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| Sunset Track |
With age and lack of fitness not on my side I’m always looking for ways to prolong my walking career. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ll have to embrace the Ultra-Lite cult, at least to a certain degree if I want to keep doing some of these longer or harder walks as I get into my 60’s and 70’s. Now I’ve got a few years left before I hit my 60’s but I’m thinking that I may as well start trying a few things out now. The main reasons that I haven’t embraced Ultra Lite walking before were threefold. I’ve always been worried about the durability (particularly in the tough Aussie scrub), lack of comfort has also been a worry and then there is the cost of some of this stuff.
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There were a lot of other punters out and about today.
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So having decided to try and go a bit lighter I thought that I’d start with trying out some trail runners instead of my usual boots. Going on the theory that my Scarpa boots have never really let me down I decided to stick with the brand and got myself some Scarpa trail runners. So with a pair of brand new trail runners on my feet I headed up to Birds Land to give them a bit of a run (so to speak). I’ve walked at Birds Land quite a bit over the years and was hoping that the mix of good flat tracks along with some rougher and steeper tracks would test my new foot ware out a bit.
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My new Scarpa trail runners....we'll see how this goes.
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Today was a public holiday in Melbourne which meant that it was a fairly full carpark that I set off from in Birds Land, a lot of people out enjoying the first blue sky that we’d seen for a few days. Leaving the car park I followed Monbulk Creek into the park towards the two man made lakes that are the most popular features of the park. These man made lakes are part of a flood mitigation basin on Monbulk Creek. I headed in today along the dirt management road that stays on the south side of the creek and the lakes, the smooth gravel road not providing much of a challenge for my new trail runners, well apart from the need to skirt the occasional puddle.
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I headed in along the southern side of the lakes.
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I climbed up into the native scrub on the left. That's the flood mitigation basin spillway in front of me.
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After passing by the lakes I headed up into the native bush section of the park, this section of the park, with it’s granite boulders and scrappy eucalyptus forest is my favourite bit of this little park. I was using one of Tyrone Thomas’ old mud maps on this stroll and he mentioned that I should turn left down Cattle Track, although when I arrived at Cattle Track it was gone, well the track wasn’t gone but the name was. So if there is anyone else out there using Tyrone’s old mud maps then note that Cattle Track is now known as Dargon Track. Whatever the name of the track it provided another test for my new shoes, the track now still pretty level but the surface a lot rougher and muddier, still the trail runners were still going OK. After ten minutes or so Dargon Track started a decent climb, with no steps and not many rocks my feet were on an angle as I climbed up here, however once again my new shoes didn’t cause me any real issues.
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Abrahams Track
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Arriving at Grassy Track I headed right, although this nice section of track to my right looked good....maybe next time.
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When Dragon Track topped out I turned right along Abrahams Track, the Kookaburras in the trees up here keeping me entertained, although the open areas of high grass weren’t doing a lot for my hay fever. Turning right again, this time onto Sunset Track I know had some long range views stretching out over Melbourne’s eastern suburbs all the way across the buildings in the CBD. The grassy Sunset Track drops down a spur to eventually re-join Dargon Track, it was on the steep sections of this descent that my trail runners limitations became a little bit more apparent. Descending down the steep sections I found my feet were sliding forward in my shoes a little, something that doesn’t happen in my boots unless I haven’t got the laces done up tightly. Maybe I need to experiment a little with the laces on the trail runners, I’ll let you know how I go!
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The long grass was giving my Hay Fever a hard time.
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That big blue smudge in the distance is Mt Macedon.
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I got some views all the way across to the CBD as I dropped down Sunset Track.
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For some reason there was a lot of Kookaburras up here.
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The country was looking very green at the moment.
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Once I was back down on Dargon Track it was only a few minutes before I was once again back at the man made lakes in the flood basin. This lake section of this stroll is a bit of a get fit circuit for the locals by the look of it, so I was now sharing the path with joggers, dog walkers and people out just enjoying the pleasant afternoon. Instead of retracing my outward route I followed a walking track back to the car park along the northern side of the lakes and Monbulk Creek, the walking track providing a very easy and pleasant way to finish of my stroll. While the lakes are pleasant enough it was the glimpses of Monbulk Creek that I really enjoyed along here, the creek looking fairly healthy with a good flow of water coming down it after the recent rain.
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Granite boulders are a bit of a feature of this walk.
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A few of the locals were out and about.
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Spring in Victoria means Wattle Trees.
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Monbulk Creek
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The Dirt.
I walked 5.7 kilometres and climbed 102 metres on this easy walk. Now this isn’t a walk full of stunning scenic highlights but it does provide a nice hour or two out in the bush. The manicured lake side part of the walk is nice enough but the best bits of this walk for me are the native bush areas in the south of the park I think, I spotted plenty of Kookaburras and a big mob of roos today. This is a rough version of a walk that was written up by the oracle of all things bushwalking in Australia, Mr Tyrone Thomas in his 40 Bushland & Park Walks In Metropolitan Melbourne book.
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