From the mountain...

Last Friday and Saturday for the third time, I participated in the Mountain to Mouth Extreme Arts Walk. Within minutes of the Gathering of the Elders Ceremony at Big Rock in the You Yangs, the rain stopped and the sky cleared.

Performance art, Big Rock, May 2018

 The official business of "welcome to country" by members of the Wathaurong community was followed by the collection of water which - as in previous years - was to be carried in "Canoe" to the mouth of the Barwon River at Barwon Heads.

Barry Gilson, Gathering of the Elders Ceremony, Big Rock

Uncle Bryon Powell

Indigenous dancers performing in the dance circle

After an array of speeches by various political representatives from federal, state and local governments, we were accompanied on our way by a forceful wind which pushed us onward to the second station at Lara.

Canoe ready to depart

On the road to Lara with the CFA

This time around we started earlier and Canoe rested for longer at each station, meaning that there was ample time to take advantage of a sausage sizzle provided by the RSL and examine the artwork.
The slower time schedule did not suit everyone, with some walkers finding they were keen to depart each station sometimes even in advance of Canoe's arrival.

Station 2: Sol Yantra, a mandala of harvest produce

Canoe resting at Lara

After departing Lara we followed the now familiar route beside Hovell's Creek and wound our way to Limeburner's Lagoon where we were treated to more displays of performance art and a rest at the third station where participants were encouraged to get involved in a tree planting.

Performing lagoon-side

Station 3: "Earthship base camp"

Once again, after an extended break - and in my case, a change of shoes - we were underway, walking beside Limeburner's Lagoon as the sun set.

On the road to town

By the time we reached station 4, darkness had fallen and so had the temperature, making the extended break rather chilly. As several took the opportunity to eat, we were entertained by recitals from Wathaurong man Brian Gilson and a local choir group as we waited for the arrival of Canoe.

Station 4: The Midden of Earthly Delights, Moorpanyal Park, North Shore

By 7:30pm and in complete darkness, representatives from Deakin University took up the challenge of conveying Canoe to its resting place for the evening at Johnstone Park.

Deakin leading the charge

Along the way, we were regaled by more performance artists popping out of the night, including at one stage a pair of opera singers in full voice and full costume!

Opera in the dark

Finally, in rather chilly conditions, walkers assembled with Canoe and we processed into Johnstone Park (Station 5) for a lap of honour before taking a front row seat to watch the spectacle of the Gathering of the City.

Indigenous performers taking centre stage

At some point after 10pm it all wound up and we headed off to rest for a few hours before convening once again in the pre-dawn for the walk to Barwon Heads.

Around the bay in a day

The weather over the last few days has been sunny and our waterways have been sparkling. As per yesterday's post, we were down by the river for a stroll. Today and on Tuesday however, we headed away from the river, to that other water source in which Geelong takes so much pride - Corio Bay.
Since my last post on this topic, I can say that the bike lane linking the Barwon with the Bay is complete and gets regular use.

The Esplanade, Eastern Beach

Today the fine weather was showing signs of drawing to a close so it was warm and windy. Well, actually, at Eastern Beach it was blowing a gale and I was very glad it wasn't 9am Saturday morning when I would have been running into that blast!
None-the-less it wasn't too unpleasant and the view was as spectacular as always. Of course, with the co-incidence of school holidays and a temperature increase of a few degrees, it seemed like we were jostling for space with half of Geelong. And the powers that be have certainly done a great job of creating a world class public open space.

The Geelong skyline from Western Beach

On Tuesday however, in search of new running routes and with perfect riding weather we grabbed the bikes and headed around to the less-publicised side of the bay. This was not the first time we'd been in this direction. Every Saturday  I run part of the way to Rippleside with Geelong Runners and somewhat less frequently we take the kids to the playground in the park as we did last week.

Boats moored at Western Beach

On one previous occasion as described in my post from last year, we followed the trail on and off road right around the foreshore, through the industrial northern suburbs of Geelong to the banks of Hovell's Creek and then onwards to Lara. On Tuesday we retraced our steps. This time I was looking at the route not only as a cycling path, but also as a potential running track.
Most people would know the path which runs from Limeburner's Point on the east to Rippleside on the west, with its views towards the You Yangs and Jan Mitchell's internationally famous bollards (a concept which I think could readily be extended to the banks of the Barwon).

Bollards at Western Beach

From this point however, things became less obvious. The track disappeared and a short section of onroad travel between Rippleside and St Helen's was necessary.
Once there however, we came across the following residents enjoying the weater and the low tide:

Pied Oystercatchers at St Helen's Beach

Eleven-armed Sea Star

I had not to this point met a Pied Oystercatcher, nor an Eleven-armed Sea Star (yes, this is the correct term as they are not technically fish and yes, there were eleven arms in this case - feel free to count them!), although I believe the former can be found at Barwon Heads. The views here were equally as panoramic as earlier sections and the track good, until that was, we reached the amassed bulk of Geelong's industrial sector.
At this point we were required to navigate a few back streets and semi-trailers before we picked up the bike path once again beside Corio Quay Road. Sadly, not much has changed since last year and several parts of the route were more overgrown with weeds and less appealing than they were over a year ago which is disappointing to say the least. There was still not the slightest indication of where any of this section of the trail lead or where connections needed to be made. Were these issues to be addressed, this could be an interesting and informative ride through Geelong's industrial heartland.

Piles of wood chips at Corio Quay

Of course, I am far from the first person to have this idea. In 2005, a bold plan was put forward by local historian Ferg Hamilton to create a continuous walking/cycling track from the Geelong Waterfront to Lara, but despite support and lobbying by all levels of government, no progress has been made - a point of which we were recently reminded in a short article published by the Independent last month.


Looking across Limeburner's Bay towards Point Henry

But back to the point! The track once it returns to the foreshore past Shell is excellent and the views of this lesser-used side of the bay are no less impressive than from the east. We paused for lunch (and a discussion on the metabolic needs of distance runners) at the beginning of the Hovell's Creek Trail.
Back on the bikes we headed up the creek. I would like to be able to say that Hovell's Creek is somehow connected to the Barwon and thereby provide a little more relevance to this post, however this is not the case as Hovell's Creek rises in the foothills of the Brisbane Ranges and the You Yangs before flowing directly into Corio Bay at Limeburner's Bay.

Mangroves lining the banks of Hovell's Creek

However, there are some similarities between the mouth of the Barwon and that of Hovell's Creek, the most notable of which are the mangroves which line the banks of both waterways at the mouth. Likewise, each has a raised boardwalk which enables close access without damaging these fragile environments.
In the case of Hovell's Creek, it was only on this second trip that we discovered the boardwalk. From it, we were able to get up close and personal with the creek, the mangroves and any number of White-fronted Chats which at one stage looked as if they were sprouting from the mangroves. They were accompanied completely unseen, by an endless chorus of Little Grass Birds as well as a few swans and high overhead, a Black-shouldered Kite.

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Boardwalk extending into the mangroves at Hovell's Creek

It is also worth noting, that like the wetlands around Lake Connewarre, those near the mouth of Hovell's Creek and Lime Burner's Bay have been listed as an international Ramsar site, thus highlighting their environmental signficance.
By this point in our ride, time was of the essence, so suffice to say that once again we rode as far as the Princes Freeway, looked up the hill in the direction of Lara, paid a quick visit to the monument to Hume and Hovell which stands nearby and then headed for home at a somewhat less leisurely pace the outward journey.
On returning home, I think I calculated the entire distance from Lara to Limeburner's Point below the Eastern Gardens as somewhere between about 18.5km and 19.5km depending on the exact route. Not a bad distance for a run and with some stunning views along the way, but I am yet to decide how keen I am on sharing road space with semi-trailers while I'm running.
One way around the problem however, may be provided if plans I have seen mentioned in the paper go ahead. This would involve the addition of a section of track extending the current Ted Wilson trail beside the Ring Road to connect at some point with the trail at the foreshore leading out to Lara.
I might also add that this is just on point at which the Ring Road trail comes close to the various sections of track around the bay and where a connection could be made. As I believe I have mentioned before, the Weir Deppler Park at the end of the Cowie's Creek Trail is only a matter of 800 metres from the end of the Tom McKean Linear Trail running over to Fyansford via the old train line and some 600 metres in a direct line from the Corio Quay track which we used on our ride to Lara on Tuesday. So near and yet so far...

Sitting by the duck on the bay.

A couple of weeks ago I took off on one of our now customary bike rides with various family members. We were on a mission to investigate a trail we discovered a few weeks earlier. For the sake of directness, we decided not to ride via the river on this occasion, although not having to ride up the hill beside the cement works at Fyansford may also have been a contributing factor. Instead, we headed to the waterfront up what will - when it is finally completed - be the bike lane on Swanston Street joining the river to the bay. Recent complaints in the local media not withstanding, it will be a very handy pathway to have running virtually past our doorstep.

Little Pied Cormorant at Western Beach

After a stop to collect the third member of our expedition we made it as far as Rippleside Park before we felt it was time for a coffee stop. While we were there I spent some time studying the local bird life. I thought it would make an interesting comparison to that on the Barwon. Well, as it turns out, it was not so different as I had imagined - although in the short amount of time available I was not able to see the same variety of species I have seen on the river.
Silver Gulls (Sea Gulls) were in abundance as expected and I even spotted a cormorant or two, a Pacific Gull and a Royal Spoonbill dabbling in the shallows. On shore, the usual array of birds found anywhere in suburbia was also evident. What I was surprised to see were ducks. Lots of ducks. In retrospect I shouldn't have been so surprised and after a quick Google search it all made sense.
I noticed as I was taking taking some shots with the camera that the ducks in question appeared to be Chestnut Teals. I know that these birds are found not only on the inland sections of the Barwon, but also on the lower reaches which as I have noted before are considered quite brackish. It stands to reason therefore that these ducks have a significant tolerance level for salt water and various websites confirm this. None-the-less, it did seem odd seeing so many ducks at the beach.

Royal Spoonbill at Western Beach

From there, we rode around to St. Helen's Park and then, via a series of off-road trails, bike lanes and on-road twists and turns, we made our way around Corio Bay through the industrial part of town, to the shores of Limeburner's Bay (or the Lagoon as we called it at school) opposite the Grammar School. At this point we stopped for lunch and to assess our options. On the lagoon a pelican was taking the opportunity to do likewise. As it happens, we decided we had time and continued our adventure along the Hovell's Creek Nature Trail.
As the name suggests, this trail follows Hovell's Creek from its inlet at Limeburner's Bay (not to be confused with Limeburner's Point on the opposite side of Corio Bay) back along its length as far as the township of Lara. The scenery is open rolling farmland most of the way providing views of the creek and the nearby You Yangs whose name incidentally comes from an Aboriginal term meaning - appropriately enough - "big mountain in the middle of a plain". Hovell's Creek on the other hand, was named for the English explorer William Hovell who with the perhaps more widely known Hamilton Hume, in 1824 explored the area having made the trek overland from Sydney. It was they who heard the local Wathaurong word "Jillong" used to describe the region. Although not the first white men to reach the region, their voyage of exploration was of significant benefit to the fledgling colony.

Limeburner's Bay

Our journey on the other hand was somewhat easier than that of the early explorers, we being provided with a well-maintained bitumen track which we followed as far as the Princes Freeway, under which the track passes. At this point, running short of time and facing an uphill ride for the last stretch into Lara, we decided to call it quits and head back from whence we had come.
Our return journey was made at a somewhat less relaxed pace than the outward journey, stopping only for a couple of brief breaks and (in my case) to investigate a bunch of black birds in a gum tree. As per my previous blog, these were most probably Australian Ravens, in which case the appropriate collective noun for the group is either a murder (as in a murder of crows), an unkindness, a storytelling or - possibly my favourite - a conspiracy of ravens. I wonder then, if conspiracy is the correct term, whether a group of ravens meeting a group of crows is perhaps....a conspiracy to murder...??
Enough! We made it back to town in good time and headed home. Another trail explored and a few more kilometres clocked up on the bikes.