Most great cities around the world have some form of open parkland available for their citizens and visitors.

Melbourne has always had the beautiful Domain with The Shrine of Remembrance, The Botanical Gardens and the very popular 3.8km Tan Track built into the perimeter.

I’m ashamed to say that after thirty years of living in Melbourne I was unaware of the existence of an area slightly north-east of the city’s fringe known as Yarra Bend.

I’ve always just thought of Yarra Bend as the home of the public golf course and the Fairfield Boathouse and Amphitheatre where I saw a fantastic concert in the early 90’s with Tiddas and Neil Murray.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.

For the benefit of this blog I’m just going to focus on the area between the Chandler Highway  in the east through to the city fringe at Collingwood. We went further each way and we discovered there was even more wide open space with very little human activity.

We have been doing a house-sit for the past four weeks, walked 2-3 hours each day with our dog Bobby and still haven’t touched the sides of the myriad of tracks emanating from this amazing Australian native bushland.

What struck me the most was the size and age of the river gums. They are truly graceful and provided much needed shade from the blistering heat we have experienced.

Our ‘upside down’ river, The Yarra looked quite inviting for a swim and there are a few spots where humans braved it. Not for me I’m afraid. Having grown up on WA beaches I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to water quality. Won’t even go in Port Phillip Bay, but good on anyone who does.

So without further ado, I’ve prepared a map I’ve included in the header with some directions that demonstrate our favourite walk with Bobby. Even if you don’t have a dog, it’s still picturesque

Start at 1, The Fairfield Boathouse. There is plenty of parking, in fact all over Yarra Bend Park there is tons of parking. Important to ‘carbo load’, so take advantage the Devonshire Tea here and the gigantic scones with jam and cream.

Follow the red line which is a bush track along the Yarra then inclines and goes alongside the Eastern Freeway. The elevations coming off the Yarra can vary between 50m to 200m and provide solid cardio and fat burning.

You’ll run into a strange fly fishing practice pool and two cricket ovals at 2. Walk through the ovals that are adjacent to the Fairlea Prison until you get to Yarra Bend Rd.

Turn left and cross the bridge at 4, then cross the two cricket ovals and head to Galatea Point at 5 and Deep Rock where dogs leap off the edge to chase balls and there is stunning Northern Territory-like scenery.

From there follow the track to Dights Falls at 6.  It’s no Niagara but it’s “better that nuthin’” as my late mum would say. Then head to the spiritual home of Collingwood FC, Victoria Park (7). If you have a dog this is heaven as every mutt imaginable runs amok. If you’re lucky, you might see a hipster get bowled over by an over-zealous canine, sending his double shot soy latte flying.

From Victoria Park it’s time to head to Studley Park so follow the blue line on the map back the same way until you reach Kanes Bridge at 8, a beautiful old suspension bridge for walkers and bikes. Just over the bridge to your right is the gorgeous Studley Park Boathouse. Here treat yourself to the perfect iced coffee or milkshake.

Time to head back to Fairfield Boathouse so follow the pink line on the map. All up this walk will take between 2-3 hours depending on how many scones and milkshakes you have!

Just a couple of things:

  • If you haven’t tried trail running before I highly recommend it and Yarra Bend has so much variety. Unfortunately a dodgy knee has ended that joy for me, but I always found it to be so exhilarating compared to pounding the streets or an oval. With Yarra Bend Park you can have the best of both as there are a plethora of manicured ovals within a short reach of each other.
  • Please just be mindful of snakes this time of year and have your dog on a short leash whilst on any narrow tracks.
  • For dog lovers there are more off-leash areas than on-leash. Everything is sign posted and there are plenty of water stations.

Finally a big thankyou to the Wurundjeri People for preserving this magnificent piece of land for generations to come. There’s something about the authentic native bushland of Australia that always feels like home to me, so to have this just a few km from Melbourne’s CBD is something I’ll never again take for granted.

Here are some photos from one of Melbourne’s best kept secrets:

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