Outer Circle Rail Trail, Melbourne

Outer Circle Rail Trail, Melbourne - 12 Kms

June 30, 2022

U3A Hike No. 202

Hike Report by Gordon

It being a fifth Thursday of the month, and according to a tradition that we have been struggling to establish, it was time for urban bushwalking in Melbourne.

After Mark had a crash course in herding cats onto Public Transport, the hikers arrived at East Camberwell station, only to find that two members had been eaten by the train! Fortunately, they were able to alight at the next stop and quickly catch a returning train.

We then joined the Outer Circle Rail Trail and followed it north towards the Yarra River. The Outer Circle Railway was an attempt in the late 1800s to provide Melbourne with a circumferential, rather than radial line, passenger line. The line was never well patronised and was gradually discontinued until its final complete closure in the 1940s (click on link at the end of the photos to read the history notes). Fortunately, the easement survived and has been converted to a shared walking and cycling path.

We followed the path along a succession of well-cared-for parks and quaint lanes that were reminiscent of rural England, past the back fences of the plush suburbs of Camberwell and Kew, only becoming aware that we were walking through a city when we crossed a main road. When the Trail joined a main road, we escaped onto another linear park system to reach and cross under the Eastern Freeway to the banks of the Yarra River.

We followed the Yarra down-stream towards Melbourne, via a section of bush, birds and billabongs and then for a short distance along the Main Yarra Trail, where we were menaced by wannabe Tour de France cyclists. It was a relief to leave this trail and follow the Yarra bank through river flats to the old Outer Circle Rail bridge across the river. From here we followed a much more adventurous track as it crossed a steep hillside above the river to arrive at a pedestrian and water-pipe bridge across the Yarra.

Our lunch stop was the Fairfield Amphitheatre, which was constructed by the Greek community of Melbourne in the 1980s in order to stage Greek plays of the 5th Century BC (click on link at the end of the photos for more details).

The remainder of the walk was along the Merri Creek, under old blue-stone bridges towering above us, to Rushall station and a suburban train back to Southern Cross.

Thankyou Mark for researching and leading the walk and to Ken for being the Whip.