Maroondah Reservoir Park, Yarra Ranges National Park - April 2018

Walking along the old aqueduct was probably the highlight of this walk for me.

With a few chores to complete this Saturday I was looking for a walk near our eastern suburbs somewhere and with us well into Autumn now I figured that the Maroondah Reservoir Park might be worth a look. My whole theory revolved around the thought that the deciduous trees in the park should be changing colour around about now, the theory going that the colourful introduced trees would add a little colour to the drab greens and browns of the Australian bush at the end of a long hot summer. To make the walk even better Sam decided that she was up for a stroll as well, so I wasn’t flying solo for a change. So anyway after sorting out our business in town we motored on out to Donnellys Weir arriving at the car park at around 10am, just as the morning fog had started to burn off.

About to head off from Donnellys Weir Car Park. This is a nice casual walk.

I’m going to struggle to write anything remotely readable about this walk I think, not a lot happened really and while the scenery was nice enough it was hardly stunning. Now that doesn’t mean we didn’t enjoy the stroll it’s just that there wasn’t much colour. Leaving the ute we wandered a couple hundred metres back down the dusty Donnellys Weir access road before making the short climb up onto Road 15. This short section of the walk follows an aqueduct that supplies water to Melbourne’s northern suburbs from Maroondah Reservoir and walking along beside the gently flowing water was very pleasant indeed, unfortunately it only lasted for 15 minutes or so.

We had to wander down the access road for a few hundred metres.

Once on Road 15 we tracked along beside the aqueduct for awhile.

Reaching the end of the aqueduct we climbed a little, crossing Road 17. Road 17 heads up to meet Condons Track, this little climb up Mt St Leonard is one of the more solid climbs close to Melbourne in my experience. We continued up Road 15 this morning, the road passing through scrappy regrowth forest (I’m not sure if this spot has been logged and burnt or if it’s just been burnt but the scrappy bush it looks pretty shitty really). It was only a fairly short climb up Road 15 though before we turned up Henderson Hill Track, Henderson Hill Track is more your typical bushwalking track in that it’s more or leads single file walking. The good news was that after climbing for a few minutes up Hendersons Track we passed out of the regrowth area and entered old growth, even better news was that after another few minutes of climbing today’s walk topped out at on the summit of Henderson Hill, thankfully there was a bench there to rest on and take in the view.

Leaving the aqueduct Road 15 climbs fairly gently through some regrowth areas, that's Road 17 heading off on the left towards Condons Track and eventually Mt St Leonard.

We are about to head up Hendersons Hill.

Initially the climb up Hendersons Hill passed through more scrappy regrowth forest.

Higher up we passed through more pleasant old growth forest.

After having a quick breather on top of Henderson Hill we started the descent down to the Watts River and Maroondah Reservoir Park. With the track dropping almost 200 metres this is the biggest descent of the day, while the route drops a fair way it’s all pretty easy though with only a couple of steeper sections near the bottom. Arriving at the Watts River our descent had finished and we entered the grounds of Maroondah Park, this was actually the toughest navigation of the day as we found our way across the open manicured parkland towards the unseen dam wall. Eventually I found a car park that matched my map and we picked up a sealed path leading up to the top of the dam wall, my cunning plan of doing this walk in Autumn now paying dividends as the imported deciduous trees added some much needed colour to my photos.

There is a nice bench on the summit of Hendersons Hill but there is not a lot in the way of views.

Crossing the Watts River as we entered Hendersons Picnic Area.

Hendersons Picnic Area in the Maroondah Reservoir Park.

After meandering our way through the park for awhile we found the track that climbed to the top of the dam wall.

There are a lot of introduced pine and fir trees to be seen on this stroll.

Being at the tail end of a long dry spell Maroondah Reservoir was no where near full today so unfortunately I couldn’t get a photo of the water cascading down the spillway. What I could see today though was plenty of smoke rising from the surrounding hills as all the Autumn prescribed burns went on, it’s not a great time to be in Melbourne if like me, you suffer from asthma. After crossing the dam wall we climbed a little way up to the dam lookout which gave us another nice look over the calm waters of Maroondah Reservoir.

The dam wall allows for some nice views.

Looking towards the Yarra Ranges, it's the prescribed burning season in Victoria at the moment.

The view from the dam wall lookout is worth the short climb.

Leaving the lookout we dropped down a short link track and picked up the end of Road 15 again, the quiet road making for a fairly easy and painless return journey. After passing an old quarry with Henderson Hill towering (err, relatively speaking) over it we rejoined our outward route. With the rest of the walk now a retrace I was relying on the changed lighting conditions to give me something to photograph, thankfully the nice little aqueduct section gave me a couple of half decent shots. Every time I walk these aqueducts I can’t help fantasise about jumping in and have the current effortlessly whisk me along down stream....yeah, I’m getting pretty old now! When I was I younger bloke it wasn’t jumping into an aqueduct that I’d be fantasising about!;)

Heading back to the ute, Road 15 passed under a few more colourful trees. 

Road 15

Looking over an old quarry towards the summit of Hendersons Hill, we're not talking huge hills here!

Leaving the aqueduct the stroll was as good as over now, after retracing our way a few hundred metres up to the Donnellys Weir Car Park we jumped into the ute and headed down to Healesville for lunch. Our lunch debrief was enjoyed at a nice café on the main street this afternoon. Trip Adviser will give you a better idea of whats available in town however there is no shortage of choice when it comes to eating out in this tourist town.

The day had started off a bit overcast but had turned into a pearler!

The Dirt.
We walked 7.8 kilometres and climbed 229 metres on today’s easy stroll. This is would be a nice walk for families as the grounds of Maroondah Reservoir Park have nice playgrounds, picnic facilities and lots of wide open space to kick a footy. The trees in Maroondah Reservoir Park are arguably at their best in Autumn as the leaves change colour, the spillway and dam wall are probably best in early Spring when the Winter rains may have the water cascading down the dam’s spillway. I used the notes out of the House of Chapman’s Day Walks Melbourne, it’s walk number 30 in the second edition of the book. Chapman’s notes and map are probably all you really need to complete this walk as all the tracks are fairly well sign posted.

Relevant Posts.
Mt St Leonard, Yarra Ranges National Park, 2015.
Morleys Track, Yarra Ranges National Park, 2017.
Mt Juliet, Yarra Ranges National Park, 2018.

Even the last few metres along the dusty Donnellys Weir access road was pretty sweet this afternoon.

We retired to Healsville for some sustenance.