Our twenty-eighth walk begins where Part 1 finished in issue #155, on the corner of Burwood Highway and Elgar Road (Tram Stop 62), and will finish near Burwood Village. The reserves around Burwood have strong points of attraction, so choosing a favourite will be a challenge. I do hope that you enjoy the second part of this challenge. This walk is approximately 6km, and can be followed on Melway maps 60 and 61.
From the corner of Burwood Highway and Elgar Road (61 A6), cross to the northern side of Burwood Highway, and walk east for five minutes, crossing Gardiners Creek, then heading north along the Whitehorse Heritage Trail. (The trail on the eastern side of Gardiners Creek is usually quieter. There is signage for the trail on both sides of the creek.) After 10 minutes, you will be close to “the bridge” above you (very hard to miss!). I crossed the creek on a low-level bridge, then turned SW for about 20 metres, to a set of steps, which led west towards the clearly marked “Business School”.
Once you reach Elgar Road (five minutes), you will be at Entrance 3 to Deakin University. From here, cross at Uganda Street traffic lights to the western side of Elgar Road, turn right and continue north for a couple of minutes to Livingstone Close. Turn left here into Livingstone Close and wind your way uphill past the church to the top of the road, then take a narrow right of way/path through to Patterson Avenue. Continue till you reach the last house on the right. Here is an entry point into our next park, the very popular Wattle Park.
Once inside this park, walk north to the first oval (Marker WAT503) and walk around the oval anticlockwise. In about 10 minutes you will reach the grass tennis courts, Chalet and toilets. Walk westerly under the pines then NW beside a wire rope fence. About 50m before Riversdale Road, turn left onto a wellgravelled path, listening and looking for birds. As we get closer to the NW corner of the park, we pass an older style seat, a good place to stop and take in a view of the park. Continuing along the path, at a bend, there is an informal path taking us SW to the corner of the park on Warrigal Road near Dower Street.
Cross Warrigal Road here (taking care!) then walk one block south to Green Street, and our entrance to the next park, Cooper Reserve. You will need some time here to explore this expansive park with lots of tree cover, open space, picnic area, seating, toilet and a playground. As you walk around the park, you will find a right-of-way at the SW corner, going south to leafy Morey Street. Turn right and walk west along this attractive street, turning left into Through Road. After 200m south, Through Road turns right (SW). We then walk along the path in our next park, aptly called Through Road Reserve, which has seats, water and a picnic area. Then Through Road bends south again.
There is an entry (only about 20m wide) to our next reserve, which is on the corner where Through Road bends from SW to south (60 F4). We continue to walk SW through our final park – and it is big! This is Lynden Park, and is another multi-purpose area, with trees and parkland, sporting facilities and so on. About two-thirds of the way through this parkland, I turned south near a Scout Hall to exit the park via Oberwyl Road, walking to Toorak Road and tram stop 54, for the tram back to Burwood Village (Stop 57) or Elgar Rd (Stop 62).
So, now we have visited eight parks/reserves over these two walks. Which was the best? For your Burwood Walks writer, it is tough choice, but I lean towards Cooper Reserve, because of its wide-open views and its treed areas; it is a great place to sit and relax for a while. Perhaps a close second for me was the Local History Park (visited in the last issue). Can you pick a favourite?
