Sixteen of us met up at Frankston to explore our new route. We first headed up the Baxter Trail, a slow and steady uphill incline to Langwarrin where we found the Peninsula Link Trail. A left turn took us along the link trail with bush on one side and the freeway on the other. The freeway turned out to be a bit noisier than on New Years Day!! But we did not hug it the whole way. After a while the trail headed east into the Pines Nature Reserve. Rodney told us that this was supposed to be Melbourne's second cemetary, but the coffins sank in the sandy soil so they moved operations to Springvale.
Soon after the Pines, we found our water and toilet stop. Paul C. was elated when he realised that this was right next to the St Kilda training ground, a religious spot for us St Kilda supporters.
It was here where Rodney continued his fascinating series on Indigineous History (see this link).
The trail turned west and headed towards the Seaford Wetlands, much diminished from pre white settlement days. It followed these wetlands to the Patterson River where we turned left onto the Dandenong Trail.
We wondered at the large houses with little or no gardens as we headed along to Carrum. Thanks to Joy for taking over leadership along this stretch. Her excellent tour guiding skills led us to a lovely cafe with an outdoor area just right for our group. The coffee was good too.
While most headed straight home on the train, a few of us continued to Mordialloc via the Edithvale Wetlands, after which two hardy souls continued all the way back to Yarra City.
Penny
