Menzies Creek to Belgrave, Dandenong Ranges National Park - November 2018

The Dandenong Ranges National Park = bloody big trees.

This walk is one of those somewhat rare walks where public transport can be used to access the start and finish of the stroll. From Belgrave Railway Station the little tourist train Puffing Billy can be used to get to the start of the walk at the Menzies Creek Railway Station. All that said I didn’t use the train this afternoon, with not a lot of time left in the day when I finally got around to heading off I didn’t really have the daylight hours up my sleeve to use the little steam train. There is another thing to consider if you plan on using Puffing Billy to access Menzies Creek and that is it’s pretty pricey, they are definitely catering to the tourist market and not the walking cliental.

The tourist railway Puffing Billy is the only train that comes through Menzies Creek Station now days.

After getting dropped off outside the old Menzies Creek Station by Sam, I set off on my meandering walk back to Belgrave. This walk starts by walking semi rural roads for a fair distance, first up along School Road which crossed the Puffing Billy railway line and then climbed up the past the Menzies Creek Primary School. After crossing Belgrave - Emerald Road I climbed the steep Jacksons Hill Road, passing the beautiful Hermons Saddle Picnic Ground on the way. Jacksons Hill Road is a steep little pinch but there were plenty of excuses for me to stop and check things out, the flash houses up here inevitably have some great gardens which tend to look pretty good in the warmer months.

Walking School Road I got some views down towards Cardinia Dam.

I crossed over the old tourist railway line as I walked School Road.

A lot of this walk has a rural feel about it.

Hermans Saddle Picnic Ground

Jacksons Hill Road is a steep little walk.

After a short stretch down Ridge Road I followed Grantulla Road for around a kilometre up to Selby Hill, this section is a little uninspiring really, I was just trudging along the gravel verge of the busy road, although I was able to get a few glimpses across the Yarra Valley towards the blue smudge of Mt Donna Buang. Reaching Selby Hill the walking improved immeasurably as I left the main road and set off through the Dandenong Ranges National Park, first of all down Foden Track. It’s chalk chess really on this walk, the rural/urban sections of the walk are nice enough but the Dandenong Ranges National Park sections are clearly the best in my mind. So I was pretty happy with things as I dropped down Foden Track, now enveloped in verdant green wall of vegetation.

I got a few views out towards Mt Donna Buang as I walked along Grantulla Road.

Reaching Dandenong Ranges National Park I left Grantulla Road and walked a grassy verge up to Selby Hill.

Selby Hill is a bit of a non event really....but it did mark the spot where I headed bush for awhile.

Walking Foden Track it felt like I was on a proper bushwalk.

Reaching Neumann Road I turned left along this wide track, initially passing by a couple of open grassy spots that feature a profusion of humpies, I haven’t come across many humpies on my walks lately but this spot made up that, there must of been 15 humpies of various size and complexity scattered around these grassy openings. I’m guessing that these structures are built by school kids under the guidance of Parks Vic and the local indigenous people, but that’s a Feral fact though! Neumann Road slowly arcs around and drops down a broad spur to cross the headwaters of Hardys Creek, apart from the stunning Mountain Ash and ferns this is a good spot to see and hear Lyrebirds in the surrounding forest.

Neumann Road features a good selection of humpies...?

Some of the structures looked good enough to move into.

Neumann Road

The forest gets even more spectacular closer to Grants Picnic Ground.

Climbing away from Hardys Creek I started to meet a few day walkers coming down from the busy Grants Picnic Ground, the only real walkers that I’ve met on the walk today so far. Passing through the crowded Grants Picnic Ground at Kallista as quickly as possible, I crossed the busy Monbulk Road and re entered the bush. My track now dropped a bit to cross the headwaters of Clematis Creek (I was following Clematis Track now) and then started the steepest climb of the day. Clematis Track is a little rougher than the other tracks that I'd followed today, being a little slippery and with a few roots to negotiate, but the rougher conditions are a small price to pay to access this beautiful bit of forest I think.

Grants Picnic Ground is best passed through quickly, I think.

After crossing Monbulk Road I soon re entered the bush.

Clematis Creek

Mountain Ash

The climb up Clematis Track was a little rougher and steeper than the rest of todays walk.

Reaching Sherbrooke Lodge Road I climbed a little more along a grassy verge, passing lots of beautiful gardens as I made my way to the quiet Sherbrooke Picnic Ground. As is pretty well normal Sherbrooke Picnic Ground was pretty well deserted this afternoon, it’s funny how the nearby Grants Picnic Ground is always pumping with people but move away a little to some of these lesser known picnic grounds and you can quite often have them to yourself. After a short break I dropped down O’Donohue Track and after a little dog leg to the right I picked up Sherbrooke Track and headed towards the signposted Sherbrooke Falls.

There are some very nice private gardens along Sherbrooke Lodge Road.

Sherbrooke Picnic Ground is generally a lot quieter than the nearby Grants Picnic Ground I've found.

Sherbrooke Track

Over the years I’ve visited and photographed Sherbrooke Falls numerous times and I’ve yet to manage a decent photo, so arriving at the falls today I didn’t have much to live up to, and looking at my photographic results I don’t think I even managed to achieve that luke warm ambition! Tearing myself away from the trickling water I picked up Ridge Track and headed for Belgrave. Ridge Track has some nice views to the towering Mountain Ash across the valley of Sherbrooke Creek and this afternoon was also home to a couple of Lyerebirds and some colourful Rosella’s, the Lyrebirds proving too elusive for me but I did manage to get a photo of the Rosella’s. Ridge Track is a really nice walk as it descends very gently towards Terry Avenue and suburbia.

And here is my traditional crap photo of Sherbrooke Falls.

Dropping down Ridge Track the views were pretty good this afternoon.

I took about twenty photos of these Rosella's..... hard to believe but this is the best one!

Ridge Track

Arriving at Terry Avenue I left the Dandenong Ranges National Park, the best walking of the day now over. Terry Avenue has a grassy firebreak to follow for around the first kilometre which isn’t too bad, but after that it’s suburban foot paths all the way down to Belgrave. When I say down to Belgrave I do mean down too, the last drop down to town is a particularly steep walk, thankfully the concrete path was dry this afternoon but you’d want to be careful here if the path was wet. Safely arriving down at Belgrave I crossed over Monbulk Road and walked the last couple of hundred metres to the Belgrave Railway Station and the ute.

Heading down Terry's Avenue towards Belgrave I had a grassy firebreak to follow for awhile.

Strap yourself in when you come to this sign, it's all down hill from here.

The Dirt.
According to my GPS I walked 17 kilometres and climbed 463 metres on this easy - medium grade stroll. This is an OK walk, although there is a little bit too much suburban road walking for my liking, that said it’s always interesting sticky beaking into other peoples gardens and checking out their houses, what’s that…oh that’s just me. The Dandenong Ranges National Park sections of the walk go a long way to making up for the urban/rural sections though, I think. This walk was written up by the oracle of Australian bushwalking, Mr Tyrone Thomas, I used the notes out of his old seventh edition of 120 Walks in Victoria book, it’s walk number 8 in the book. Apart from Mr Thomas’ notes (which are still accurate even though they were published way back in 2000),  I got by with my GPS topo maps, you not going to get seriously bushed on this stroll whatever you do, I don’t think.

Relevant Posts.
Johns Hill, Dandenong Ranges National Park, 2005.
Sherbrooke Forest East, Dandenong Ranges National Park, 2018.
Sherbrooke Forest West, Dandenong Ranges National Park, 2016.

Today's stroll finished at Belgrave Railway Station.