Melbourne Day Walks

Archive for August, 2011

Maribyrnong River

Saturday, August 20th, 2011

Length: 6.6  km

Time taken: 1hour 40minutes (including stops for photos)

Grade: Easy

Climb: 80m

This walk follows the Maribyrnong River in a circuit connected by two footbridges over the river, with Maribyrnong Road roughly in the middle of the circuit. There was no shortage of picnic spots and playgrounds along this walk! It was such a beautiful day so there were people everywhere walking parts of this track.

The northern section (north of Maribyrnong Road) was much more popular than the southern part and was busy was cyclists, runners, and walkers, but I found the southern part much nicer due to it feeling more remote and bushy. I wish i’d had more time to explore the Melbourne Meat Preserving Company buildings in the Pipeworks park along the way.

 

Looking across the river to the cafe

A strange drinking fountain

The northern section of the walk was well signposted

Looking across the river at the stairs/seats

The track along the river

There were flood marker poles on both sides of the river. On one side it shows the height, and on the other the markings for previous flood events

There were a couple of log seats on the track

The first footbridge over the river

The first time i've seen a path go through a powerline

The stairs/seats up close

The second footbridge over the river

Looking down from the second footbridge

A dolphin statue

This large tree had a table setting and "house" under it

An old meat preserving factory

 

Organ Pipes

Saturday, August 20th, 2011

Length: 3.0  km

Time taken: 50 minutes  (including stops for photos)

Grade: Easy

Climb: 81m

This is a fairly short walk but the geological formations here make it worth seeing. The Organ Pipes are the main feature, but the Rosette rock and Tesselated Pavement are interesting as well. The track to the formations is quite steep as it descends down into a valley, and is of course quite steep on the way up too. The rest of the walk is fairly flat. Apparently there is a bit of wildlife in this area, but I only saw lizards and bees.

The path near the visitor centre

The walk starts at the top of the valley.

The path drops steeply down the valley. It's a steep walk both up and down, but not too difficult.

Jackson River

Tree roots in the river

The Organ Pipes

Another view of the Organ Pipes with the viewing area

A flood marker in the Jackson River

The Tesselated Pavement

Another view of the Tesselated Pavement

The Rosette Rock