This little stroll wasn't without its attractions.
With the café closed for the day we were able to park in their car park.
Thinking to myself that I'd needed everything going for me if I was going to find anything worth photographing on this suburban stroll I decided to do the walk just on sunset. So after parking in the small carpark near the Nest at Waterways Café, Sam (yes, I'd roped her in) and I set off heading into the low sun. The aim of this walk was to circumnavigate a couple of the artificial lakes that are a feature of the Waterways Estate and as I've eluded to, initially we headed off west. Now I'm not sure if these lakes actually have a name, if they are named then I can't work it out? With the nomenclature of the lakes doubtful I'll stick to size to differentiate between the different bodies or water, as we left the café Sam and I were following the shoreline of the big central lake - for a couple of minutes.
It was pretty late in the day when we set off on this stroll.
Approaching Bowen Parkway beside the big lake. Most of the walk was along a good shared path.
After a short stretch of lakeside walking we crossed over Bowen Parkway and started our circumnavigation of the second smaller lake, once again walking a well maintained gravel path. There is a good amount of public art along the length of this stroll and this little lake was no exception in that respect, the different installations adding a lot of interest to what is really a fairly run of the mill stroll. Reaching a section of boardwalk Sam and I now started a fairly long walk eastwards as we walked the southern shorelines of the two lakes. To get around the smaller lake meant we had a short stretch through the suburban streets of Waterways before we passed through an easement to once again reach the shoreline only to almost immediately climb up to cross Bowen Parkway again. This little section of the walk features a few stone steps and is really the only thing stopping this walk being suitable for wheelchairs and strollers, if one of my wheeled brothers or sisters wants to check out this route then it's easy enough to bypass the steps by staying on Portland Place, going left, left and the rejoining the lakeside path off Bowen Parkway (checkout the map - it's all pretty strait-forward).
Late afternoon on the small lake at Waterways.
There is some nice public art scattered around this walk.
There is a nice boardwalk around the western end of the small lake.
After a short suburban section we used this easement to gain the lake shore again.
We were now making our way around the bigger lake, once again on a good gravel path. The sun was getting quite low now and as we made our way around the eastern end of the lake we got some nice reflections of the setting sun in the still water, the early evening ambiance doing a lot for my mental health. Feeling a little better about the world, Sam and I were on the last short section of this anorexic walk now and our night got even better when some huge water fountains suddenly fired up. I'm thinking that the two (yes, there is one at each end of the lake) might be timed to fire up when the sun goes down, or maybe it was just a coincidence? Whatever the case the floodlit fountains added a certain wow factor to our suburban stroll and it's definitely worth heading down here to check it out if you live fairly local. Once past the second fountain our walk was pretty well over now, after making our way through the deserted outdoor dining area for the Nest at Waterways Café we finished our easy early evening Covid stroll. Heading home tonight on the five minute drive I was certainly in a better headspace than before leaving home, I just hope these little adventures are enough to keep me sane for what looks like another couple of months of lockdown.
Heading back around the bigger lake - the local houses almost back onto the lake along here.
It's getting a bit late now - not that we had anywhere that we had to be!
Waterways
Waterways
The Dirt.
According to my GPS we walked around 2.8 kilometres and climbed about 27 metres on this easy afternoons stroll. As I mentioned this walk would be suitable for prams or wheelchairs with just a slight detour (check out the map). This would also be a nice walk for children as there are plenty of wide open spaces for them to burn off some excess energy. It's also a good walk for birdwatchers with the lakes home to numerous waterbirds. I found this walk on the Alltrails website although Google Maps will get most people through ok - I used my GPS maps today.
Relevant Posts.
Meandering our last few metres back to the ute - the photo doesn't show it accurately, however it was pretty well dark by now.
I'm guessing that the fountains fire up when the sun goes down...?
The author doing his best to get a half decent shot.
Back at the Nest at Waterways Café. Once again, even a little stroll like this one had lifted my spirits.
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