Back to the bike path page... /city| _-@ _-@ |country\ | --\ --' --\ --' | .. .. .. _____|__________(*)'_(*)__________(*)'_(*)_________|_____ .. .. .. ..Andrew Watkins and Pandora Hope ... Click here to mail us!
Ok, so we're at Dights... hey, have you heard they're (and "they" know who "they" are..) are going to spend $300,000 in the next year or two, redeveloping Dights Falls?? True dinks.. Anyway, from Dights, peddle North (Upstream) along the Main Yarra Trail, and you'll come to the BIG BRIDGE... this crosses the Merri Creek. Somewhere around here you can refill the water bottles too.. over next to the cricket/footy oval. Follow the trail along - its obvious - past the delights of Fairlea womens prison (muse back to those great days of Prisoner.. Bea, the Freak, Lizzy.. hey, did i tell you my babysitter starred in that thing as a fork murderer??? ...oh, yes pandora.. I'll keep writing..), and Fairlfield infectious diseases hospital (hankerchief over the mouth please :-) ..).
The trail then drops down to rejoin the Yarra
at the (i think) Ivanhoe Boat House. Theres some great places here to
sit and muse and watch the ducks and eat a sammy by the water....
head left at the boathouse if this is your cuppa tea. If you want to
continue along the trail then turn right at the boathouse, and follow
the track down to the metal bridge. Its high above the river and has a
great view of the people below (please dont gob on the rowers.!). Walk
the bike across here, as it is narrow and there are a lot of peds.
Once across the bridge, its time to work!! The path winds steeply up
for about 400metres. Ok, I'll admit it, I'm a wimp and push a bit here!!
(I blame it on Jon Morris.. "here Andrew, have my old
I dont know what its real name is, but "Hell Corner" on the Boulevard is where about a zillion motorcyclists congregate every Sunday to watch each other tempt death along the Boulevard. Now, I gotta admit here, we're both motorcyclists too ('89 GPX 250 and '93 Honda VFR750F), but the Boulevard is no place to race bikes, (we scraped some sod off the road only a few months back..) as the Vic police seem to agree recently - theres been a blitz. Anyway, stop at "Hell Corner" and watch the loonies - at least the bright colours are nice!! Theres also a fantastic view here of the city - very very spectacular and well worth a stop. At night it is even better - thats where we first gazed lovingly... oh.. this is a trail report!! Sorry!! Cross the road if you like, and check out the hill opposite. wander up to the trig point and again take in the view of the city, the freeway and the fly fishing practice ponds down below! Actually, this is probably the best place close to Melbourne to show someone a view of the city.
From "Hell Corner", head East, towards the Chandler Hwy. Theres some steps to go down here, or you can cheat and cross the Hwy and ride down the other side; your choice, just dont get flattened by a car if you jump the road. From now on its follow that River. The path sticks close to the Yarra for some time. You'll start to notice some Golf Clubs to on the north side of the track; watch out for the beautiful Red Rump Parrots. Just after you pass one of the clubs (Green Acres I think).. you'll come out into an open park/footy oval. Go straight ahead (there is a map board here too), as going left just leads you along some rough narrow dirt track on the edge of the Yarra. Actually, if you have a mountain bike, this could be fun. And if its hot, theres a rope on a tree to swing into the River! Just stick to the edge to get to this.. it does sorta "dissapear" at times.. but rest assured it leads back to the Main Trail. Anyway, for Trail proper, head straight, not left, at the park/footy oval. The Eastern Freeway is right next to you. From here to Burke Rd you're pretty much hard against the Fwy - sometimes riding in a narrow cyclone fence "tunnel"..
Past Burke Rd you cross the Yarra at least once. Again you're pleasantly high above to give a beautiful scene. The track becomes a bit narrow, so beware fo oncoming traffic.. theres a couple of little bits of road crossing along here too, but its not too bad.. The next highlight is soon coming..
The Trail soon gets to Yarra "floodplain" - a wide area left aside by Melbourne Water for river overflow, and also recreation. Its amazing to think this open "countryside" is only a short way from the city! Its here that you meet the Yarra Marshes area (Hiedleberg). Theres a car park, tap for water (bet theres a loo here somewhere too!), and a trail map on a board. If you like, this would be a good place to meet the trail to start, either by car or by train from Hieldleberg station, just up the hill.. Anyway, keep cycling along the track, which now is gravel, but hard and grippy enough, and follow your nose past the footy/cricket ovals, and through more of this amazing "countryside" so close to the city. Theres even some horse in the paddocks here too!! Oh, and beware here that they have made the gravel trail continuous through the marshes, even though at one point the sign directs you onto the side streets.. DONT DO IT! Stay on the gravel track cos all trails lead to Westerfolds!! Its much more pleasant.. Anyway, coninue on.. the trail crosses some nice creeks over small rounded wooden bridges.. watch out!! Cos if you're a dope like Andrew then you just may get a flatty, crashing into someone on a bridge whie looking at the birds and views.. when they had stopped dead to look at the birds and views!! In fact, this was the end of our first ride along here!! ("Dang,.. I'm sure I had some more glue in here...!") (To get out of this one, Andrew had to.. wrap electrical tape around the tube, pump it up, then ride furiously for 1km before pumping again, then ride 500m, pump, 200m, pump, 100m pump, 50m,.. scream "..@#$*!% THIS!!" And walk to Hiedleberg station and train back to Southbank for a relaxing cuppa..!!)
...six months later...
Ok, ok,... we made it back to the scene of the great puncture. Continue on! The trail continues through the bushes of wildest Templestowe. Eventually you arrive at a couple of gates with "walkrounds". These are buggers! One bike at a time.. unless you have the enthusiasm to throw your bike over the fence! Once through the infamous gate there is... the hill! Ok, not much of a hill, but enough to go barelling down at some speed on a narrow and winding track. Take a bit of caution - I could be coming the other way! The river is just over your right shoulder, and is a splendiferous gawk. This is quite a scenic ride. Dont go over the bridge here, but continue straight and along the boardwalk (".. down on the boardwalk. BOARD WALK!"..) a little turn to the left, turn to the right, a sweep through the trees, and voila! You're there! Westerfolds.
Theres a few tracks here so you can follow them at your leisure. Theres the grande ol' house on the hill which we haven't been to, but Chiara Condotta (c.condotta@latrobe.edu.au) has and sent us some info about it... '..the lovely house on the hill is now a Cafe and Gallery. The food is good and plentiful and not too expensive and the cool cool drinks are excellent. It is run by an aboriginal group who are trying to increase awareness of aboriginal culture. The gallery is small but some of the works are quite good. The guided tour is worth while. ..it is a great place to stop and have lunch.' The river is down to your left, follow that along to the rapids (woooo...) and watch for any kayakers. Pandora (kayaker extradinair) regaled us with stories of courage and bravado to rival any Boys Own annual.. I just listened to the bubbling water long enough to want to pee.
Westerfolds is yours to explore... theres heaps of room. If you dont feel like the approx 32km ride home, well, theres always Hiedleberg station a short 7km (or maybe less...) away. OR... (I havent done this myself, but Damien Ryan (dryan@enternet.com.au) assures me... Eltham station is only about 3-4 kms from westerfolds. Directions: Head to the north-east end of Westerfolds where you will find Fitsimons Lane. Cross under the bridge and come up onto the eastern side of the road. There is a trail leading up the hill towards Eltham. Basically, follow this trail all the way, it leads down onto main road, then follows the road all the way into Eltham township. The station is on the left in the heart of town. This is quite a pleasant ride through the eltham gateway. Chiara also said: '..I have made it through to Eltham and we actually followed the path past Lower Epping park and continued through Eltham, it's not easy to follow but a good long ride and some of it is quite pretty.'
Back to the bike path page... /city| _-@ _-@ |country\ | --\ --' --\ --' | .. .. .. _____|__________(*)'_(*)__________(*)'_(*)_________|_____ .. .. .. ..Andrew Watkins and Pandora Hope ... Click here to mail us!