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Front Page
Listing of all Walks
NEW! Victorian Alps Gallery
Melbourne Region
Northern Region
Western Region
Eastern Region
Southern Region
Maps and Resources
Walking Clubs
Walksafe
Best Lookouts in Central Victoria
Victoria Map
3D Satellite Images
How the Guide Happened!
The Author's Websites
Email to Bob
Google advertisements appear on some pages

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From Mt Buffalo Gorge Lookout

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Blow Hole - Flinders Coast

This is the INTERNET GUIDE TO SHORT WALKS IN VICTORIA!

Its author and creator is Bob Padula, OAM, of Mont Albert, in the east of Melbourne.
 
I am a Professional Engineer, providing technical consultancy services in the area of high-frequency broadcasting - I graduated from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 1967, and was employed by Telstra Corporation until 1998. 
 
I have been actively involved in bushwalking since 1954, and regularly undertake short walks around Greater Melbourne and nearer country areas. I also have a passion for digital photography, 4WDing along unmade roads, and exploration of parks, reserves, sanctuaries, coasts and mountains! 
 
This Guide contains details of walks I have completed in the period from March 2005 until now, and most can be completed by anyone with a moderate level of fitness.  Some walks are suitable for persons with limited mobility.
 
Most walks described are located in the general area around Melbourne, but there are many further afield!
 
In publishing this free Guide, and sharing my knowledge and experiences through the Internet, it is with the hope that it will encourage readers to set aside some time to venture regularly into the Victorian countryside and enjoy the beauty and scenery which it offers, and at the same time support the development and maintainence of an appropriate level of fitness.   
 
The starting points for all of the walks listed are easily reached by conventional cars, including some over good unsealed gravel roads. They range from relatively short hikes of about an hour or less, to more extensive half or full day adventures. Overnight walks are not included in this Guide.
 
Some walks are step-on, step-off shorter hikes, which are part of longer multi-day trips. They include the:
 
24 km Beeripmo Walk (Mt Cole State Forest)
91 km Great Ocean Walk (Apollo Bay district)
15 km O'Shannassy Aqueduct Trail (Warburton district)
35 km Rainbow Bird Trail (south of Ballarat)
 
I have also included accounts of many of the network of excellent walks constructed by the Great Dividing Trail Association, based in the Daylesford district.

Several walks are along the nearer Coast, including trips around Westernport Bay.  
 
The Guide also covers many walks in the extensive Yarra River Parklands to the north east of Melbourne, and hikes in reserves and parklands in the outer east of Melbourne, including the large Dandenong Valley Parklands.
 
Destinations. Some of the hikes are to places which are not often visited, which have been discovered from careful research of Melway's and other maps, personal observation, perusal of the comprehensive Park and Track Notes issued by Parks Vic and DSE, examination of hard-to-get publications, and contacts with Shire Councils, Bushwalking Clubs, activity-based organizations. and social media

Site Navigation. Clicking on the desired link on the Navigation Bar at the top of this Front Page will take you to the selected Regional page, where you will find a listing of the walks in that Region. The Navigation Bar appears on each page, and the headings there are Rollover Links. Throughout the Guide, except the Navigation Bar, text which is underlined is a clickable link to a URL, either internal or external.
 
Each walk shows distance from Melbourne,  length, duration, features, date completed, general notes. Some have links to Track Notes (or Maps) issued by Parks Victoria or other agencies, and links to the relevant Photo Album for that walk.
 
The Photo Albums have detailed information about the Walks to which they refer, and the images may be viewed there as Slide Shows or individually.
 
APRIL 2018 -  PLEASE NOTE
 
Many of the Photo links to the walks are no longer active. These were hosted by the Worldisround.com Photo Storage service which was permanently closed down without notice by the administrator in mid-2014. That site had about 1 million images from several thousand subscribers, all of which have been irrecoverably lost. 
 
Walks have been placed in the most appropriate Geographical Region, which include National,  State, or Local Parks. Several of the bigger Parks extend across the geographical regions adopted in the Guide - they include several tracks in the Dandenong Ranges, the Lysterfield Hills, and West Gippsland.
 
Sub-pages are provided for some Regions, where there are many walks.
 
All of the walks listed have been undertaken by myself in the period from March 2005..
 
A word of caution: some walks in the Dandenong Ranges National Park and the Kinglake National Park are steep and rocky, and care should be exercised if undertaking those tracks during or after wet weather.
 
I have also included details of the 37 km Lilydale-Warburton Rail Trail, which I completed by bike in 2006 - there are many access points to this wonderful Trail, which is used by walkers, cyclists, horses, ponies, joggers, prams and dogs!
 
Support Features. There are links on the Navigation Bar to various features in  the Guide, which you are invited to explore!
 
Though created for Walking, the Guide may of course be used alternatively for selecting interesting destinations for non-walking activities, or sight-seeing! Visit Best Lookouts for a  selection of special viewpoints!
 
New content or updating information will be added to this Guide from time to time. I frequently visit many places to review previous walks,but unless there has been substantial change, I do not describe these reviewed hikes in the Guide!
 
I hope that this Guide will have provided you with some interesting destinations to explore! (Bob Padula)
 

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Bogong High Plains - early 1900s (SLV)

HIKING AND BUSHWALKING IN VICTORIA 

Visitors to this Website may be interested in joining the (free) Facebook Group "Hiking and Bushwalking in Victoria". The Group's main objective is to provide a means of quick interaction, information and discussion between its several hundred members about their hiking and bushwalking experiences in Victoria.
 
(Members must have a Facebook account).
 
To join, please click the image or this link!
 


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1914 Warburton view

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Bright station in winter c.1910

NEW! VICTORIA - A PICTORIAL HERITAGE

A new Website has been published, titled Victoria - a Pictorial Heritage, authored by Bob Padula, OAM, of Mont Albert, Victoria, Australia.


It 's a directory of free, on-line, Research Projects compiled by the author, about the history, development and evolution of selected places and major engineering projects of significant heritage interest in Victoria.

A Synopsis of each Project is descri
bed, with an accompanying image and a link to the source URL.

When new Projects are published, the Directory will be updated.


It may be viewed at

  

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Hi there - a Special Message for YOU!
This Walks Guide receives several hundreds of visits each month, and I would REALLY like to know what YOU think of it! Please let me know - this only takes a few moments using the "Sign my Guest Book" icon! Many thanks in advance for your feedback! (Bob Padula)

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DONATIONS!
 
Please consider a small one-time donation (A$5 - US$5) to help pay for  hosting charges for the site! Easy, secure and quick via PayPal! Click the Logo!

 

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The Cathedtal - Mt Buffalo

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Mt St Leonard - view from Market Garden Tk - Warrandyte SP

WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO? !!
 
Every place,destination, and location in this Guide is stored in a database. Enter the word into the box, hit "find"and if it is the site, its page location(s) will be displayed on a new screen! Use this feature as a quick "go to" for places and parks! Try it out! The database is updated daily

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Buffalo massif from Power's Lookout
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Alps view from Mt Hotham
WHAT'S NEW! 
(Updated -  January 1, 2017


QUICK LINKS TO THE LATEST WALKS ADDED TO THIS GUIDE!

Lake Catani - Buffalo NP
Candlebark Walk Reserve - Croydon Hills
Westerfolds Park - Homeshow Trail - Templestowe
Room With a View Walk - Dinner Plain Region
Plenty River Trail - Greensborough
Plenty River Trail - Greensborough North (Pipe Bridge)
Gawa Wurundjeri Resource Trail - Panton HillsWerribee River Regional Park
The Monolith - Mt Buffalo National Park

Harrietville - Bon Accord Track
Mt Buffalo National Park - Walks around Chalet

Falls Creek Waterfalls and Howman's Gap Track
Mt Beauty Pondage Walk
Little Yarra Riverside Walk - Yarra Junction
Tom's Track - Kurth Kiln Regional Park
Waterchannel Track (Southern) - Kurth Kiln Regonal Park
Gunnamatta Coastal Hike

 
 

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Organ Pipes - west of Melbourne

CHECK OUT MY PERSONAL PHOTO SITES!

Australian Bushwalking Journal
Hundreds of searchable entries, with selected images, location maps, in chronological order!


NOTE!

Many of the walks outside of the Melbourne Region may be linked to form longer overnight trips - there are printed Walks Books which you may purchase from booksellers, map retailers, activity shops and Parks Victoria, containing suggested detailed itineries of those expeditions.
 
Longer walks are also arranged via Bushwalking Clubs and commercial tour companies.
 
 Many walks commence from picnic grounds, or car parks at Lookouts. Whilst the Guide is intended essentially for walking activities, it may also be used as a "Drive Guide" to interesting places, if it is not practicable to undertake the actual walks.

Bob Padula

Create Your Badge

THERE ARE over 1000 WALKS DESCRIBED IN THIS GUIDE!
That's about 4000 km! Jeepers, creepers...!

(This Project is a Work-in-Progress, with content updated when new walks are completed)
Click Listing of all Walks, which will take you to a page listing ALL of the walks, with quick links to the relevant section. 
 

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If you have suggestions, comments or  ideas  about this Guide, please contact the author Bob Padula. Alternatively use the Reader Survey Feedback Form.  All messages willl be acknowledged!!

Maori Farewell

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Distances to the start of walks, from Melbourne, are in brackets against their descriptions