Balnarring Coastal Hike, early autumn

These pictures were taken on April 6, 2011, showing the scenery and action on a 3 km return hike along the Balnarring Coast, 80 km, south of Melbourne, on Westernport Bay.

The tide was in!

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Balnarring Coastal hike - extreme low tide!

These pictures were taken on Monday March 28, 2011, on a 4 km (return) coastal hike between Balnarring and Merricks Beaches, Westernport Bay, 80 km south of Melbourne.

The tide was way out, exposing glorious rock pools!

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Exploring theCoastal Heath Track, Balnarring

On Monday December 28, 2009, I visited the Balnarring Beach area, about 70 km south of Melbourne, on Westernport Bay.

From the main car park at the end of Balnarring Beach Rd, I followed the Coastal Heath Track past the Yacht Club, then on to the Banksia Rise Track, alongside the Merricks Creek Estuary.

This ended at Tulum Beach, which I followed through to the Estuary at adjoining Somers Beach.

It was low tide - after exploring the reefs and rock pools which had been exposed near the estuuary, I returned to the car park along the beach, a distance of about 5 km in total.

There was plenty of beach action on a hot day!

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Balnarring Coast and Coolart Woodlands

On Saturday October 31, 2009. I went down to the Balnarring Beach Foreshore, (also known as Tulum Beach) about 80 km south of Melbourne, on Westernport Bay.

From the main carpark, I walked along the beach, reaching the unsigned boardwalk/footrack leading to the bridge over the Merricks Creek Estuary.

This took me to the signed Woodland Walk, then along the north bank of the Estuary, then uphill to the boundary of the Somers Camp for Children.

From there, I continued to the big Suspension Bridge over the Estuary, then back along the beach to the carpark, a total distance of about 5 km.

A weird natural phenomenon had occurred along the beach. This was a massive grey fog, which had blown in from the direction of Phillip Island. I have never seen anything quite like this before! A gale force wind accompanied the Fog, reducing visibility to about 50 metres!

Strangely, the fog vanished at the western end of the beach!

It was a hot day, around 30 degrees, with many visitors swimming, paddling, beachcombing, sailing in small boats, or working powered craft.

There was excitement along the beach, due to Land Boarders and Kite Surfers with their colorful kites.

Kitesurfing (also known as Kiteboarding) is a surface water sport that uses wind power to pull a rider through the water on a small surfboard or a kiteboard (similar to a wakeboard). Generally kiteboarding refers to a style of riding known as freestyle or wake-style, whereas kitesurfing is more "wave-riding" oriented. These two styles usually require different boards and specific performance kites.

A kitesurfer or kiteboarder uses a board with or without foot-straps or bindings, combined with the power of a large controllable kite to propel the rider and the board across the water. In 2006, the number of kitesurfers has been estimated at around 150,000 to 210,000, with 114,465 inflatable kites sold that same year.[1]

The sport is becoming safer due to innovations in kite design, safety release systems, and instruction. Riding styles have evolved to suit riders and conditions, such as wakestyle, waveriding, freestyle, jumping, and cruising.

Land Boarders sit on a wheeled "board", using the wind and kite as the power source. This activity is usually done on flat beaches, or over snow!

See the full set of Photos of my visit!

Balnarring Coast and Coolart Wetlands, Westernport Bay

On Saturday August 22, 2009, I visited the Balnarring (Tulum) Beach Foreshore and adjacent Coolart Wetlands, on Westernport Bay, about 70 km south of Melbourne.

I completed a 5 km hike, starting at the Balnarring Beach car park, then along the Bayview Wallking Track, and the recently constructed Merricks Creek Walking Track, which can also be reached from the eastern end of the camping park.

This scenic track follows the Merricks Creek Estuary, and has information boards with location maps, describing the development, fauna, and flora of the area.

Shorter tracks leading from Bayview Track are Fern Tree and Saltbush Tracks.

Merricks Creek Track then swings back onto the foreshore.

From there, I followed the foreshore, reaching the Boardwalk Track, which took me over the footbridge to the Coolart Wetlands, on the northern side of the Merricks Creek Estuary.

I then followed the signed Woodland Walk to the west, passing a nice lagoon, and reaching another footbridge.

This was my turnabout point, and I returned to the car park via the same route.

There are several signed tracks in the Wetlands area - a map is available from the adjacent Visitor Centre, on Lord Somers Rd.

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The following information about Coolart is acknowledged to Parks Victoria:

Coolart is a magnificent late Victorian mansion situated on the shores of Westernport. In the superb grounds are ever-changing wetlands that you can view from the observatory, and a lagoon where thousands of Australian white ibis nest every year.

Coolart has a large diversity of wildlife despite its relatively small size. It has nine species of frog, including the increasingly rare Growling Grass Frog. Thirteen species of mammal ranging in size from the tiny, mouse-sized Agile Antechinus to the large Swamp Wallaby.

There are eleven species of reptile including the Common Long-necked Tortoise, Blue-tongue Lizard, Copperhead, White-lipped Snake and several species of skinks.

Birds are the most numerous of the larger wildlife and 177 species have been recorded. Eight species of fish and four crustaceans have been found in the waterways.

The varied vegetation is the key to the wildlife diversity at Coolart. The property consists of different plant communities including manna gum/banksia woodland, grassland, paperbark swamps and wetlands of sedges, reeds and rushes.