17km Medium. Head south west long Spargo-Blakeville Road, left onto Reserve Track follow to main road - cross with care veering left at Y junction & left at T intersetion (no name tracks). Follow for 1.3k keeping main road on left. Turn right for 1.1k to the Werribee Rive Camground. Morning tea. Continue south along the Werribee River Walk Loop for 2.1k to carpark then north over river along the river for 2.2k. Lunch at campground. Turn right onto Carroll Track. Veer left onto McGees Road, veer left stay on McGees Road then 300m left onto walking track. Continue to Spargo-BlakevilleRoad turn left cross main road back to cars. Car pooling available from back car park KFC $22 approximately 1.15 hours meet time 7.30am

Meeting place is the corner of Glynns road and Overbank Road [Mel 22 K8], at 0920 for a 9.30 start.

 From the water tank proceed via the bush track parallel to Glynn's Road to the low point.  Then rejoin Glynn's Rd and walk to the gates.  Pass through gates and go down the main track to the Yarra river. Then continue down stream through Bob's Wetlands to a grassed knoll. From there we will find the animal track closest the river and follow it to Laughing Waters and Caitlin’s Retreat.  From the gate on Laughing Waters Rd, walk directly up the hill and turn right onto the track that leads back to the water-tank on the top of the hill, and the cars, having walked about 6 km or so.  This is more than 500m from Gordon Ford’s historic old mud-brick cottage.

Don't forget, morning tea, sturdy shoes, hat and water.

Grandparent's walks are restricted to members accompanied by grand children. When booking please add a note in the Comments Box advising the age of each child accompanying you.

Commencing at the Finns Reserve (Wombat Bend Playspace) carpark we will cross the swing bridge and then follow the Yarra River downstream through the Yarra Valley Parklands before returning to Wombat Bend for lunch. Some of the tracks will be rough so good shoes are required.

The carpark is at the end of Duncan Street which is accessed via Union Street, Lower Templestowe.

This walk takes us through unique remnant mallee vegetation and is a mix of well-marked paths and rocky sections. Some steep climbs along the Happy Valley track with rewarding views over the surrounding hills.

This walk is on AllTrails and once I have done a reccy I will post more details. Please bring morning tea, lunch and plenty of water. 

Car pooling from Greensborough KFC meeting at 8am. An hour drive to Long Forest Rd where the meeting point will be in the car park of Long Forest Nature Reserve What3Words ; redeye.loaning.pupils

Start walking at 9.30am.

From the Alfred Nicholas Gardens we will wind our way through mountain ash forest combining a number of tracks and points of interest. We will finish with lunch in the Gardens. Aprroximately 11 km and one long hill.

We will  car pool from  Mullum Reserve meeting at 8.15 for an 8.30am  departure. If you prefer to drive directly to the walk meet us in the Alfred Nicholas Gardens carpark at 9.15am.

We will walk 3 extinct volcano's over 2 days, spending the night in Camperdown where the group will enjoy a delicious pub dinner. Day 1 we meet in Derrinellum for a 7km walk of Mt Elephant, walking both the crater rim and inner crater plus an extra peak for those with too much energy. This is a scoria cone volcano that last erupted approx 180,000 yrs ago. We'll have lunch atop the volcano and then travel to Camperdown for a social evening and slap up dinner. Day 2 we'll drive approx 20min to Mt Noorat for a 3km crater rim walk of the deepest scoria enclosed volcanic crater in Victoria, its a short but very impressive walk. Then we drive back to Camperdown for an approx 5km walk of Mt Leura and Mt Sugarloaf and enjoy a spectacular birds eye view of the volcanic plains, you can even see the Grampians from here. This site is significant for being one of the largest maar and tuff ring volcano's in Victoria. We'll finish with lunch and coffee before heading home. Accommodation location TBC.

I'm offering this as an overnight trip to walk 3 volcano's as its too long a day to drive up and back and do all 3 walks so its not actually a basecamp but I didn't know how else to register this in the computer system.  

**NOTE this is a dual trip with Koonung**

Meeting place is Witton's Reserve [Mel 22 K6], at 0920 for a 9.30 start.

 Proceed upstream along the track parallel to the Yarra about 1500m.  Then veer right and climb the hill to Mt Lofty for views of Heritage Golf and Country Club.  From there we will walk down the upper track parallel to the river back to the cars at Witton's. There is a rough track uphill from Witton's Reserve to the Clifford Park Scout Centre (private property) for who would like another 500m.

Don't forget, morning tea, sturdy shoes, hat and water.

A further recce will determine if the walk can be extended off Johanson's Rd Mel 35 K4.

Meeting place Jumping Creek canoe launching area car park Mel 24 A10 at on 0920 for a 0930 start.  There are toilets here.

 This is a shortened version of a walk often run by Ching Wong. We set off from the Jumping Creek car park and will walk to Blue Tongue Bend (1.7km).  After that we will head along a fairly flat road for 1.2 km, until we come to an intersection, but we will stop off along the way visit the bush chapel.  We will turn left at the intersection a walk to the ridge and back down to the river for morning tea at Stan Brae. (2 km return). From the aforementioned intersection we will walk up and down hill back to the cars (about 0.9 KM).

Don't forget, morning tea, sturdy shoes, hat and water.

Meet at Eltham Lower Park (Mel 21 H10) at 0920 for a 0930 start.  Park your car near the new facilities block).

The walk begins by following a direct line across to pony club grounds to the footbridge. After crossing the bridge into Candlebark Reserve the walk proceeds towards Petty’s Orchards.  Before reaching the orchard (at the end of the boardwalk) we veer to the right and walk up hill, bearing left onto a path that takes us down to an old dam. We walk along the edge of the dam and head west until we reach a mown track, onto which we turn right and head uphill next to the power lines.  Passing under the power lines we turn left onto a cleared access along a fence on its southern boundary and then take the path off to the right and walk for about 75 m and turn left onto a bike track.  We follow that bike path around a dam that eventually runs parallel (and behind) the houses on Fitsimmons Lane, following it back to the bridge over the Yarra.  We will then turn left and do a short circuit into Westerfolds Park (toilets).  Then return to Eltham Lower Park (2.4 km). 

Don't forget, morning tea, sturdy shoes, hat and water.

Meet at Eltham Station 0850 for a 09.04 a.m., departure (last carriage, Greensborough 0911 etc).  The walk will take about 2.5 hours. Alternatively meet at Fairfield Station at 0932.

Leaving Fairfield station we will walk to Fairfield Parklands (toilets here) via Rathmines St to the path that runs beside the Merri Creek and follow it to the junction with the Yarra at Dights Falls.  Then walk upstream beside the Yarra (adjacent the freeway and walk upstream to Yarra Bend Rd.  Turning left onto this road and following it for 250M we will turn right to skirt the VINC Plant Nursery.  At the rear of the parks works depot we will walk back down to the Yarra via the Flying Fox Area.  The walk upstream continues along the Yarra on pretty bush tracks towards Fairfield Boathouse. There are toilets nearby at this point.  Probably stop for refreshments at Fairfield Boathouse before walking the 500 m back to Fairfield station.

Don't forget, Myki card, morning tea, sturdy shoes, hat and water.

We will meet at KG cemetery Mel 271 J8 at 0920 for a 0930 start.

Leaving KG cemetery we will carefully cross the Eltham-Yarra Glenn Road and walk into the valley on the bridle path, up to Nicholas Lane.  We will walk down Nicholas Lane to the Aqueduct (1200m), and walk along the Aqueduct for about 900m to where it goes under a hill.  We will divert left up that hill and follow the track alongside a private property until we reach a fence.  There we will turn left and follow another bridle path downhill and cross a dry water course.  The bridle path runs uphill to a private access road which we will follow a short distance back to Nicholas Lane.  From there we will retrace our steps back to KG cemetery.  While this is hilly they are neither long nor steep.

Should be finished by 1230.

Don't forget, morning tea, sturdy shoes, hat and water.

Meet at Westerfolds Park (Mel 33 EF3 - same location as Christmas Picnic - toilets) at 0920 for a 0930 start. 

Our walk will begin by walking 1250m towards the Yarra River.   Then we will cross the bridge and follow the Main Yarra Track (with a small diversion to the left after crossing the bridge) to the mouth of the Plenty River.  From there we will retrace our steps to Bonds Rd and take the diversion behind Odyssey House to rejoin the Main Yarra Track.

Don't forget, morning tea, sturdy shoes, hat and water.

Meet at the car park near Beasley’s (Mel 34 F3) at 0920 for a 0930 start.  Mel Map 22 B-F11 covers most of the area to be walked.

This walks takes us to Sanctuary Place and then through the Domain Wetlands (left off the Parkway) and then up the Templestowe Hill climb (modest slope).  Next we head towards the power lines via Arlunya Place and then proceed down to the bank of the Yarra opposite Killeavy (avoiding Kearney Lane). We then follow the river to Tikalara lookout via the bridge over Mullum Mullum Creek at Tikalara Homestead.  Morning tea will be taken before we cross the bridge. Return to Beasley’s via Main Yarra Track, and Sanctuary Place..

Don't forget, morning tea, sturdy shoes, hat and water.  Poles optional.

Opportunity for Coffee/Tea snack at Beasley’s at end of walk. 

This is our first exploratory basecamp to Canberra, the Namadgi National Park, and the adjoining Brindabella National Park, and Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve. Although Cathy & I have visited Canberra a couple of times in recent years, we are not familiar with the rest of the ACT to the south.

 We will be car/tent/camper-trailer camping (although carry on reading to the end of this paragraph if this doesn't suit **). The campgrounds unfortunately don't have cabins. We will use at least two camping locations in the park, depending on the walks that we choose to do. Some camps in the park have only basic facilities. It is likely that we will use Honeysuckle Creek Camp (50km south of Canberra) and Cotter Camp (24km west of Canberra). Maybe Mt Clear Camp in the south (80 km south of Canberra). It’s a bit of a balance between being close to our walks/minimising distance versus minimising relocations. More details to follow. ** You would be welcome to join us if you found more suitable alternative accommodation. You would either meet us at camp and car-pool to the start of the walk, or meet at the start of the walk. Some walks will be further from Canberra compared with the campsite.

 All walks will be day walks, and most will involve a drive from camp. We will not be doing multi-day pack carry hikes. There will be a mixture of walking grades so that we can enjoy some easier days. There may be a car shuffle. Some of the walks will be rated medium-hard. Expect conditions such as: steep hills; exposed rocky paths; light rock scrambling; cliffs; no shelter; poor visibility; sustained ascent; walking along steep exposed ridge.

Expect to encounter unsealed roads. However , we will not be driving on 4WD tracks.

Here is a selection (from a large list) of walks available (in no particular order). In some cases the walk is only recommended for fine weather due to navigation difficulties. The walks range in grade from easy to ‘hard’ (depending on which source you use). I would like to ‘tick-off’ some peaks and visit the Brindabella and Tidbinbilla Ranges in particular, along with visiting the southern edge of the park (and ACT), and maybe the Tinderry Mountains.

• Mt Tennent Fire Trail 13.7km 740m^ elevation gain 5hrs (according to AllTrails)
• Grassy Creek Loop 14km 334m^ elevation gain 4hrs 
• Yankee Hat Rock Art site 6km 168m^ 
• Tidbinbilla Ridge 19km 7.5hrs
• Murrumbidgee River/Kambal Pool easy/medium (close to Canberra)
• Orroral Valley 12km 4hrs
• Camels Hump (Tidbinbilla) 12.5km 540m^ 5hrs
• Gibralter Rocks/Devils Gap (Tidbinbilla) 10km 3.5hrs
• Black Mountain 4km 200m^ (combine with visit to Australian National Botanical Gardens)
• Mt Gingera 14km 312m^ 6 hrs (Brindabella Range)
• Tinderry Twin Peak 13km 760m^ 6hrs
• Mt Coree 6km 263m^ 2hrs
• Bendora Arboretum walk (Brindabella Range)
• Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve
• Cooleman Ridge to Mt Arawang 8km 229m^ 2hrs (close to south-west Canberra)

 There are lots of walks to enjoy closer to Canberra. Cathy & I are going to extend our stay and visit the attractions of the city at the end of the basecamp. You would be welcome to join us. We may end up relocating again to a “holiday park” closer to the city.

• Googong Dam (short Canberra walk)
• Lake Jerrabomberra (short Canberra walk)
• Isaacs Ridge Nature Reserve (short Canberra walk)
• Lake Tuggeranong Circuit (short Canberra walk)
• Cotter Discovery Trail (near Cotter Camp)

In summary, more details to follow. Final choice of walks to be decided.

Final location of accommodation and dates to be decided. Accommodation will be located in remote National Park campsites, and we may relocate at least once to suit the walks we would like to do. Camping equipment required. Expect some road conditions to be unsealed. 

More details to follow.

As always, please feel free to comment, make suggestions and ask questions.

A pleasant walk along the Plenty River from Greensborough to Heidelberg Golf Course.   

The meeting point for the walk is Watmough Park Mel 20J1, at 0915, [dep 0925].  Walk to the Plenty River Track and follow the west bank  to the bridge near Heidelberg Golf Club (Mel 20K10 about 1045].  Follow the same path back to Main road, Lower Plenty and after about 1 km cross the bridge to the east bank and cross the river again near Simms and retrace our steps to Watmough Park.

Wear sturdy comfortable shoes and wear a broad-brimmed hat.  Bring morning tea and water.  Poles optional - walk mainly on the river flats