Kananook Creek, Long Island Walk - May 2021

Kananook Creek entering Port Phillip Bay beneath Mile Bridge in Frankston.

With a cracker of a late Autumn day forecast I decided to make the most of the great weather and get in another beach walk. I've already posted about walks that I've done further up stream along Kananook Creek, so today I decided to walk the section that I've never posted about before, the Long Island section at Frankston. Anyway that's how I found myself slipping out of the warm ute into a frigid 4˚ morning outside the Long Island Tennis Club early this morning.

There is a bit of parking near the Long Island Tennis Club.

The trail is well signposted heading off from Gould Street.

Crossing Gould Street I almost immediately arrived at Kananook Creek and turned down the signposted Kananook Creek Walking Trail towards Frankston. Even a lot of locals don't know of the existence of this quiet walking track so I wasn't surprised that the ducks were out numbering the people this morning. The good track initially follows the western bank of the creek as I headed south, the small lineal reserve running along a narrow corridor beside the sluggish creek. There were a couple of spots where it would of been possible to cross the creek and head up towards the Nepean Highway however the go is to stay on the western side until the track finishes and there is no choice but to cross the creek.

Kananook Creek Trail.

Kananook Creek.

Tea Trees along Kananook Creek.

I wasn't totally alone this morning.

Once over the bridge and on the eastern bank the nice walking continued for awhile as the track meandered along through the Tea Trees, sometimes along nice boardwalks and never far from the creek. All too soon I emerged from my tunnel of bush and arrived onto the back streets of Frankston's CBD. Now the walking from where I emerged into suburbia at Wells Street to the mouth of Kananook Creek was definitely not a bush walk it was still pleasant enough. Kananook Creek is tidal for much of it's length and with low tide approaching this morning there was a decent flow of water heading down the shallow creek.

The Kananook Creek Trail crosses to the eastern side of the creek here.

Kananook Creek.

Once on the east side of the creek the trail follows a long section of boardwalk...

... before emerging from the bush into Frankston.

The creek is very tidal and shallow by the time it passes through Frankston. 

Kananook Creek, Frankston.

After passing behind the Pier Hotel my walk once again improved as I approached the mouth of Kananook Creek. This is a popular boat launching spot on Port Phillip Bay although the mouth of the creek needs fairly regular dredging, and at low tide it's easy to see why the authorities need to keep the dredging up. Arriving at Mile Bridge I crossed over Kananook Creek and started my journey north back up to the ute.

Kananook Creek, Frankson.

Mile Bridge, Frankston.

Kananook Creek breaking out into Port Phillip Bay.

Olivers Hill, with Mt Eliza in the distance.

Initially on my stroll back to the ute I followed a long section of boardwalk along the foreshore as it passed through the Frankston Foreshore Reserve until I arrived at Waves on the Beach café. Once at the café I had to drop down to water level and walk the beach for the rest of the distance (actually it is possible to avoid the beach walk by walking the very suburban Gould Street). I've mentioned it before however Melbourne's bay beaches can be pretty hit or miss when it comes to walking on them, although thankfully this morning I scored a hit, with plenty of firm sand to walk along.

Port Phillip Bay was looking good this morning.

Heading north I followed a nice boardwalk initially. 

Frankston Foreshore Park.

Wandering down to water level I headed north along the extensive series of sand banks that had been exposed by the low tide. Whereas the Kananook Creek section of the walk had been pretty quiet as far as people go this morning my beach stroll on the other hand was super busy. Heading north now I was weaving my way through a mix of dog walkers, joggers and others like me who were just out enjoying the beautiful Melbourne Autumn morning. As I started to pass by the flash beach side houses of Long Island I knew that the walk was getting close to the end now. When the beach houses lining the foreshore were replaced by natural bush it signalled the spot for me to pick up the sandy beach access track that would take me up to the ute. After trudging my way past the Long Island Tennis Club along the softest sand of the walk my nice easy mornings stroll was complete and it was time to make the short drive home for a late breakfast. 

Hitting the sand it looked like I had some nice and firm exposed sandbanks to walk.

Progress is being made - Frankston Pier is getting further away.

Port Phillip Bay, Long Island.

Boat Sheds at Long Island.

The Dirt.

According to my GPS I walked around 4.4 kilometres and climbed about 17 metres on this easy walk. The Kananook Creek Trail section of the walk is all along a shared path so it's pretty easy going, the difficulty of the beach side return walk will depend a lot on the tides and the swell, it was super easy this morning though. As far as I know this walk has never been published although I'm sure that there would be something floating around on-line about it. I had a bit of a look at Google Earth before setting off and used my GPS topos on the stroll, that said just about any map should get people through safely as the walk follows a substantial creek, a beach, and the busy Nepean Highway is never too far away.

Relevant Posts.

Kananook Creek & Seaford Foreshore Walk, 2021.

Mornington to Frankston Coastal Walk, 2014.

If the temperature wasn't hovering around 4˚ there might be a chance.

My last look out over Port Phillip Bay before heading up to the ute.

The last few metres of this mornings stroll provided the softest walking for the day.

Kananook Creek & Seaford Foreshore Walk - May 2021

This post was written the week before Melbourne launched into Covid lockdown #4... little did I know!

Early morning on Kananook Creek.

I was actually planning a walk up Mt Donna Buang today, however apathy struck me down and instead of leaping out of bed before dawn and heading off on the 90 minute drive up to Warburton I turned over and went back to sleep. Waking an hour or so later I re-assessed my days plans, not really feeling like a big drive I decided to go for a local stroll. I'd looked at this walk when we were in our Covid lockdown last year. I'd decided against doing it then as it would of pushed the boundaries of my 5 kilometres from home travel limit a little too far - and I'm a stickler for rules! With no local travel restrictions at the moment and a beautiful sunny late Autumn morning I decided that today was the day.

I started this stroll opposite Keast Park beside the Nepean Highway.

Jumping into the ute I set off on the 5 minute drive to the spot where I'd planned to start this stroll at Keast Park in Carrum, although after checking out the time limited parking restrictions I decided to park outside the park on the Nepean Highway instead. It was around 8:30am by the time I finally shouldered my pack and shuffled off north along the Nepean Highway this morning, initially following the footpath for a few minutes before picking up the a track that passed beneath the railway line on a shared path. Once underneath the railway line I pretty well immediately left the concrete shared path and walked another short stretch of footpath along Eel Race Road to reach Kananook Creek. Kananook Creek doesn't exactly scream great walking destination however this little creek in Melbourne's fairly densely populated south eastern suburbs actually is a nice little oasis of fairly natural bush.

I used the flash new shared path to pass beneath the railway line...

... and then followed the suburban Eel Race Road for a couple of minutes...

... to arrive at Kananook Creek.

My aim now was to walk the creek side walking track south until I arrived at Long Island near Frankston, from there the plan was to walk back via either the beach or the Seaford Foreshore Walking Track. I've walked sections of the Kananook Creek Walking Trail before however I've never joined all the dots so this mornings stroll was going to be a little exploratory. Setting off south along the sandy creek side track all was fairly familiar initially as I was walking a section of the track that I did last year during lockdown. This first section of the walk undulates a little and mostly keeps fairly close to the creek which allowed me to get some nice photos of the mist rising off the still water on what was sunny, however extremely cold morning.

The good walking started now as I followed the Kananook Creek Walking Trail downstream. 

The Kananook Creek Walking Trail.

The sandy track passes through tunnels of Tea Tree in spots.

After 15 minutes or so the Kananook Creek Walking Trail crosses over the railway line and I suddenly found myself on the concrete shared path again, this shared path is a fairly recent edition to the area as it was built during Melbourne's big level crossing removal program. With the concrete path being fairly new I wasn't exactly sure how much of the old sandy walking track had survived although thankfully almost as soon as I'd joined the new shared path I spotted the old path disappearing into the scrub. From here all the way south until I crossed over Seaford Road the walking alternated between long sections along the old sandy track near the creek and shorter sections along the new concrete shared path which was generally closer to the railway line.

After crossing the railway line I followed the shared path for a few metres before branching off to the right onto the old track here.

Like I said tunnels of Tea Tree.

It wasn't all Tea Tree this morning - there are a lot of old Banksia along here as well.

The Kananook Creek Walking Trail.

Approaching the Seaford Station I passed by this big old electrical sub station - yes, it's that kind of walk!

Getting closer to Seaford Station I re-joined the shared path again for a short distance.

Crossing over Seaford Road the shared path branched off to the south east a little however I continued south along the creek side path on a fairly long section where the walking track didn't cross any roads. Eventually my creek side walk came to an abrupt end as I emerged from my Tea Tree and Banksia tunnel next to the busy Nepean Highway and I now faced the crux of the walk - yes, I had to cross the busy highway! At something I like to think was jog, however in reality was more of a shuffle, I safely navigated my way across the busy highway and re-entered the bush near the Long Island Tennis Club before making my way onto the beach. 

Kananook Creek - Seaford.

The Kananook Creek Walking Trail.

Kananook Creek - Seaford.

Kananook Creek - Seaford.

The Kananook Creek Walking Trail.

Once on the beach it was time for morning smoko. I now had a choice of routes to get back up to the ute, I could either walk the beach or I could follow the Seaford Foreshore Trail through the foreshore vegetation. Looking at the beach it appeared that I'd hit it almost at high tide and I wasn't overly excited about trudging the whole 6 kilometres up the soft sand so I decided on a bit of a hybrid route - I'd walk the beach up to the Seaford Pier and then I'd head inland and pick up the Seaford Foreshore Trail for the rest of the distance. Now I'd like to say that the beach walk was a good one... but I'd be bullshitting! This beach walk was a reminder to why walking Melbourne's bay beaches can be a little hit or miss, the corse grained sand was soft and there was little in the way of any firm spots for me to trudge along. Yes, and trudge I did! By the time I'd made it up to the Seaford Pier I was pretty well over my beach walk this morning, while the scenery was very nice and it was a cracker of a day I'd just had enough of the soft crappy sand.

I'm about to hit the beach and turn right.

The Melbourne CBD skyline from Long Island Beach.

Hmmm... this doesn't look promising. Melbourne's bay beaches are sometimes a little hit or miss when it comes to walking along them... and it looks like I missed this morning!

Looking south towards Olivers Hill.

Port Phillip Bay was looking nice this morning.

Reaching the Seaford Pier I climbed up through the beachside café to join up with the inland route. The Seaford Foreshore Trail now meandered it's way north, mostly beneath a dense canopy of Tea Trees and for the most part this was a nice walk - kinda makes me wonder why I didn't just walk this track all the way from Long Island. While the busy Nepean Highway is only a few metres away through the trees the walking along this track is actually fairly peaceful, it was only the occasional truck or motor bike that intruded on my revelry. After passing over a couple of beach access tracks I soon emerged from my green tunnel into the wide open grassy expanse of Keast Park and my mornings stroll was effectively over. Making my way through the car park I crossed the Nepean Highway again, re-setting the GPS at my finish point I jumped in the ute and headed off on the five minute drive home.

I left the beach when I reached the Seaford Pier.

From the Seaford Pier up to Keast Park I walked the Seaford Foreshore Trail.

Casuarinas on the Seaford Foreshore Trail.

There are some big old Banksias along here too.

The Dirt.

According to my GPS I walked around 11.8 kilometres and climbed about 66 metres on what I'd call an easy-medium grade walk. This walk was OK, it wasn't great and it wasn't crap, it was OK. The Kananook Creek Trail is a nice one, the track crossed the occasional road and it would of been possible to duck off the track for a coffee or a meal. Unless the tide is pretty low or anyone wanted to swim then I'd give the beach section a miss and just return to Keast Park along the Seaford Foreshore Trail, once again a coffee is possible on this leg at the Seaford Pier. I jumped on Google Maps before setting off and used my GPS topos on the walk this morning, as far as I know there are no published notes for this walk. 

Relevant Posts.

Patterson River ~ Kananook Creek Walk, 2020.

Seaford Wetlands Walk, 2020.

Seaford Foreshore Trail.

Arriving back at Keast Park it was time to head home.