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Using my waterproof camera I was going for atmosphere this morning.
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I'd had a really tough week at work this week so when the weekend rolled around I was keen to get outside to go for a stroll, if only for a bit of metal health time. Now it was fairly lucky that I wasn't heading out on this stroll with incredibly high expectations as the weather sucked, yes things were so bad that I didn't even pull the DSLR out of it's dry bag. So, if anyone dropped in expecting great photos today then unfortunately you'll have to settle for snaps from my waterproof camera, yep it was all about atmosphere this morning!
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I dropped down through the line of trees to pick up the track.
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I've walked at Hamer Arboretum a fair bit over the years which is probably just as well as pulling up at the car park at Woolrich Lookout this morning I could barely see the line of big Cryptomeria trees 50 metres down the grassy slope, so picking up the faint grassy pad would of been a little tough if I hadn't walked it before. Once through the first line of trees I followed a slightly benched grassy track down into the forest proper. I was now dropping steeply down to meet Mathias Road passing through a mix of native and introduced trees mixed in with a fair covering of weeds. Once on Mathias Road my stroll levelled out for a bit as I headed east through the misty rain towards Silvan Road, the easy level surface allowing me to check out the soft focus scenery. Now there was some good news as far as the weather goes this morning, as even though things were damp and claustrophobic the actual temperature was pretty warm, actually it was very warm and humid, way too warm to wear rain gear. So shuffling along this morning I was slowly getting wetter and wetter, like I said good news!
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Dropping down to Mathias Road...it's not all natives through here.
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Mathias Road
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Mathias Road contours some open slopes in spots.
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Once I'd arrived at Silvan Road I immediately left it and dropped steeply down to the west into a gully. The track dropping down here was a clay based track that was now fairly slick so I had to utilise all my cat like Feral reflexes to stay up right on this section. Once I'd dropped steeply into the gully the gradient eased off a bit, the walking now fairly good as I also passed out of the introduced flora of the arboretum into more typical Australian bush, the familiar smell of the Eucalyptus making me feel instantly at ease. After crossing over Boundary Road I continued down the gully, now on Prices Road, the walking still good although the over head conditions were still grey and misty.
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After touching Silvan Road I dropped down this walking track into a gully.
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Crossing Boundary Road I was back in native forest again.
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Dropping down Prices Road.
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While the conditions were a bit on the damp side the precipitation had freshened up the bush.
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Arriving at the signposted Bridge Track I followed it down over the gently trickling Lyrebird Creek before climbing up to meet Boundary Road. One quick right/left dog leg later and I was gently climbing Georges Road. Most of these roads here are what I'd call management tracks and the soft gravel and grass surfaces make for fairly nice walking I think. It turned out that the road sections of the walk had another advantage this morning too, yep they are the only sections of the walk where I wasn't picking up Leaches, yes on my short stretch along Bridge Track I had managed to pick up a few blood sucking hitch hikers. After my short journey up Georges Road I picked up Rifle Gully Road for a minute or two before climbing a very faint track up across open grassy sloped to a picnic ground, the good news was that there wasn't any Leaches on the grassy track, the bad being that the grass with ringing wet and so were my boots now...sweet!
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Bridge Track was more your traditional walking track, complete with Leaches this morning.
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Lyrebird Creek had a little water coming down it this morning.
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Georges Road
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Rifle Range Gully Road had one of my favourite obstacles, this one right in the zone of aggravation!
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Squelching my way up to the Valley Picnic Area I now had to nut out my toughest navigational conundrum of the stroll as I tried to pick the correct track out of the myriad of different routes radiating out from the picnic area. After one false start I soon found myself traipsing through the gloom up Yallambe Road, my meditative state only being disturbed by a couple of deers crashing out of the scrub in front of me. With Yallambe Road starting to climb fairly solidly I picked up another walking track and climbed even more solidly, the good news on this walking track was that the over hanging Blackberries were taking my mind off the Leaches (maybe gaiters would of been a wise choice today, hmm.) Reaching a track junction I headed right up Fraxinus Track for another ten minutes before suddenly emerging onto the wide open spaces of Mathias Road again.
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Climbing up the wet grassy slopes to the Valley Picnic Area.
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Heading up Yallambe Road.
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Climbing back up to Woolrich Lookout it was obvious that conditions hadn't improved.
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There is a wide variety of flora on this stroll.
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Leaving Yallambe Road I picked up this walking track...
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....and veered right onto Fraxinus Track here.
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Pushing through the Blackberries... the tracks can sometimes feel a little neglected here.
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Of course I decided to leave my gloves in the ute this morning.
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I was now a few hundred metres further south along Mathias Road than I had been a couple of hours ago, although what hadn't changed was the dodgy weather, if anything the weather was getting worse. After reaching a spot that I call the Bus Stop I left Mathias Road and started my last round about climb back up to my ute. Leaving the Bus Stop I headed right twice in quick succession and climbed up to a small dam, a spot that I call the Bunyip Dam. The inky black water of the dam looking even more foreboding than normal with the mist hanging very low indeed. My walk was now pretty well over really, from the dam the car park at Woolrich Lookout was only a very easy 5 minute walk away.
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I'm about to emerge onto Mathias Road again.
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Mathias Road
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I turned right at the Bus Stop....
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....and climbed to the Bunyip Dam.
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The Dirt.
I walked 7.9 kilometres and climbed 306 metres on this easy-medium grade stroll. With the Hamer Arboretum being the home to a lot of introduced deciduous trees this walk is probably best done in late Autumn when the trees start changing colour I guess, although on saying that I've generally enjoyed walking here no matter the time of the year. There are a lot of tracks radiating through the arboretum and the nearby Dandenong Ranges National Park so it's possible to make up your own adventure through here. I very loosely followed the notes and mud map out of Tyrone Thomas' old book 40 Bushland & Park Walks in Metropolitan Melbourne this morning, although on couple of occasions I was making things up on the run a bit. The Hamer Arboretum has always had a bit of a run down feel to it I think and things are no different now days, some walking tracks are a little overgrown and the sign posting can be a little hit or miss in my experience, still it makes for some good walking.
Relevant Posts.
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| It was good weather for ducks this morning. |
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| Not bad weather for Leaches either. I'd also left my gaiters in the ute this morning! |
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| Approaching Woolrich Lookout again.... my walk was almost over. |
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| Woolrich Lookout |
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