Moorooduc Quarry Flora & Fauna Reserve.
Setting off from Two Bays Road.
Now the quarry is only an easy ten minute walk from the car park on Two Bays Road so I figured that I needed to pad things out a little this afternoon, which explains why on leaving the ute I headed off in the opposite direction. Yes, instead of heading up to the quarry I dropped down through the picnic area to cross Balcombe Creek on a nice section of boardwalk before tracking south west, crossing Two Bays Road and entering the large Mt Eliza Regional Park. The Mt Eliza Regional Park is a large and fairly manicured area of parkland that my ageing memory tells me use to be the local refuse dump - I've got very vague memories of coming here to dump rubbish with my dad when I was a very young kid.
Leaving the picnic area off Two Bays Road I entered the bush along this path - there is little to nothing in the way of signposting along this walk.
Straight away I passed by the Moorooduc Humpy.
There was plenty of flowering Wattles this afternoon.
I crossed Balcombe Creek on a nice section of boardwalk.
Balcombe Creek
After passing though Mt Eliza Regional Park, all the time staying fairly close to Balcombe Creek, I entered the large car park that services the Mornington Railway Preservation Society. Yes it's time to cue the harp again... back in my very early years Mornington was serviced by train from Frankston and that little journey was a fairly exciting outing for me when I was a little kid, the railway line has long since gone for most of it's length between Baxter and Mornington, however a short section from Moorooduc to Tanti Park survives and the Mornington Railway Preservation Society run a steam train along here on selected dates. I wasn't catching the steam trail this afternoon though, I was heading through the car park to pick up a fairly informal 4wd track that would take me west until I hit Wooralla Drive. I'd now left the Mt Eliza Regional Park and the walk took a turn for the worse for awhile, the 4wd track that I was following was badly degraded with muddy and eroded sections along with the occasional dumped vehicle and other assorted rubbish.
We've had some good spring rain in Melbourne.
Mt Eliza Regional Park.
Mt Eliza Regional Park.
Conditions were a little unsettled this afternoon.
Leaving Mt Eliza Regional Park I headed west towards Wooralla Drive along a rough 4wd track.
The old 4wd track was good in spots...
...and particularly shitty in others.
Emerging from the scrub on Wooralla Drive I turned right, crossed over Balcombe Creek again and then started climbing up towards Mt Eliza. There was a good sealed shared path running beside the road along here however I was looking for a track that was heading east back into the bush. As I've mentioned things were a little rough and ready on this section of the walk, trying to identify the right track was a little hit and miss as informal Mountain Bike tracks criss cross the side of the hill. Eventually I found a track heading in the direction that I needed to go however I'm pretty sure it wasn't the same track that was marked on my very basic map. Whether I was on the exact route or not didn't really matter too much as I knew exactly where I was on the map when I started to see the flash houses of Mt Eliza above me. After tracking along the side of the hill for awhile, sneaking a few views through the trees across the Mornington Peninsula out towards Westernport Bay, I once again found another series of informal tracks to drop me off the side of the hill and eventually back down into Mt Eliza Regional Park.
Hitting Wooralla Drive I turned right and crossed Balcombe Creek again.
Leaving my shared path beside Wooralla Drive I headed bush again picking up a walking pad in the grass at the back of this small clearing.
Once located the track was easy enough to follow.
Getting back down into the Mt Eliza Regional Park also meant keeping a close eye on the map.
Wattles - back down near Balcombe Creek again.
Passing back through Mt Eliza Regional Park I briefly re-joined my outward route before branching of north on a walking track on what I'd call the Canadian Bay Break (there were really no names or signposts on any of the tracks that I followed this afternoon from what I could see). This walking track headed north through some Tea Tree to once again cross Balcombe Creek on a long section of boardwalk before climbing little to meet the very end of Canadian Bay Road (actually it looks like Canadian Bay Road has a missing section and is actually split into two). After crossing Station Street and just touching Canadian Bay Road I entered the Moorooduc Quarry Flora & Fauna Reserve.
I'm thinking that Mt Eliza Regional Park may have been the site for the municipal tip way, way back in the day? This kind of hardware only reinforces that old memory.
Mt Eliza Regional Park.
Crossing Balcombe Creek again on some more boardwalk, this time on what I'd call the Canadian Bay Break.
Balcombe Creek
I now started the best section of my afternoons stroll. Firstly I climbed a little as I made my way up to the short side track that leads into the quarry itself, this is the spot that I remember from my younger days. Arriving at the track today I found a large no entry and no swimming sign, yes once again it looks like things had changed since my last visit. It was fairly obvious that most punters were ignoring the warning sign though so I decided to wander in a get a couple of photos, my suspicions confirmed when I entered to quarry to find rock climbers making the most of some of the walls. I'm guessing that the quarry might have been closed off to the local teenagers after a cliff jumping accident although that's just an assumption, whatever the case it looks like this magic spot is officially off limits at the moment.
If old trains float your boat then make time to check out the Mornington Railway Preservation Society.
It looks like the old quarry is officially closed off - although it appears that not many people are taking any notice?
Moorooduc Quarry Flora & Fauna Reserve.
I now climbed high above the quarry as my track zigged and zagged up a the side of the hill to basically circumnavigate the quarry itself. This was a nice section of the walk although it wasn't exactly easy, on my climb I had long sections of steps to climb and on my descent I had an equally long staircase to drop down. I basically kept right at any intersection of tracks on this bit of the walk, although I had to avoid informal pads leading out to the quarry cliff lines (probably climbers pads). There are a few opportunities to view the old quarry from above along here, including a couple of official lookouts however the views down into the quarry are marginal as regrowth has obscured things a fair bit. Once down off the staircase it was only a couple of minutes before I emerged from the bush to cross Two Bays Road and arrive back at the ute.
Climbing high above the quarry I started to get some views across the Mornington Peninsula... as well as some ominous clouds.
Looking across the Mornington Peninsula in the direction of Westernport Bay.
The Moorooduc Quarry Flora & Fauna Reserve made for the best walking of the afternoon.
I got a bit of a view down into the quarry from the lookout. If you squint you might make out the rock climbers.
The Dirt.
According to my GPS I walked around 8.1 kilometres and climbed around 202 metres on what I'd rate as an easy-medium grade walk. This walk is a walk in two parts really, with the walking in both the Mt Eliza Regional Park and the Moorooduc Quarry Flora & Fauna Reserve being pretty good but the walking in the un-protected western section being a little on the ordinary side. There was basically no signposting or track marking along the length of this stroll when I did it so it's important to keep an eye on your map... and there is an issue with that. While I used my GPS topos as well as a map off Alltrails there are a lot of informal tracks along the length of this walk that aren't mapped. Now being a fairly urban bushland walk you are not really going to get seriously lost, however to complete the two loops as I've walked them will require a bit of navigation. The Mt Eliza Regional Park section of then walk has a few facilities and would be good for a picnic, there is also picnic tables and facilities at the car park on Two Bays Road.
Relevant Posts.
My route contoured above the quarry for awhile...
Before dropping down this long staircase...
... and arriving back at the car park on Two Bays Road.
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