Coimadai Creek Trail, Long Forest Flora Reserve - June 2021

Nice walking along the Coimadai Creek Trail.

There was a nice flow of water coming down Coimadai Creek today.

This is another of those walks that it had been many years since I'd last step foot on. Coimadai Creek is only a few minutes through Melton and I always seem to be passing through heading for more exotic walking destinations. With a grey winters day forecast ahead of me today I decided that the time was right to head back down to Coimadai Creek in the Long Forest Flora Reserve and check things out again. I've got a few sets of walking notes for this stroll, although with the most recent of my notes dating back to 2005 I was expecting a bit of freelancing this morning, so I was pretty happy to arrive at the small car park off Long Forest Road beside Happy Valley Track and find everything pretty well matching up on my mud map.

This walk is extremely well signposted ... now.

Leaving the ute I headed off into Long Forest to see what I could see. Initially I was aiming to drop down to meet Coimadai Creek along Happy Valley Track and I had memories of this being a particularly tricky section to navigate back in the day... not today though. Happy Valley Track is now well signposted all the way down to Coimadai Creek and while there are still a multitude of tracks heading off into the bush at random tangents everything was pretty clear on the ground. Setting off there were some farming relics slowly rusting away on the forest floor to check out before the Happy Valley Track skirted around a large dam and then settled on a westerly bearing as I made my way down towards the creek. Long Forest Flora Reserve is famous for its Bull Mallee Trees (or maybe that's just the circles that I move within!), which are the only Mallee Trees growing south of the Great Dividing Range.

There is a fair amount of European history out here.

The soil here is pretty poor, however the moss seems to be thriving. 

Apart from agriculture there is a lot of mining history as well.

Dropping down Happy Valley Track towards Coimadai Creek.

Setting off along Coimadai Creek Trail.

After dropping steeply down to Coimadai Creek I took the well signposted Coimadai Creek Trail and headed off up stream. This trail was another surprise, both the fact that it was well signposted and track marked but also that there was an actual track to follow... back in the day I remember making my way upstream using the path of last resistance along the creeks banks, crossing and re-crossing the creek quite a few times as I made my way up to Long Point. The next surprise I had was that the track stayed entirely on the eastern side of the creek, now while that meant no wet boots for me today it also meant that I did a fair bit more climbing than last time as the pad climbed up and over numerous rocky bluffs, this was particularly so on the southern section of the creek walk. After passing by some reminders of the areas old mining heritage and then walking some pretty creek side flats my creekside track eventually deposited me onto Long Point Track, this was basically my turn around point. 

Coimadai Creek Trail.

The southern end of the valley is more of a gorge really.

More mining history down on Coimadai Creek.

Coimadai Creek.

Long Forest Flora Reserve.

Getting closer to Long Point the valley opened up a bit.

Coimadai Creek Trail stays on the eastern side of the creek now... sections of the track can be a little rough though.

Before starting to head back towards the ute I dropped down Long Point Track to check out the ford across Coimadai Creek, it isn't all that common to see a decent flow of water coming down Coimadai Creek so it was nice to see it flowing well this morning. After a quick break on a convenient bench at the Coimadai Creek Trail and Long Point Track junction it was time to make a mile back towards the ute. I now climbed away from Coimadai Creek for awhile as I looped inland along Long Point Track and then back down towards the creek along Coimadai Track. This short inland link is actually better than might be expected I think, as this section passes by some particularly nice Mallee Trees as it winds it's way through the bush. 

Long Point Track crossing Coimadai Creek - this was my turn around point.

Manna Gums at Long Point.

Morning smoko was enjoyed at Long Point.

As I climbed Long Point Track away from the creek I got some nice views.

Climbing Long Point Track.

This is the only spot where these Mallee Trees grow south of the Great Dividing Range.

Dropping back down towards the creek along Coimadai Track the sun finally made an appearance.

Long Forest Flora Reserve.

Back down on the creekside flats and heading south.

Once I'd dropped back down Coimadai Creek to re-join my outward route it was just a matter of retracing my way back downstream. Thankfully the sun was now making a bit of a belated appearance, so even though my walk back along the creek was through familiar territory it was still taking me awhile. Half an hour or so after re-joining Coimadai Creek Trail I arrived back at Happy Valley Track and the hard work began. The climb up Happy Valley Track was probably the hardest section of today's stroll although really the worst of it was over within twenty minutes. Once the steepest bit was over I meandered my way back though the forest, arriving back at the carpark near Happy Valley Track to find it a lot busier than when I'd set off first thing this morning.

Coimadai Creek Trail.

This is the spot where I crossed the creek on my visit here twenty years ago - back in those days there was only a rough pad (at best) to follow. 

Long Forest Flora Reserve.

Long Forest Flora Reserve.

I'm about to climb over that bluff.

Coimadai Creek Trail.

Coimadai Creek.

Climbing back up Happy Valley Track.

The Dirt.

According to my GPS I walked around 11 kilometres and climbed about 277 metres on what I'd call an easy-medium walk. This walk is all on either 4wd or walking tracks, the walk along the Coimadai Creek Trail is a lot more civilised now than it was back when I first walked here. The other thing that I was mildly surprised about today was how well signposted and way marked the tracks were, back in the day the navigation in Long Forest took a fair bit of concentration. Versions of this walk have been written up by various bushwalking guide book writers over the years, I used an old set of Mr Tempest's notes out of his 2005 book Daywalks around Melbourne along with my GPS topos. Interestingly (if you a walking nerd like me!) there is very old book dating back to 2002 called Jack's Track Notes, written by a guy called Jack Myers - this guy is the John Siseman of the country west of Melbourne and it is worth hunting down this book if anyone enjoys walking in the Lerderderg, Long Forest, Werribee Gorge areas.

Relevant Posts.

Pyrites Creek Walk, Lerderderg State Park, 2019.

The Scenic Rim Walk, Lerderderg State Park, 2017.

Happy Valley Track.

Happy Valley Track.

The Long Forest Humpy... needs a little work!

Bull Mallee Trees, Long Forest Flora Reserve.

Long Forest Flora Reserve.

Time to head home.

Brighton to Sandringham Beach Walk - June 2021

The Port Phillip Bay views were pretty constant on this stroll.

Re-walking this stroll has been in the back of my mind for a long time, however being so close to home I've had it down for a day when I didn't have a lot of time to travel for a walk. Luckily for me Melbourne is once again under Corona travel restrictions so, with my walking options a little limited I figured I'd head up to Brighton and do this little Corona Walk. Now this walk is a one way job and while I suspected that it would be a nice enough walk, I wasn't super keen to retrace my steps so I figured that I would utilise our Metro and catch the train one way. 

I started this stroll outside the Brighton Beach Station.

So my afternoons adventure really started when I parked the ute at the Sandringham station and jumped on a train up to the Brighton Beach station. Now I haven't been on a train since the plague hit us a year and a half ago and I've got to say it felt a little odd to be stuck in a metal cocoon with 50 or so strangers, yes it made me ponder what air travel will be like when Australia's Vax rollout is finished in 2030 and we can finally travel again. Anyway, pushing these crazy thoughts of travel out of my head I jumped off the Train in Brighton Beach, re-set the GPS and wandered off to see what I could see. Instead of immediately heading south towards Sandringham though, I shuffled north for a few minutes to check out the view from Green Point. Green Point is nice little park that comes with all the usual suburban park facilities however it also comes with a nice view of the Melbourne CBD in the middle distance.

The Melbourne CBD from Green Point in Brighton.

The Great War memorial at Brighton...honouring our WW1 veterans - not making a statement about war!

After somewhat aimlessly meandering around Green Point for a few minutes I turned south and started shuffling along the coast towards Sandringham. After passing the nice WW1 memorial I picked up the sealed Bay Trail for a short stretch. The Bay Trail is a shared use path and is fairly busy with bikes, dog walkers, joggers and old fat walkers like me all using the path, so it pays to keep left and be aware of the other users. Thankfully I only used the shared path for a few minutes before I branched off onto a crushed granite track that stayed fairly close to the tops of the low coastal cliff as it headed south. 

Brighton Beach.

I followed the Bay Trail south for a few minutes...

... before branching off onto this crushed granite path.

And that's pretty well how the rest of the walk played out. I slowly shuffled my way south along a series of gravel tracks, most of them un-signposted however with the cliffs on one side and the sealed Bay Trail and the busy Beach Road on the other it wasn't hard to stay on track. I'd decided to do this walk late in the afternoon in the hope that I'd get some reasonable sunset photos although the inclement weather that Melbourne has been experiencing mostly put paid to those hopes unfortunately - although I didn't let the overcast skies didn't deter me from trying! 

It was an overcast afternoon.

Looking south the sky looked a bit clearer.

The flash houses lining Beach Road are never far away.

It's not all modern buildings along here.

The Sandringham Yacht Club.

Looking back up towards Melbourne from Picnic Point in Sandringham. 

After passing above the Sandringham Yacht Club my walk burrowed into the coastal scrub for the last time as I passed behind the Trevor Barker Oval (one for my Melbourne readers) on Picnic Point. I was originally going to finish my afternoon's stroll when I reached the old rotunda at the bottom of Melrose Street in Sandringham however I decided to head south for a few more minutes to check out a few more views south towards Red Bluff, although judging by the photos that was a bit of a waste of time, at least it got the stats up a bit though! Leaving the coast here, I crossed over the busy Beach Road, followed Bay Road for a few metres before heading up Station Street back to the Sandringham Station and the end of the walk.

Heading across Picnic Point the track burrowed into the coastal scrub for awhile.

Port Phillip Bay, Sandringham.

That's Red Bluff in the middle distance.

The historic rotunda in Sandringham.

Port Phillip Bay.

Looking back north towards Melbourne.

The Dirt.

According to my GPS I walked around 6.6 kilometres and climbed about 37 metres on this easy stroll this afternoon. The majority of the walk is along a series of crushed granite paths that traverse the thin band of coastal scrub between Beach Street and Port Phillip Bay. There are many opportunities for picnic's, swimming or eating out along this walk. I used one of Tyrone Thomas' old mud maps for this walk out of his old book 40 Bushland & Park Walks in Metropolitan Melbourne and even though the book is almost 20 years old the map and notes are fairly accurate - although I did the walk in the reverse direction to Mr Thomas. I also had a look at Google Maps before leaving home and used my GPS topos on the walk. I parked at the Sandringham Train Station and caught the train up to the Brighton Beach Station (two stops) this afternoon - there was plenty of parking here (on a Saturday, in Winter, during a pandemic!) although it may be harder to find a spot in summer I'm guessing.


Relevant Posts.

Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary Walk, 2015.

Elwood Canal & Foreshore Walk, 2021.

This was as far south as I got this afternoon.

Sandringham

I finished my walk at the Sandringham Station.

There was plenty of parking at the railway station - although that may be different on a weekday or in summer.