Waterbirds were probably the main interest for me in this little park.
This is yet another of my seemingly endless year of Corona Walks. This afternoon Sam and I decided to head up to Namatjira Park and go for a little stroll before dinner. Now if there is one thing most of my Corona Walks had in common that was that they were all pretty... well.... average I suppose I'd say. While the walks were a little on the mundane side that didn't mean that I wasn't enjoying them, after being stuck indoors for 23 hours a day during the worst of our restrictions down here, then just feeling the sun or the breeze on my skin was a pretty good thing at the moment.
The car park for this walk is actually pretty small for such a popular little park.
Namatjira is a pretty famous indigenous name so I was interested to visit this park to see what the link was... and I'm still interested because apart from the name itself I can't see any other obvious link to our indigenous heritage? After parking the ute near the extensive children's playground Sam and I set off to pretty well circumnavigate this little park. Initially we strolled across the extensive lawns as we checked out some huge old Red Gums that were looking good in the late afternoon sunlight. It wasn't the lawn or the Red Gums that I was really interested in though, no I was more interested in the series of lakes and wetlands that had piqued my interest.
We started off walking some nice open parkland.
There are some nice old Red Gums in the park.
The wetlands and the lakes are the main feature of the park.
A microcosm of Australian bush.
Namatjira Park
Namatjira Park is another of those flood retarding parks that are reasonably common through Melbourne's eastern and southern suburbs. From my extensive Feral observations it looks like these small lakes and wetlands are filled from stormwater running off from the nearby suburbs. No that all sounds pretty ordinary however the land managers have done a good job here and the lakes and wetlands are a pleasant oasis in suburban Clayton.
The houses of Clayton were never really out of sight.
Have I mentioned the waterbirds?
I'm thinking that these wetlands are for flood mitigation.
Namatjira Park
Late afternoon in Namatjira Park.
Namatjira Park, Clayton.
The lakes are not only circumnavigated by good shared paths but also crossed on a nice raised boardwalk in one spot. Sam and I walked a figure 8 circuit tonight which meant that we got to walk the raised boardwalk twice, which I think is the best bit of the walk. With the sun fairly low in the western sky now it was helping my photos a bit and the friendly waterbirds also kept us interested for awhile, however really this was fairly mundane little stroll as far a scenery goes, it was only really the joy at being out in the sun that kept us interested this afternoon. Thirty minutes after leaving the ute we were jumping back I and heading home again for some more quality Iso time.
I'm thinking that the wetlands and small lakes are the main feature here.
Namatjira Park, Clayton.
Mom and Dad were keeping a close eye on the teenagers.
Namatjira Park, Clayton.
The Dirt.
Sam and I walked a grand total 1.8 kilometres and climbed 8 metres on what is, needless to say, a very easy stroll. This walk is pretty well all on shared paths so you need to keep an eye out for bikes. There is not a lot of information floating around about this stroll, well at least judging by my extensive two minute Google search anyway. I did find a little a bit of information on Alltrails and based my stroll on that walk, although I freelanced a little in spots. If anyone lives local and has a bit of time on their hands then check out this walk...for everyone else give it a miss unless you are really into waterbirds or have children who you want to let loose in the playground.
The Dirt.
Heading back to the ute. There is a nice children's playground here.
It was time to head home for some more quality Corona Iso time.
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