walkabouters club of victoria inc: Blackburn Lake to Laburnum, Saturday 6th August.

After a week of unseasonably warm weather, we were hoping for another fine and warm day for our 10 km walk through Blackburn Lake and the adjacent Creeklands to Laburnum. Unfortunately, the forecast was for a change of weather with potential thunder storms, high winds and the chance of snow in the Alpine Regions.

Despite the dismal forecast, 12 Walkabouters met in the car park of Blackburn Lake Sanctuary with great enthusiasm, ready for our day's walk.

Ensuring that we had our wet weather gear in our packs and woolly hats and gloves at the ready, we headed off to follow the meandering tracks around the Lake.

Blackburn Lake Sanctuary is nestled in Melbourne's eastern suburb of Blackburn less than 18 kms from the CBD. The Lake was formed by the damning of Gardiner's Creek in 1889. An investment group which owned the land at the time, wished to make a reservoir to supply water to local orchards and to enhance land values in the local area.

In the 1890's, Blackburn Lake was a popular destination for day trips and picnic excursions by a 2 hour steam train ride from Melbourne.

The Lake has a number of wooden landings that provide excellent access to views across the water and duck feeding.

As the day was overcast, photos of views across the Lake did not do it justice today.

So here is one that was prepared earlier.

The Lake can really look very picturesque and tranquil.

Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird...is it a plane?

We continued along the paths on the lookout for birds, wild life and flowering native plants,

...No! It's 2 birds with brightly coloured feathers. (Tourists from Queensland)

as we crossed some bridges,

and caught some glimpses of the Lake,

and views to the shore on the other side.

We wandered along the footpath next to the Lake's retaining wall for a short distance before entering the Sanctuary again to have morning tea by the southern shore.

A refreshment room and jetty once stood not far from our morning tea spot.

Row boats were available for hired for adventurous picnickers.

Watersports including yachting, speed-boating and water-skiing were prevalent right up to the 1960's. The Lake was declared a Sanctuary in 1965 and during the 1970's and 1980'serious plans and efforts were made to repair and regenerate the lake and bushland.

Well known Australian painter, Frederick McCubbin lived in the area in 1893 and painted some of his most well known works including "The Bush Burial" and "Down on His Luck" in the surrounding bushland close to Blackburn Lake.

Leaving the Lake behind, we crossed briefly into the suburbs that surround the bushland sanctuary and joined the paths that follow Gardiners Creek.

The wattles were flowering gloriously,

and the air was filled with their perfume

and the water glinted with a film of pollen deposited by the wind.

What a fun guy!

Our intrepid leader pointed out some fungi and then lead us to a nearby coffee shop to enjoy cups of tea with our home made sandwiches.

A big oak tree by the oval.

On the way back we walked past some interesting trees,

and enjoyed the rewards of tree planting and re-vegetation that has been undertaken over the year along the natural waterways.

To finish with, here are a few photo of plants that were flowering
in the bushland around the Lake.

Acacia paradoxa Kangaroo Thorn

Hardenbergia violacea Happy Wanderer

Hakea decurrens Bushy Needlewood


Spyridium parvifolium Dusty Miller

Clematis microphylla Small-leafed Clematis

We arrived back at the cars just as the thunder started to rumble, and rain slightly damped our cups of tea. The walk was about 9.5 kms in length and was easy walking with wide, even paths. There were many opportunities for botanising and birdwatching and for much of the walk, you wouldn't even know you were walking through a major city!