Hey all. Its amazing how quickly things are changing this year, all for the worse unfortunately! When I typed this walk up we had just gone into level 3 restrictions in Melbourne and I was struggling mentally to work out how I was going to manage another 6 weeks of not being able to head bush for a walk. Over the next few weeks the Corona situation has continued to deteriorate and we have now been locked down for at least another 6 weeks with only 1 hour a day exercise allowed among a multitude of other restrictions. These new restrictions effectively mean that there'll be no more Corona Walks (well actually I've got one un-published one) until the 1 hour restrictions are lifted - at this stage they are hoping that'll be mid September. Having said all that, the good news is that both Sam and I and all our friends and family are still healthy and well so that's a good thing.
Now I know that I'm really struggling mentally with all this so I'm guessing I'm not on my Pat Malone with that, if anyone needs someone to listen to and debrief then feel free to PM me. If people needs someone a little more professional than a grumpy fat old bushwalker to talk to then here's a couple of links, Beyond Blue and Lifeline. Just as there is no shame in turning back on a walk if things don't feel right there is no shame in reaching out for help mentally if you need it.
Early morning on Seaford Wetlands.
After our first six weeks of lockdown earlier in the year I was hoping that I'd never have to publish another Iso Walk. What I hadn't counted on though was the stupidity and pig ignorance of a small percentage of my fellow Melburnians, and that's coming from someone who generally doesn't have a lot of faith in humanity. However after some particularly stupid behaviour from some of our residents, Melbourne is once again in a lockdown and I've parked the ute and I'm now doing walks from my front door again. Anyway, that's enough of my whinging and moaning.
I started this stroll at the bridge were Old Wells Road crosses Eel Race Drain / Kananook Creek. The photo doesn't really accurately represent how dark it was when I set off.
Looking back east towards the rising sun - this is a more accurate idea of how dark it was first up.
Grabbing my pack, GPS and mask it was well before sunrise this morning I shuffled through the deserted, frigid pre dawn streets and made my way to the start of this stroll at the spot where the Old Wells Road crosses over Eel Race Drain. Actually I'm not 100% sure whether the creek is called Eel Race Drain or Kananook Creek here as it's around this spot that the drain becomes a creek. For all intents and purposes it was still dark this morning as I set off along the southern bank of Kananook Creek in the direction of Port Phillip Bay. This short stretch of the stroll provided the roughest walking of the whole walk as I followed the pad along the raised levy bank, I'm thinking the local kids might use this informal track as a short cut to the nearby Patterson River Secondary Collage as it's a little cut up by bikes in spots.
Following Kananook Creek towards the bay I had the flash Patterson Lakes houses on one side and the wetlands on the other.
The first short section is the roughest walking.
When the Patterson River Secondary Collage came into view I turned left along the shared path.
After 15 minutes heading west along Kananook Creek the buildings of the secondary collage came into view and that was my cue to leave the creek and start heading along a sealed shared path that skirts the western boundary of the Seaford Wetlands. This path initially meanders it's way through an area of open woodland before approaching Seaford North Primary School where the wetlands run right up to the edge of the path. I've ridden this shared use track many times over the years however I've never visited here on foot and I was pleasantly surprised how enjoyable the walk was this morning, although that was probably enhanced by the early morning light helping my photos and by the fact that the 2˚ temperatures and early hour meant that social distancing wasn't much of an issue for me.
Initially the shared path passed through some open woodland a little away from the wetlands.
There are some nice sized trees along here.
As far as walking a sealed shared path goes this is pretty good.
Eventually I left the woodlands and started skirting Seaford Wetlands.
Very early in the morning looking south over Seaford Wetlands.
There are some nice Coastal Banksia's along here.
Well it was a Corona Walk I suppose.
My shared path now skirted though the back of the primary school grounds hard up against the reeds of the wetlands before coming to a short dog leg through the quiet streets of Seaford. After a couple of minutes I was once again back on the edge of the wetlands though and heading south again. The track now following the ground between the back fence lines of the suburban houses and the wetlands on the other side, needless to say it was the wetlands that I was most interested in. There were a few spots along this stretch where I could leave the sealed track and walk the grass closer to the wetlands, which gave me some nice views of the mist lifting from the water in the early morning sun light.
The path skirts the back fence of Seaford Primary School for a little while...
... and then a short section through quiet suburban streets...
... before resuming my walk south along the edge of the wetlands.
I'd managed to get a cracker of a winters day for this walk.
Seaford Wetlands
Seaford Wetlands
Seaford Wetlands - the smudge in the distance is the Dandenong Ranges.
Heading south for another fifteen minutes or so I arrived at the furthest extremity of this mornings stroll on Austin Road. There is a small lookout along here which looks back north along the wetlands towards Patterson Lakes and it makes a nice spot to stop for awhile. Apart from the fact that it was super cold this morning it was really a pretty sweet morning as far as the weather goes, with some nice sunshine and no wind, conditions for walking were about as good as I could ask for. The lookout is probably the best spot for checking out waterbirds on the walk as well as also providing a distant look at Mt Dandenong.
Seaford Wetlands
The lookout on Austin Road is worth a stop.
That's Mt Dandenong in the distance.
Seaford Wetlands
At 158 hectares Seaford Wetlands along with the adjoined Edithvale Wetlands are the largest wetlands in the Port Phillip and Westernport Bay Basins. Before white man arrived a couple of hundred years ago the wetlands support population of Brolga and Magpie Goose however they are long gone now, the wetlands do still support around 190 species of bird though and are an area of International Significance.
The wetlands are home to big populations of waterbirds.
Seaford Wetlands
Shouldering my pack again I left the lookout and continued my circumnavigation of the wetlands, turning north and meeting up with the major Peninsula Link shared trail after ten minutes or so. For the last hour I'd been seeing the occasional walker, jogger or bike rider out and about however for the most part everything was pretty quiet, especially considering we were in a Corona lockdown where everybody seems to want to exercise their rights to get out and about - we have just gone into compulsory masks if out of our houses stage, so maybe that has knocked down the number of people outside - or maybe it was just the cold and the early hour?
Even the revegetated areas looked pretty sweet in the early morning light.
After turning north I soon joined the Peninsula Link Trail.
The Peninsula Link Trail parallels the Old Wells Road along here and the meandering trail makes for a nice walk and with the trail being a bit of distance away from most of the surrounding houses it's arguably the quietest section of the walk (that's a Feral Fact™). My route along here passed by some old farm buildings that had been taken over by the local graffiti artists as well as passing by a nice little community garden that I didn't know about - hmm, maybe I'll have to reassess my views on humanity. With Eel Race Drain coming into view my third Iso Walk was over and it was time to shuffle off home for breakfast and another quality day of staring out the window over the wetlands with a wistful 1000 yard stare.
Heading north along the Peninsula Link Trail I passed by the Seaford Wetlands Humpy...
... and then this old farm building...
... before finally passing this community farm.
The Dirt.
I walked 7.1 kilometres and climbed 23 metres (and that seems a little optimistic) according to my GPS on this easy walk. Unless you are a twitcher then I'm thinking that this walk isn't worth travelling a long way to do, however if you are in the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne and have a couple of hours to spare then it's worth considering I think (and if we are still in ISO and you live in Patterson Lakes, Carrum or Seaford then it's definitely worth considering). There are a few picnic tables scattered around the walk although I didn't notice any toilets, I wasn't really looking though. As far as I know no one has published walking notes for this stroll however things are pretty straightforward on the ground. I used my GPS maps this morning however Google Maps should get everyone through safely.
Relevant Posts
The end is in sight.
One last look over the wetlands before I shuffled of back to Chateau Feral:)
OK... here's a shot of me in my fetching Corona Walk ensemble... I'm glad it was cold.
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