I started this stroll from the car park below the Queens Road Bridge this morning.
With some big falls of rain in Melbourne over the last couple of days I decided that it might be time to head down to Geelong and re-walk the Barwon River Walk. Basically my theory revolved around the idea that the extra water coming down the river might make Buckley Falls look a little more spectacular, and without wanting to offend all my Geelong readers, these falls need all the help they can get I think! So jumping into the ute bright and early, I set the utes GPS for Deviation Road in Sleepy Hollow... err Geelong (sorry again) and headed off.
Being a Feral walk things didn't go as planned as usual this morning. My first issue was when the utes GPS insisted that the M1 Freeway was closed, now for any of my friends who don't live in Melbourne then the M1 is really the only viable road when travelling from the south eastern suburbs out west to Geelong. Thankfully my foggy brain (it was around 5:30am) cleared enough for me to realise that the freeway had been closed for overnight construction, however I was thinking that by the time I passed through it should be open again - and so it was thankfully. It was all sweet then as I swung off the Geelong By-Pass onto the Henty Highway before shortly after arriving at Deviation Road...to find it closed! So with my original starting point now off the cards I headed off on an early morning tour of the pretty well deserted streets of Geelong. After a lot of meandering around I eventually dropped down to meet the Barwon River beside the Queens Park Road Bridge and picked up Mr Chapmans walk notes from there.
There were a few other early morning punters out and about this morning.
There is a nice section of boardwalk along the edge of a pretty billabong just downstream from the Queens Park Road Bridge.
It was well before 8am when I shuffled off downstream this morning, the Barwon River along here almost gorge like as it slowly snaked its way towards the sea. With the sun out it was a gorgeous morning and my mood was helped by the fact that I was only really sharing the path with the occasional easy morning dog walkers, joggers, walkers and bike riders.... now remember this is a Feral walk...shuffling around a corner lost in my own joie de vivre I looked up and was confronted with a wall of sweaty humanity running in my direction at full tilt... fuck me! Yes, it seems I'd managed to time my stroll with the local Park Run and so for the next five minutes or so I was braced for impact as these guys (and they were pretty well all guys!) seemed to be taking the whole fun run thing pretty seriously and the thought that someone else might also be on the path didn't appear to be getting through their red mist. Thankfully it was only the guys at the front of the herd that were the problem, once the faster guys had come through then the rest of the mixed crew were very friendly, courteous and polite... hey, I even got a couple of smiles which is all it really takes to brighten my day.
It was very nice walking initially as I followed the shared path downstream...
... I even had some public art to check out.
Now that's not something I see on every walk.
Here comes the Park Run crew.
After safely negotiating the Park Runners I continued shuffling my way down steam, figuring that all my Feral conundrums would now be over for the day and I'd be able to complete the remainder of the walk under a blue sky and with a tail wind... yeah, nah. After passing beneath Shannon Avenue I arrived at the section of the Barwon River that is set up for rowing regattas, only to find a regatta in full swing, not just any rowing regatta but a private schoolgirls rowing regatta - now can anyone see where this is going? Meandering my way downstream through the throngs of proud parents and their teenage daughters I decided that it would be prudent to keep the DSLR in its holster for awhile, yes nothing really says creepy more than old, fat bloke in funny looking outdoor clothes and a dorky hat carrying a big camera through large groups of lycra clad teenage girls! My regatta issues weren't over though even though I'd pretty well given up on photos, my next issue was that after passing beneath the flash looking Macintyre Pedestrian Bridge I arrived at a sign telling me that only athletes were allowed any further down river, hmm. After considering my dilemma for at least three seconds I decided to continue shuffling my way downstream... after all I'm obviously an athlete!
I remember thinking to myself about now that there was a lot of boats out and about...
... it seemed as though there was a heat coming through every 5 minutes or so.
Approaching the main regatta area I decided that it would be prudent to put the camera away for awhile.
After passing beneath the Barwon Bridge I soon arrived at the start of the Wal Whiteside Walk as the river swung more southerly again. The good news now was that I'd managed to safely negotiate my way through the regatta area and the Park Run crowd and things were pretty quiet again on my walk. The Wal Whiteside Walk commemorates old Wal's service for various waterboards in the Geelong area over the years and this section of this mornings stroll was a surprisingly good one. While the track was meandering downstream passing through an industrial area of South Geelong for the most part the industrial buildings were screened out fairly well by a nice belt of native scrub. With some light rain now passing through I crossed over the low level Breakwater Road Bridge and started my journey back up stream, the low level bridge, along with the nearby railway bridge adding a different perspective to the river.
The Wal Whiteside Walk was a nice section of my stroll.
The Wal Whiteside Walk.
On reaching these old factories it signalled the spot for me to cross the river and start heading back up stream.
Crossing the low level Breakwater Road Bridge - check out the flood levels!
The Barwon River at Breakwater Road.
The Barwon River near the Breakwater Road Bridge.
Heading back up stream the riverside path starts off passing between the Barwon Valley Golf Club and the river before a little later on meandering through the Belmont Common. There are a few spots as the track passes through the common where it was possible to leave the hard surfaced shared path for short stretches and take softer, more informal pads through the Casuarinas closer to the river bank. Arriving back at the Barwon Bridge the showers of rain had pretty well passed on now and so I walked the busier middle section of the walk mostly under blue skies. I was now back in the rowing regatta area although thankfully now I was on the opposite side of the river to the Boat Sheds which meant that things were a little quieter over here and I was a little more comfortable using the DSLR.
I had an opportunity to take a few informal detours off the shared path as I walked through the Belmont Common.
Nice walking through a She Oak Grove in Belmont Common.
I was on the opposite side of the river to the flash Boat Sheds now. Incidentally for any AFL fans that's the lights of Kardinia Park in the background.
I felt a little safer taking a few photos on this side of the river.
Approaching the Macintyre Footbridge. The rowing lane numbers are in yellow on the side of the bridge.
Historically Geelong was pretty much an industrial city so there is often old industrial sites in the background.
The Promenade section of my walk was along an old closed road.
I was now starting my walk along the Stan Lewis Walk section of this mornings stroll, from what I can ascertain Stan worked as a maintenance supervisor for the local waterboard back in the day and as with the Wal Whiteside section earlier, this section of the walk was a good one. The track was now once again fairly quiet as I shuffled along, sometimes down near the water level however often higher up the steep slopes lining the river valley. Arriving back at the Queens Park Road Bridge I passed underneath and continued my walk, now heading up towards Buckley Falls. Once again this section of the walk was wedged between a golf course and the river so it was pretty peaceful. After avoiding my return route (which crosses over the river here) I shuffled the last kilometre up to the Buckley Falls area. Buckley Falls is another point of interest named after William Buckley, the escaped convict that lived for many years with the local indigenous people back in the early 1800's. Like I mentioned earlier the falls themselves can be a little underwhelming sometimes, more of a cascade than a waterfall really, so today I decided to home in on smaller sections of the cascading water to see if I could get a decent photo - with fairly mixed results really so I ended up going with the complete Buckley Falls complex in this post.
Sulphur Crested Cocky.
The boats continued as I made my way up stream along the Stan Lewis Walk - although there was a lot less tight lycra on this stretch of the river!
I've just passed beneath the Shannon Avenue Bridge on the Stan Lewis Walk.
Arriving back at the Queens Park Bridge... I continued on up stream.
My shared path now tracked along the edge of the Queens Park Golf Course as I headed for Buckley Falls.
With my enthusiasm levels running a bit low I started shuffling back downstream again. Now while the falls themselves are a little underwhelming (in my humble opinion) there is an old paper mill on the other side of the river here which is quite photogenic I think, so after retracing my route for a few minutes I dropped down a long staircase to reach the water level opposite the old mill to check things out. With some rapids below me and the blue stone buildings of the mill above, this was a nice spot really and was probably the quietest and most remote feeling spot along today's walk. I was now able to follow the river bank downstream for a few minutes to re-join my outward route at the Buckley Falls Picnic Area where I then dropped back down the shared path to cross the Barwon River at the spot I eluded to earlier.
Buckley Falls.
The old bluestone paper mill on the other side of the river at Buckley Falls is arguably more photogenic than the falls I think.
I dropped down some stairs to the river level - this was easily the roughest section of the walk, although it was easily avoidable.
My low level route allowed me to check out some nice rapids below the old mill.
Once across the Barwon River I walked the sealed shared path through some nice parkland before swinging north across the Moorabool River before turning and flowing the river downstream towards it's confluence with the Barwon River. After the two rivers met I continued shuffling down the sealed path, now back beside the Barwon River again... and I was shuffling now. Once again my feet and legs were feeling pretty sore today. I'm not sure whether it's my trail runners that are hard on my feet and lower legs or it's the harder surfaces on which I normally choose trail runners over boots that causes me an issue? Whatever it is I've found that anything over 20 kilometres on these hard, shared path type tracks really has me feeling pretty sore where as out in the bush I can push out 30 kilometres in fairly hard terrain in my boots and not have my feet and legs feel anywhere near this tender. Anyway, I must have looked like I needed a Zimmer frame this afternoon as I walked the last few metres back to the ute down through the steep valley to the car park at the Queens Park Road Bridge.
After crossing over the Barwon River the shared path crossed over this anabranch of the Moorabool River...
... and soon afterwards I crossed the Moorabool River.
I followed the shared path downstream along the Moorabool River before meeting the Barwon River.
The Dirt.According to my GPS I walked around 22.1 kilometres and climbed around 120 metres on what I'd call a medium-hard grade stroll (My GPS did drop a cog during the walk and I've taken a little distance off to compensate for that). Now the only reason that I'd rate the walk as a medium-hard grade is because of the distance, in every other respect things are pretty straight forward - apart from a very short section at Buckley Falls the complete walk was along sealed paths, the route is mostly well signposted and there are opportunities to get water, use a toilet or enjoy a break at a picnic table. This walk is probably best done on a cool and clear mid week winters morning I'm thinking if, like me, you like to avoid crowds. This walk was written up in the House of Chapmans book Day Walks Melbourne and the map and notes in the book are all that is really needed, I used my GPS topos as well today.
Relevant Posts.
I shuffled my wayback to the ute under bright sunshine.
Back at the Queens Park Bridge car park - time to head off on my next adventure.
