Coolart Wetlands & Homestead Walk - November 2021

Dropping down Woodlands Track towards Merricks Creek. That's Western Port Bay in the distance.

This little walk was yet another Sunday morning stroll with Sam. Once again we'd decided on a take-away coffee and toasties rather than risk being deemed close contacts of anyone sitting in a café which is how we found ourselves parking the ute down at the historic Coolart Homestead. The old homestead here is now managed by Parks Vic as both an historical site and a wildlife refuge. After re-setting the GPS Sam and I meandered off heading left, along the track in front of the visitor centre. Now while that piece of information doesn't exactly make for riveting reading, it is a fairly important piece of navigational advice. Thankfully once we were sure we were on the correct track the going was pretty straightforward for the rest of the walk.

There is plenty of parking outside the visitor centre.

Woodland Track.

Once we located the start of Woodland Track the navigation was pretty easy.

With the homestead dating back to 1895 and some of the out buildings being even older than that it's not surprising that the grounds of the old estate feature quite a bit of introduced flora, yes I'd say for the most part our early European Settlers weren't big raps on our native bush. Heading south along the grassy Woodlands Track it wasn't long before we had passed through the Radiate Pines and founds ourselves back in the more familiar Casuarina, Banksia and Eucalyptus forests as we headed in the general direction of the coast. 

Nice walking through the coastal scrub along Woodlands Track.

Woodland Track.

Reaching the bridge over Merricks Creek we made the short side trip down to the beach to check things out.

Reaching the signposted beach access track we crossed Merricks Creek on the substantial bridge and wandered out to Somers Beach to check things out. I've done a lot of walking over the years on this quiet side of the Mornington Peninsula and arriving at the deserted Western Port Bay beach we certainly weren't in any danger of being over run this morning. Leaving the beach Sam and I retraced our route back over Merricks Creek before swing left onto the imaginatively named Loop 2 Track and following the creek up stream for awhile, crossing a tributary and passing through some nice coastal scrub as we pretty much walked all the way west to Balnarring. 

There is a nice boardwalk section on the beach track.

Looking across to The Nobbies on Phillip Island.

Looking west towards Point Leo...

... and looking even further west towards the cliffs near Flinders.

Nice walking on Loop 2 Track.

Loop 2 Track paralleled Merricks Creek. 

This creek was named Home Creek I think, although on the map it just looks like a tributary of Merricks Creek.

I'll go with Home Creek.

Just as the houses on the outskirts of Balnarring started to come into view through the trees Sam and I swung right and started heading back towards the homestead precinct along Loop 4 (we had already walked a short section of Loop 3). Our walk back east mostly stayed fairly close to the cleared rural land that abuts the northern boundary of the small park, although not the most part we only got fleeting looks at the farmland. What we did get a good look at though was a series of wetlands with their large populations of waterbirds which we were able to observe from firstly the Antechinus, and then the Crake and Minsmere Bird Hides. Now I'm not exactly all over the different species of waterbirds here, however even for an amateur like me this was an interesting part of the walk.

Approaching Balnarring we swung back east...

... and started passing close to some rural land. 

It's kind of ironic however it seems as though the bush is looking better since Covid arrived (or maybe it has more to do with a couple of good years of rain!).

This a a great spot for bid watching... although don't ask me what species of bird I'm looking at!

Passing through the wetlands at the Coolart Wetlands & Homestead Reserve.

After enjoying watching the birdlife from the two storey Minsmere Bird Hide, Sam and I started the last leg of our mornings stroll back through the manicured grounds of the Coolart Homestead to the ute. The grounds of the old homestead are well worth spending some time checking out I think, in fact I think a lot of punters may not venture further into the reserve than the homestead grounds. Some of the old buildings here are open to the public normally, although this morning Sam and I had to be content checking then out from the outside as they were all closed off (maybe that's a Covid thing or maybe we were there too early on a Sunday morning?). Once I'd attempted to get a fresh photo of the homestead we wandered through the nice gardens and lawn back to the visitor centre and the ute.

The second half of the walk had a more open and rural feel.

Minsmere Bird Hide.

Bin Chickens... right?

The Dirt.

According to my GPS we walked around 4.8 kilometres and climbed about 22 metres on this easy stroll. This was another walk that I got off Alltrails although Parks Vic has some free stuff online and Google Maps may get you through safely. The birds life along with the historical interest are probably the highlight of the walk although the wild and deserted beach is also an attraction and it would make a nice spot for a swim on a hot day. The grounds and gardens of Coolart Homestead would also be a nice spot for a picnic.

Relevant Posts.

Point Leo to Balnarring Walk, 2015.

Red Hill Rail Trail Walk, 2020.

Some of the out buildings pre date the old Coolart Homestead.

Coolart Homestead.

Coolart Homestead dates back to 1895.

Here's one I took earlier.

Passing back through the visitor centre. I'm not sure whether it was because of Covid, the early hour, or the staffing budget however for whatever reason the visitor centre was closed on this visit.