double, so it's all good then. Your intrepid Feral commuter isn't deterred by minor technicalities though and I've been merrily dodging B doubles for the last month, you can't hear them coming when your listening to Rammstein anyway. So having been preparing for a bit of bike related carnage for awhile then, last week it happened. Thankfully I wasn't crushed under a 34 wheeled B double, no instead I stacked riding past a tree. Yep, my handlebar snagged a branch and at 5am on a frigid Melbourne winter morning I was suddenly concrete bound, with my feet clipped in there was nothing to break my fall, well except for my handlebar trying to pass through my thigh. Thankfully I was barely moving at the time and embarrassment was probably my biggest concern, luckily there aren't a lot of other punters around at 5am. Picking myself and my bike up I was relieved to see everything was pointing in the direction that it should be and I resumed my journey, happy to get to work and lick my wounds.
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| The end result of my commuting mishap. |
So what's all that got to do with today's walk, well not much really except for the fact that I was lacking a little mojo when I woke up this Saturday. Staggering down stairs I looked out my lounge room window at the fog covered wetlands and decided that this week I was going to do a walk close to home. How close? Well I walked out my back gate and I was on the walk. Luckily for me Mr Chapman has actually written up some notes just to cater for me with his Mordialloc & Carrum walk passing by my house (actually Mr Thomas has also written up notes for another walk that passes within 100 metres of my front door). Wannakladdin Wetlands are part of the old Carrum-Carrum Swamp that once ran up and down parallel to Port Phillip Bay from around Mordialloc down to Frankston, the swamp was largely drained in 1879 by the construction of the Patterson River. Now days a lot of the old swamp is covered by houses but there are some reminders of what things use to be like in the form of the Edithvale Wetlands and Wannakladdin Wetlands.
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Today's walk initially follows a series of these wetlands up to Mordialloc.
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By the time I set off this morning the fog had more or less lifted and I was walking under perfect blue skies. After walking down the Patterson River for 100 metres I turned north towards Mordialloc along Long Beach Trail. To be honest this first section along the alignment of the Edithvale Wetlands is a little bit boring, sure there are a couple of lookouts over the wetlands but there are also long straight sections along the shared path, which needed all my Feral imagination to find much of interest to take photos of. Scenically things improved a bit when I got close to Mordialloc though and my route started to track along beside the Mordialloc Creek, this tidal creek is quite picturesque, especially in the weak winters sun.
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The lorikeet's were out and about tucking into the flowering gums, you'd almost think it was spring time.
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Things were still on the chilly side first thing this morning.
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Edithvale Wetlands
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I was struggling a little to get interesting photos on the Long Beach Trail section of my stroll.
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| Once I arrived at Mordialloc Creek the scenery improved a little. |
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After refuelling in Mordialloc I shouldered my pack again and headed south, first crossing Mordialloc Creek before swinging down an almost hidden boardwalk besides the Bridge Hotel (quite a nice spot to sit on the deck and have a feed incidentally). After trying to get a half decent photo of the boats moored in Mordialloc Creek I headed to the beach. Once on the sand all I had to do was head south and keep walking until I reached the mouth of the Patterson River a few hours away. Now I may be a little disorganised but I did check the tides before I left home, you don't want to be walking this beach on a high tide. Consequently I wasn't surprised to find plenty of firm sand to walk on as I made my way south. On my journey south I amused myself trying to get a decent photo of one of the many boat sheds along this section of coast, but I was having a bit of trouble with all the little boat sheds seemingly backed up by ugly houses on the fore shore.
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Mordialloc Creek provides a safe harbour for a colourful array of boats.
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I've just arrived onto the shore of Port Phillip Bay, I now had an eight kilometres amble down the sand.
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| There are plenty of nice beach sheds along this stretch of the bay, but they are inevitably framed by fairly ugly houses. |
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Passing by the Chelsea Life Saving Club I came across a sight that is just wrong. I've made jokes before in relation to climate change and how we'll be able to sunbath in St Kilda in winter, well today I saw the real thing. Wandering along the beach I came across two couples lying on their towels in their bathers getting some rays, hmmm, so there you have it people are already sunbathing in Melbourne in the middle of winter. Not long after my encounter with the sun worshippers I arrived at the breakwater that marks the entrance to the Patterson River, turning up the river I was on the homeward stretch now.
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Melbourne in winter beautiful one day perfect the next!
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| Now while it was a very nice winters day I'm not so sure about the whole sunbathing in winter thing! |
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I'm a little biased probably but I think the Patterson River section of the walk was probably the best section of todays stroll. Following a wide path up the north side of the river I was able to relax and take in all the activity on the water, from the flash boats heading out to Port Phillip Bay for a day out, the coast guard towing in a hapless boater or the many kayakers out on the water enjoying the weak sunshine, there was plenty happening along here. Getting closer to home the views up the river started to include the Dandenong Ranges in the distance, the distant ranges actually form the head waters of the river. Wandering past Wannakladdin Wetlands for the second time today the mornings fog was long gone, I tried taking a photo but was thwarted by bright sunlight, yep Melbourne in winter!
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The Patterson River.
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There are good shared use paths on both sides of the river along here.
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| I watched the Coast Guard tow this guy in while I was walking down the beach. I'm not sure if he'd just run out of fuel or if had been doing something wrong. |
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| This one won't be heading out for awhile. |
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The Dirt.
I walked 20.3 kilometres at an average speed of 4.6 kph and climbed 88 metres on today's stroll. I'd rate this as a medium grade walk I suppose, although make sure you time the beach run for low tide as if you mess that up and find yourself trudging down 8 kilometres of soft sand then the grade would definitely be hard. Like I mentioned earlier I used some notes from the House of Chapman, this walk is out of their Day Walks Melbourne book. There are no real navigational issues on this walk so the map in the book is enough to get you through safely. There are plenty of choices if you want to eat out in Mordialloc and also in the suburbs that you pass by as you make your way down the beach, if you wanted to self cater then there are also plenty of nice picnic spots along the walk. This walk is really a walk of three parts, a parkland walk, a beach walk and then a river walk. While there is nothing drop dead stunning on the walk it's still a very pleasant way to get out and enjoy some fresh air and exercise.
Relevant Posts.
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| Patterson Lakes |
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| The Patterson River at Patterson Lakes, the blue smudge on the horizon is the Dandenong Ranges, my route to work follows this waterway for a large part of its length. |
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