There is a nice boardwalk section on this walk.
Heading home from a trip out west today I found myself with a few hours to spare, so not wanting to miss an opportunity to go for a walk I decided to drop into the Hovells Creek Reserve at Corio and check things out. Now the last time that I'd visited Corio was many, many decades ago with my old man in his truck. Yes, Corio is generally more well known for its heavy industrial sites than it is for nature and bushwalking. Still, as anyone who drops by my blog would probably already suspect, I quite enjoy doing walks that are a little off the radar and this little stroll was definitely off my radar.
The Trailhead is well signposted.
I was only going as far as the Mangrove Boardwalk this afternoon.
So... leaving the ute at the large car park at the end of Forshore Road I grabbed my pack and set off to explore this side of Limeburners Bay a little. Initially this afternoon I meandered my way north along a sealed shared path that mostly contours a little up above the waterline. The views from my track back towards the yachts at the Corio Bay Yacht Club bobbing in the blue water being particularly good. I was also enjoying the views off the track down to the salt marshes that line this side of Limeburners Bay, the colourful salt tolerant plants that live in the environments always come up good in photographs - particularly under a bright blue sky like I was enjoying this afternoon. After ten minutes or so the track arrived a stile that would of allowed my to get over the fence and onto a side track, although with the stile having an open gate beside it I took the easier option as I headed up to check out the decaying ruins of an old settlers homestead.
The walk starts from the car park above the Corio Bay Yacht Club.
The Hovells Creek Trail skirting around Limeburners Bay.
Limeburners Bay.
Limeburners Bay.
The Hovells Creek Trail.
I made the short side trip to check out this old homestead.
Retracing the hundred metres or so from the old homestead back down to the main track I continued on my walk along the shoreline of Limeburners Bay. I was now shuffling my way towards the spot where Hovells Creek enters Limeburners Bay, a spot that is easily identified by the Mangroves lining the bay at that point. Reaching another track junction I now left the main shared sealed shared path and headed out along what is the best section of this little stroll, a boardwalk that meanders it's way through the Mangroves and out to Hovells Creek. Now while I really enjoyed this bit of my my stroll it wasn't all sweetness and light, being a Mangrove mud flat meant that the sandflies (midges) were pretty horrific and the lack of a breeze wasn't helping the situation. The boardwalk is an out and back job and it finishes at a small platform over Hovells Creek which I guess would make a good spot for a bit of fishing if it weren't for the bloody sandflies (check on the legalities of fishing here first though).
Back on the main track I continued towards Hovells Creek.
There is a substantial amount of birdlife on Limeburners Bay.
I left the Hovells Creek Trail here and dropped down to the Mangroves.
Limeburners Bay birdlife from the boardwalk.
There are some nice views towards the You Yangs along here.
After hopping around taking a photo upstream along Hovells Creek towards the distant You Yangs with one hand, while swatting away the swarms of biting insects with the other, I headed off back along the boardwalk on a fighting retreat. I was now basically retracing my outward route back to the ute and as usual on these retrace type walks I was relying a bit on the change of direction to add a bit of a different perspective. The main change of perspective that I had on my return walk was that of the Geelong skyline looming over the water of Corio Bay in the distance... well that and the Petro Chemical Stacks of Corio looming in the middle distance.
Hovells Creek.
Hovells Creek Reserve.
That's Geelong across Corio Bay in the distance.
Hovells Creek Reserve.
Salt Marsh, Hovells Creek Reserve.
After retracing my way almost back to the ute I decided to change things up bit by walking the salt marsh flats for the last few hundred metres. Just after crossing the last gully on the shared path I passed though a gate and dropped down to water level before heading south for a couple of hundred metres towards a small sand spit. I was a little dubious that the ground here would be firm enough to support my substantial bulk as I had visions of me sinking knee deep into stinking black mud, however thankfully my fears were unfounded (this time!) and I was easily able to negotiate this short section. After getting off the soft damp section I arrived onto a very pretty little sand spit that protruded out into the blue water of Limeburners Bay, now if I closed my eyes and used every ounce of my well developed Feral imagination I could almost imagine I was walking somewhere tropical here... yeah, almost! With no Pina Coladas on offer here though I shuffled my way off the sand spit back to the ute and headed for the Lara BP Service Centre on the M1 for my refreshments, who'd want to be on a tropical island anyway?!
Limeburners Bay.
Heading back along the Hovells Creek Trail and the walk was almost over... yes, it's a short stroll.
I dropped down to the waterline here and walked the salt marsh out to the small sand spit.
Sand spit, Limeburners Bay.
The Dirt.
According to the GPS I walked 4.3 kilometres and climbed 34 metres on this very easy stroll. This walk should be doable for wheelchairs and strollers if you give the short homestead side track a miss (it's pretty average anyway) and stay on the shared path at the end and not drop down onto the salt marsh. As I've mentioned above I like these kind of obscure walks and this one pretty well fits the bill, now more often than not obscure could really be interchanged for crap however in this case the walk was actually pretty good. I particularly like the hardy salt tolerant vegetation that ekes out an existence in these spots and the boardwalk section through the Mangroves made for a comfortable way to get up close and personal. I found this stroll in Julie Mundy' book Best Walks of Geelong, the Bellarine and the Brisbane Ranges and I used those notes and map along with my GPS topos today.
Relevant Posts.
If I really, really used all my imagination I could almost be in the tropics..?
The Corio Bay Yacht Club from the end of the spit.
Limeburners Bay.
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