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Heading towards the Glenferrie Road Bridge on my walk back towards the ute.
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It seems that my Feral world has been a little claustrophobic this year, firstly we got stranded in Perth for awhile due to bushfires and floods closing all roads east. It seemed as though we'd just got home and settled into some kind of normality when the Corona Virus hit with a vengeance and we were told to stay home, and while I was still working there was no walking for almost two months. Finally, when the day arrived that the government lifted a few restriction* on travel and I was able to head bush again my work became super busy and I've reluctantly found myself working 6 days a week, hmmm. While editing and re-sizing these photos I glanced at the timestamp and noticed that another 4 weeks had slipped by since my last walk....one way or another this is going to have to change, if not for my mental health then just for my overall wellbeing I'm thinking.
Anyway I did manage to organise a Saturday off this week however the weather forecast was less than ideal with around 10m of rain predicted, grrr. Now I can live with walking in the rain if I have to, however it's far from my favourite conditions so I was pretty well resigned to spending another day at home pottering around. Waking up early on Saturday though I glanced out into the pre dawn gloom and noticed that while the streets were wet the stars were visible above. After a quick shower while I mentally scrolled through different walks in my head I decided to head up to Burnley and walk a section of the Gardiners Creek Trail. It was still well before sunrise when I parked the ute in a deserted car park beside the equally deserted Yarra Boulevard and set off towards the quickly lightening sky.
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I was off to an early start this morning.
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Heading off along the Main Yarra Trail beside the Yarra Boulevard.
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Initially this morning I followed a short section of the Main Yarra Trail as it tracked along beside the Yarra Boulevard south east for ten minutes. Thankfully the day was actually looking fairly promising now, the purple predawn bathing the urban landscape in a beautiful soft light. After the short stretch along the Main Yarra Trail I veered off to the right to join the Gardiners Creek Trail, straight away the trail crossing the Yarra River. This next kilometre of the walk had me following a unique track that was suspended below the City Link Tollway and above Gardiners Creek. This was the reason that I'd decided to do this walk this morning as even if the forecast rain materialised a fair chuck of this walk would be under the cover of the tollway, so I was thinking that I should be able to stay fairly dry. It wasn't all sweetness and light this morning though, the Gardiners Creek Trail is a shared use track and this suspended section is actually a little narrower than the rest of the path so I had to be fairly aware of my lycra clad brothers and sisters coming up quickly behind me, thankfully though my early start combined with the shitty forecast appeared to have kept the numbers of cyclist s down this morning.
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I soon picked up the Gardiners Creek Trail and followed this long section of suspended track.
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After passing beneath Glenferrie Road that track emerged from beneath the tollway and I started to pass through a section of track bordered by suburban sporting fields and populated with early morning dog walkers this morning. I was now making my way towards Toorak Road, although progress was occasionally slowed as I was passing through the construction site for the Toorak Road Level Crossing Removal Project. Toorak Road marked the spot where I'd start my walk back towards the ute, however I wasn't going retrace my outward route, well at least not initially anyway. Crossing City Link Tollway on the Toorak Road overpass I turned down Auburn Road and almost immediately picked up another shared path heading along the eastern bank of Gardiners Creek (I'm thinking that the path on this side of the creek may actually be the Gardiners Creek Trail).
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Once under Glenferrie Road the track skirted suburban sporting fields up towards Toorak Road.
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Some of the trees still had a bit of colour left in them.
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The Toorak Road Level Crossing Removal Project was going on when I did this walk, I could still get through although it was a little convoluted in spots.
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Crossing the City Link Tollway on Toorak Road I started meandering my way back towards the ute.
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Progress was slowed a little along here as I meandered through a small farmers market, successfully negotiating my way passed the coffee tent along the way. With the sun now well and truly up there were a few other people out and about as I made my way back towards Glenferrie Road, passing some more sporting fields along with a small velodrome, before crossing Gardiners Creek again and re-joining my outward route.
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| I managed to avoid the temptations of the coffee tent as I shuffled through the framers market. |
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Following the concrete lined Gardiners Creek back towards the Yarra River.
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The trail passed a suburban velodrome at one stage - the wet surface would demand some respect I'm thinking.
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I was never far from the comfortable houses of Kooyong.
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Crossing back over Gardiners Creek I re-joined my outward route.
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I was now heading back towards the long suspended section of the track under the tollway again, although with the sun up there was plenty to keep me interested this morning. Gardiners Creek isn't exactly a pristine watercourse along here though, the creek near Toorak Road is concrete lined and as it gets closer towards the Yarra River the concrete gives way to bluestones - better than concrete but not exactly natural. Being an urban creek the waterway also suffers a little with litter getting swept downstream and snagged on the creek side vegetation. Now on saying all that I was a little surprised to see an old bloke out fishing in the creek not far from the Yarra River, whatever floats your boat I suppose!
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Gardiners Creek - it's not exactly a pristine watercourse.
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Hmm, I'm not sure I'd be eating anything I'd caught here!
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This is an interesting section of walking track.
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Heading past the extensive sporting fields of St Kevins.
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Crossing back over the Yarra River on the Gardiners Creek Trail.
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Early morning on the Yarra River at Burnley.
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Yarra River
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Once over the Yarra River again and back on the Main Yarra Trail I shuffled the last few minutes back up to the ute. It was amazing how much this little stroll helped my mental health today, just getting some fresh(ish) air and stretching my legs little had me heading home with a certain joie de vivre that I've been sorely lacking for awhile.
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Dropping back onto the MainYarra Trail - there was a few more punters out and about now.
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| The early morning light was still giving me something. |
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There is some nice public art along here.
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| Like I mentioned earlier - this isn't a wilderness type of walk. |
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The Dirt.
I walked 6.3 kilometres and climbed 24 metres on this easy stroll. Reading my post it might seem that I was a little underwhelmed with this little stroll however that's not really the case. This walk is an interesting stroll through a very urban landscape, there is even a bit of birdlife around if you are patient enough. The main attraction of this walk for me though is the long section of track suspended between the tollway and the creek, it's an interesting piece of walking infrastructure. This walk was written up years ago in Tyrone Thomas' old book 40 Bushland & Park Walks In Metropolitan Melbourne which was where I learned of it. I managed to forget the old notes and mud map this morning though, getting through with just my GPS maps and my memory. Google maps or a Melway should also get people around safely on this stroll I think.
Relevant Posts.
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Back on the Main Yarra Trail.
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| Lifestyles of the rich and shameless across the Yarra River in Toorak. |
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| Yarra River |
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It was still before 8:30am when I finished my stroll this morning.
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*Fuck!... little did I know when I was writing this up however the worse was well and truly yet to come when it came to restrictions. I've lost count on how long we've been locked down at the time I published this post. I'm thinking that it's been close 5 months though... so far. Still, everyone I know is still healthy and hasn't got the virus so that's a good thing. Stay safe everyone.
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