Essendon Bushwalking Club

Fun stuff from today's Kangaroo Ground walk.
Highlight for me was finding another species of bright red Galls on a eucalyptus sapling - Terobiella nigriceps, known as nail galls induced by Chalcid wasps.

Sensational 15k walk with 16 happy walkers starting and finishing at the Kangaroo Ground cemetery.
The walk and terrain was brilliant, sun shining, lots of creek crossings, even more hills, lots of farm animals and early spring flowers along the track.
Finished a perfect day at the Dark Horse Cafe.
Thank you Melanie for leading us on a brilliant adventure

Great walk led by Mark. A 14-kilometre walk through Bunyip State Park, 65 kilometres east of Melbourne near Gembrook. Starting from the Mortimer Picnic Ground car park, we weaved our way in a loop through a variety of vegetation, including wet eucalypt forest, heathland, swamp and fern gullies. The terrain was a mix of mainly fire trails, dirt tracks and several steep hills. The walk finished with coffee, tea and refreshments in Gembrook.
Video of today's walk
https://www.relive.com/view/v7O9zyD4AL6

🥾 Werribee Gorge State Park – The Island Hike.
Woke up to heavy rain, was very worrying but what the heck!
The weather gods were kind to us and the day proved absolutely perfect for the challenging hike out to The Island.

Entertained at morning tea at The Island by a group of guys with a guitar singing Johnny Cash songs in a nearby cave in the cliff wall. .
The route took 15 of us through rugged, rocky and sometimes scrubby terrain, with steep climbs and descents, rock scrambling, Werribee River views and an awesome exposed cliff traverse using fixed steel cables.

Thank you Jim for leading today's hike and your amazing knowledge of the geology there.! 🌿🥾

🥾 Werribee Gorge State Park – The Island Hike.

A challenging hike out to The Island with Essendon Bushwalking Club. The route took us through rugged, rocky and sometimes scrubby terrain, with steep climbs and descents, rock scrambling, river views and an exposed cliff traverse using fixed steel cables.

A great day of adventure, spectacular scenery and plenty of challenges along the way, thank you Jim for leading today's hike! 🌿🥾
Here is a video of today's hike

Werribee Gorge and The Island | Relive Hiking | Aug 9, 2026

Ballan Heritage Tree Walk...

With winter determined to turn us into human icicles, 13 of us rugged up and tackled the Ballan Historic Tree Walk.
Starting at the historical Train Station, this self-guided stroll showcases some of the town's most significant trees, planted by early settlers. The highlight was a surprise stop at the Ballan Farmers Market at St Paul's Uniting Church where there was lots to see and a Coffee Van - yippee 🤣
Mel from the CWA Ballan was quite excited to see us and took a group photo for their Ballan Farmers Market FB Page. Hopefully next time we will have more time to enjoy their homemade Devonshire Tea to support them.
Ballan's history is just as impressive as its trees. One interesting stop was the beautiful bluestone Anglican church, featuring 7 stunning stained-glass windows and pioneer graves dating back to the 1850s tucked away at the rear of the grounds.
We also spent time exploring Ballan's peaceful cemetery near the Werribee River, where many of the district's earliest settlers, gold seekers, and pioneers now rest.
Frozen fingers and cold feet, it was a wonderful walk through Ballan's history, heritage, and magnificent trees. 🌳❄️😊
We finished a perfect day with a perfect lunch at the Commercial Hotel before heading home.
Thank you all for coming and enjoying a sensational day, and to Stephen, hope you had a sensational birthday with us.

Great walk lead by Marek the walk started and finished at Grants Picnic Ground. We saw a Lyrebird and kookaburra.
Most of the walk was through Mountain Ash and Messmate Stringybark forest. There were several steep sections on Paddy Track and Welch Track, which were slippery due to the muddy conditions. It was a great walk. Video of today's walk https://www.relive.com/view/vXOdrzmZEkq

Creswick Heritage Circuit Walk

🥾 9 members | 10 km

Some treasures from today's walk.

Creswick Heritage Circuit Walk

🥾 9 members | 10 km

Today's walk followed sections of the La Gerche Trail and the Goldfields Track.

We entered through the grand gates of the old Forestry School, now the University of Melbourne's Creswick Campus, where the impressive, castle-like former Creswick Hospital—now the campus library—and its beautiful gardens made for a great start to the day.

We stopped to admire the John La Gerche sculpture, carved from a giant fallen Californian Redwood, before visiting the historic La Gerche Stables for a few photos.

The Landcare and La Gerche trails were a real highlight, with the forest floor blanketed in autumn leaves and fungi popping up everywhere you looked. From Oak Gully we climbed through Hancock Victoria's radiata pine plantation to the lookout on Brackenbury Hill.

Back at St George's Lake, it was great to see the spillway flowing again after recent rains. Just three weeks ago the lake was very low and completely dry at the outlet. Unfortunately, part of the lakeside track was closed due to fallen trees and damaged track ... typical!

It was quite a cold start, but the day gradually warmed up into a calm, mostly overcast winter's day—perfect walking weather.

With beautiful forest scenery, towering conifers, colourful fungi, moss-covered logs, plenty of muddy puddles and a few gentle hills, this was an enjoyable and varied walk from start to finish.

And, as always, we wrapped up another wonderful day with coffee and cake at a quaint little café in town. ☕🍰

A big thank you to Georgie for leading such a fantastic walk through this beautiful part of Creswick.

Starting from Upper Ferntree Gully railway station 15 walkers embarked on a 14 km walk to Belgrave passing by the Glenfern Valley Bushlands, Birdsland and Belgrave Lake Park. Finished up at a nice cafe for refreshments. Thanks Judith for a great walk and Bassem for the photos. 😀