The Gurdies Nature Conservation Reserve Walk - November 2021

There was a surprising amount of wildlife on this walk.

I've driven past The Gurdies many times as I've motored down to the more exotic Phillip Island however I'd never really considered stopping here, actually I'd never even realised there was a network of walking and 4wd tracks radiating out through the forest. With only a few hours to spare today I was scrolling through Alltrails looking for something fairly short and reasonably local when I noticed a little icon hovering over The Gurdies. Clicking on the link it looked like the walk could be a goer, although as with a lot of Alltrails walks, working out the exact legality of the whole route would only come once I was actually walking it. So anyway that's how I found myself parking the ute at the small picnic area beside the Bass Highway at Pioneer Bay fairly late in the afternoon on what had been a pretty damp Melbourne day.

There is room for about 10-15 vehicles in the small carpark at the start of this walk.

Thankfully by the time I meandered off into the scrub and away from the highway the showers had more or less passed through. After crossing into the park I headed right (south) for about a minute before picking up a signposted walking track on the left that headed gently up hill and further away from the traffic noise. The sandy walking track soon arrived at another signposted track junction where I swung left and started climbing a sandy 4wd track as I headed deeper into the park. The forest here is mostly stringybark with an understory of bracken and judging by their numbers it seems to be a popular place for the local roos... and mozzies. I'd already diverted off my Alltrails route by now as I explored the middle of the park (the Alltrail route pretty well follows the outside boundary), although after a bit of freelancing and a short off piste section I re-joined the Alltrails route as it passed by a sand quarry.

This walking track starts a few metres to the south of the picnic area - heading off the 4wd perimeter track.

The Gurdies Nature Conservation Reserve.

The tracks here are mostly well signposted.

Nice easy 4wd track walking.

 Today's attempt at an arty wanker blogger shot!

After a fairly wet winter the bush was looking good today.

Once back on the official route I climbed up to the highest point on the walk at the Dunbabbin Road Picnic Area where there are some nice views down over Westernport Bay. I now started a fairly long and gentle descent down along the southern boundary of the park to the historic Grantville Cemetery, swatting away the mozzies every time I stopped for a minute to take a photo. While sections of this track were pretty damp underfoot the sandy base meant that mud wasn't much of an issue, and for much of the descent the long range views compensated for any hardships. Arriving at Grantville Cemetery I spent a little time exploring the old graves, this was one of the first areas settled by Europeans in Victoria and there are quite a few grave sites at this cemetery dating back well into the 1800's.

The late afternoon view down over Weternport Bay from near the Dunbabbin Road Picnic Area.

Leaving the Dunbabbin Road Picnic Area there was a couple of slightly overgrown sections. 

While the weather was dry for the most part there was still a lot of weather around. 

Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to tape off this tree fall - a thirty second scrub bash got me easily around it.

The sandy base...

...meant that I mostly kept my boots dry.

Although this section tested my boots!

Still dropping down towards the cemetery.

The Gurdies Nature Conservation Reserve.

With yet another light shower scudding in off Westernport Bay I climbed the fence (near the Bass Highway) and picked up another sandy 4wd track that looks like it's both a fire break and an access track for The Gurdies. This sandy 4wd track parallels the Bass Highway as it heads north-east back towards Pioneer Bay and with the busy highway only 100 metres away through the scrub the traffic noise was fairly constant along this section, although to be honest it wasn't overly obtrusive. Now anyone who has driven the Bass Highway between Pioneer Bay and Grantville will know that there isn't much in the way of hills, however following the 4wd track meant that I had a few soft sandhills to slog my way up and over and with me still carrying quite a few extra Covid kilos I felt it a bit on this section. By the time I arrived back at the ute thirty minutes after leaving the cemetery, the showers had once again passed through and the scrub was bathed in a soft, golden afternoon light - quite a nice way to finish off what had been a fairly nice stroll.

The historic Grantville Cemetery. 

French Island from Grantville Cemetery.

The side fence is barbed wire - the fence along the Bass Highway is easier to climb.

Moss and Paperbark. 

This sandy track parallels the Bass Highway but features a bit more climbing...

... and descending than the highway.

The Dirt.

According to my GPS I walked around 8.3 kilometres and climbed about 163 metres on what I'd call an easy-medium grade stroll. While most of the tracks are clear and fairly well signposted (mostly) I did improvise one short section which required a bit of an off track scrub bash for a few minutes which pushed the rating up a bit - if anyone just follows the Alltrails version of the walk then I'd call it an easy stroll. There is a picnic area at the start of the walk and one at the eastern (top) end at the Dunbabbin Road Picnic Area - I dind't notice toilets or water at either of these spots. The Granville Cemetery may have water and a toilet although once again I didn't go out of my way to look. I used the Alltrails map along with my GPS topos on this stroll.

Relevant Posts.

George Bass Coastal Walk, 2016.

Churchill Island Walk, 2021.

By the time I finished the walk the sun was out again.

The picnic area could do with a little love - I'm thinking that we need to utilise this small park, as with sand mines each side I'm sure there are people keen to exploit it.

Over crowding won't be an issue here I don't think.

Looking at those dark clouds I'm thinking that I finished just in time!

River Gum Creek Reserve Walk - October 2021

River Gum Creek Wetlands.

On this afternoons Covid lockdown walk I pushed my bubble out to visit the bright lights of Narre Warren, also referred to as the Covid badlands at the moment as the case numbers are skyrocketing in that area of Melbourne currently. After parking the ute in the Oakgrove Community Centre car park this afternoon I re-set my GPS and wandered off to see what I could see. 

Oakgrove Community Centre was my start point today.

Basically the plan for today was to follow the course of River Gum Creek all the way downstream until I reached Hallam Road where I'd turn around and head back to the ute, and that's pretty well how things panned out really. A fair chunk of this stroll was along concrete shared path and that's what I set off along first up, quickly passing through the Baringa Park Drive Reserve playground before skirting along the back fence of a local school. Really the first section of the walk was a little mundane however after crossing over Seeback Drive things improved...a bit. After Seeback Drive the River Gum Creek actually flows above ground and from here on I was also walking past a series of wetlands (sediment settling ponds) as I made my way towards Hallam Road.

Yes, I was struggling one again to find something interesting to blog about.

I walked concrete paths for a fair chunk of the walk. 

Once again Melbourne had been blessed with a decent sized fall of rain last night, so on my walk this afternoon I had the added challenge of trying to keep my trail runners fairly dry as I sloshed my way through some fairly decent sized puddles, although thankfully I was more or less successful in making it through with dry feet. The closer I got to Hallam Road the better the walking got this afternoon and approaching my turn around point I was passing by some decent sized lakes that looked pretty nice in the late afternoon light. After consulting the map I decided the circumnavigate the last and largest of the lakes as I started my return journey and in retrospect this was probably the best section of the walk as there are some nice boardwalks and lookouts. 

We'd had a fair dump of rain last night which meant keeping my feet dry was a bit of a challenge. 

There was a bit of birdlife about.

River Gum Creek.

Late afternoon in River Gum Creek Reserve.

The fluffy grey cygnets came over to see what I was up to.

My walk back was pretty much as uneventful as I'd imagined. I enlivened my return walk by taking a couple of short detours to check out a few more creek viewing spots as well a short cut or two, although as you can probably tell by my half arsed right up I was once again struggling for inspiration. Arriving back at the ute just before the sun went down I headed off home, arriving at my front door less than thirty minutes later - about the only positive benefit of these lockdowns.

Heading back to the ute I took a few variants.

River Gum Reserve Walk.

These small wetlands are actually sediment settling ponds. 

River Gum Reserve Walk.

The Dirt.

According to my GPS I walked around 9.3 kilometres and climbed about 59 metres on this easy stroll. This walk is probably suitable for wheelchairs and prams as there are good surfaces and no steps or stairs. The Hampton Park Shopping Centre is on the opposite side of Hallam Road at the turn around point of the stroll so I guess that you could get a drink or a bite to eat there. Being a suburban park there are plenty of picnic facilities around and I also passed a couple of children's playgrounds along the length of the walk. I found this walk on Alltrails, the walk as I did it was actually the combination of two walks which added a bit of interest (and distance). I used the Alltrails App and my GPS maps on the stroll, Google Maps will also get most people through safely.

Relevant Posts.

Lynbrook Creek Trail, 2021.

Wilson Botanic Park Walk, 2020.

Most of the better creek and wetland views are actually on side tracks of the main track. 

Once again it was time to head home for some more quality lockdown time. 

Kingston Heath Walk - October 2021

I'd only ever heard about the golf courses at Kingston Heath.

Kingston Heath is prime time golfing country. Situated right in the middle of Melbourne's sand belt region all I knew about the area was that it was home to some famous golf courses. With Melbourne still being in a Covid Lockdown my options were a little limited for a walk this morning, after seeing this little stroll pop up on my Alltrails feed and then realising that it was within my Covid travel zone I decided to head up and check things out. It was just after sunrise when I parked the ute in the empty carpark off Centre Dandenong Road this morning, re-set my GPS and wondered off into Kingston Heath to see what I could see.

It was a grey and overcast start to the day.

After passing through a very impressive children's playground I picked up a gravel path heading off into the park to the north-east. This area of the park is really just a series of sporting ovals dissected by some tree lined walking paths, so the walking was a little mundane first up, a situation not helped by the grey overhead conditions. After passing a lookout over a tiny patch of remnant bushland I continued on to skirt some more ovals as I made across to the western extremities of the small park. The suburban sporting oval walking continued as I made me way north a little, checking out a few baby Corella's along the way. Finally, after crossing the park again to reach the north-eastern extremity of the little reserve I arrived at the equally small Kingston Heath Botanical Gardens.

There is a very small patch of remnant bush in the middle of the park.

I'm thinking that these are juvenile Corellas... although that could be a Feral Fact!

Kingston Heath Reserve.

Kingston Heath Reserve.

The Kingston Heath Botanical Gardens are by far the best bit of this stroll in my opinion and it was nice to be back walking through something vaguely resembling native bush after all the sporting ovals. Unfortunately the botanical gardens are very small so the nice walking was over pretty quickly, however if I ever find myself back over at Kingston Heath I think this is the first bit of the park that I'd head to (unless I had ankle biters in tow and then the playground would be hard to go past). After leaving the botanical park I once again resumed my suburban sporting oval tour, making my way across the park again to the western side before finally dropping back down to the ute.

Kingston Heath Botanical Gardens.

Kingston Heath Botanical Gardens.

After leaving the botanic gardens my suburban sporting oval walk continued.

Kingston Heath Reserve.

Heading across to the western side of the park.

The Dirt.

According to my GPS I walked around 2.5 kilometres and climbed about 4 metres on this easy but fairly mundane stroll. Look, I suppose if you live locally and want somewhere to stretch your legs and re-boot mentally then this park would do the job (judging by the amount of empty alcoholic beverages stacked up around the overflowing bins in the children's playground areas it appears as though a lot of locals are doing some recharging of their own whilst there children let off some lockdown steam!). This walk would be suitable for wheelchairs or prams as there are no steps and this is a reasonably smooth crushed granite surface. I used the Alltrails Map along with my GPS topos this morning, Google Maps will also get you through.

Relevant Posts.

Karkarook Park Walk, 2020.

Namatjira Park Walk, 2020.

The Gravillias added a splash of colour...

... on what was a pretty grey and dreary morning.

Back at the ute - there is a massive carpark at the front of this reserve, I'm guessing it's to service the Capital Golf Course which abuts the reserve.