Darebin Creek Trail

On the 16th of July Joe and I walked along the Darebin Creek, not knowing that a couple of weeks later we’d be prohibited from driving anywhere to have a walk. On this day we drove to Alphington Station and from there walked down to the Darebin Wetlands.

This is a lovely park created on an old rubbish dump – shows what can be done. It was a very misty, moisty morning. This is the first lake you come across.

There were lots of birds about.Like these two moor hens on the lake.

And these courting pigeons that we encountered on our path up the nearby hill.

Which is where we found this inscrutable object.

There’s no context given – no explanation as to its symbolism or its creator. It’s made of wood.

There’s a nice view from the hill.

Down we went to the creek.

There weren’t many places from which to get a picture on the outward journey so here is another taken from the same place as the one above. It was very pretty.

There are some great bridges over Melbourne creeks. This one not as dramatic as the one near us spanning the Merri Creek, but still nice.

It was all quite reminiscent of the Merri. There wasn’t a lot of water. But lovely trees, including this wattle.

There was a lot of vegetation flowing down the big cliff on the opposite bank beside which were houses. Presumably this exotic plant is an overflow from a suburban garden.

I was dressed for the weather which was freezing.

Including my face mask; which in addition to protecting from Covid-19 kept my nose warm.

There were more views of the creek on our way back.

Here’s another. Joe tells me there is volcanic rock on one side of the creek – here on the left as we walk back. And sediment on the other side. He’s knowledgeable about these things.

Here is one of the houses on the rocky side; atop a decent sized cliff. In Ivanhoe; a nice place to live. Great views. On the sediment side of the creek there are factories. It looks as though apartments are encroaching. We saw some already inhabited and a big building site that may presage more to come.

Here is one of the larger trees that we saw. This is near one of the paths leading into Preston. We saw lots of people with cups of coffee, presumably bought at a cafe nearby but not knowing the locale we didn’t investigate.

Here’s a final one of the creek. It was a great place to walk; good paths and conveniences, well maintained. It’s terrific to have these natural spaces so close to Melbourne.