Tatterson Park Wetlands - it was a grey old Melbourne morning.
The light rain was sorely testing my motivation this morning.
Thankfully I'd come prepared with my trekking umbrella.
This little stroll was actually a mash up of two walks that I'd found on Alltrails along with a bit of freelancing thrown in. I've finally shelled out for the Pro version of Alltrails so I was able to navigate off my phone using the Alltrails map, although I still found myself improvising little occasionally as I'd miss a turn (and there were plenty of twists and turns on this stroll). After sloshing my way past some overflowing wetlands I shuffled around an oval before entering a more natural area of Tatterson Park called the Maurie Jarvis Woodland. This section of the park features some bigger trees and is criss crossed by myriad of tracks so things got a little ragged navigation wise as I made my way through the forest to meet up with the lake side track beside Tatterson Lake (which is actually a creek flowing through a series of wetlands).
The wetlands near the Tatterson Pavilion were pretty full this morning.
The Maurie Jarvis Woodland section of the park made for nice walking.
Tatterson Park.
I freelanced a little in the Maurie Jarvis Woodland section of the stroll.
Once on the lakeside track I turned left and headed south for a while. I was now making my way down to the fence line for the Keysborough Golf Course and the walk down here was pleasant enough as I stopped to take in the water views beneath the brooding grey clouds. After crossing over Keylana Drive I continued another few minutes to reach the golf course fence line. Turning right along the fence line I was again improvising a little as I wasn't exactly sure how I'd get across the creek in front of me, although thankfully when I arrived at the creek I could see a rocky ford that allowed me to cross fairly safely with almost dry trail runners. After crossing the creek I was soon turning right onto a sealed path and heading north. I now shuffled off on the long(ish) journey north up to Cheltenham Road.
After leaving woodland section of the stroll I headed south along the lakeside (really wetlands connected by a creek) area of the park.
Tatterson Park Wetlands.
Tatterson Park Wetlands.
Have I mentioned that it was a bit damp this morning...?
At the southern end of the walk I followed this grassy easement...
... and then had a creek crossing to negotiate.
With the sealed path virtually running for the whole length of the walk along the west bank the walking was fairly uneventful along here, although having said that the ringing wet native scrub and the local bird life was enough to keep me interested. Just before I arrived at Cheltenham Road the sealed path swung off to the west and I walked the last few metres across sodden grass before crossing the creek and then following yet another sealed path south. I was now walking the last section of my stroll - a sliver of land between the wetlands and the drive-in Covid testing station and as you may imagine this bit of the walk was a little bit mundane compared to the rest of the stroll. By the time I arrived back at the ute this morning the rain had more or less stopped and by the time I'd made the ten minute journey home the sun had even come out, yes life is pretty ordinary at the moment however I'm still getting some enjoyment out of the small things in life.
Tatterson Park.
The western side of the wetlands is a little more manicured.
There was plenty of bird life on the wetlands.
Walking the western side of the wetlands was mostly on a sealed shared path - there are some nice facilities here for families.
Tatterson Park.
Tatterson Park.
Tatterson Park.
I crossed another short grassy section to get too Cheltenham Road.
The Dirt.
According to my GPS I walked around 5.2 kilometres and climbed about 19 metres on this easy walk. For a suburban parkland walk this stroll throws up a fair variety I think, from manicured ovals, to native woodlands and wetlands - there is something for most people. Most of the paths a well maintained although the extreme southern end of the walk is along a grassy easement features what would normally be a dry creek crossing. As I mentioned I found this walk on Alltrails and it is actually a combination of two different walks on the site. I used the Alltrail map along with my GPS maps today.
Relevant Posts.
The overhead conditions might not look like it however its Springtime in Melbourne.
Walking the last few metres the wet conditions continued.
I'm still not entirely convinced with the whole 'trail runner mantra' - and I'm even less convinced that the non waterproof versions are better than the Gortex lined versions. My feet were pretty well wet for the whole walk in my non waterproof runners - if I'd been in boots my feet wouldn't have been close to being wet. Horses for courses I suppose...
Time to head home for some more lockdown.
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