Upper Ferntree Gully - Quarry Reserve Loop - a Station to Station Walk.

Upper Ferntree Gully - Quarry Reserve Loop - a Station to Station Walk. created by Sean Mathews

Rate this walk

Summary

Enjoy the hillside pleasures of the Dandenong Ranges right on the doorstep. Great views, forest capped peaks and a beautifully designed park of switchback paths to a cliff faced quarry lake.

Description

Station to station walks have the advantage of no car required, arrive and leave by bus or train.

Upper Ferntree Gully Railway Station sits on the emergent uphill slopes of the Dandenong Ranges above the Melbourne metro basin. This walk takes full advantage of local topography and the railway station situation, adjacent to a high quality quarry to parkland conversion.

The walk from the station goes high above and around the Quarry Reserve cliff top. It traverses the pleasing indigenous hilltop bushland. The views across Melbourne make for expansive vistas. The gravel track is well maintained. Access to the cliff tops of the quarry itself is excluded by a strong and high fence. From a safety point of view, children would have to make a very deliberate decision and effort to breach the fence.

Curiously, the northern end of this hilltop track has had plenty of work done to improve safety and access to it. There has been gravel laid, landscaping, fencing, seating, footbridge and an extensive stairway construction. The track itself is being revegetated with native plants. However, at the southern entry is a broken fence. Many people use this track. Locals say this has been the situation for years so people using this track simply walk past the broken fence.

Quarry Reserve is a well groomed public park that combines an experience of excellent amenities with connection to the mountainside environment. The wide range of people enjoying the reserve suggests it offers the benefits of a valued public space for physical and mental wellbeing.

The fast maturing plantings are coming into their own now, creating a lovely bushy aesthetic. The use of switchback pathways and alternative routes down to the quarry lake create a variety of ways to engage with the space.

If you want to come by car, there is plenty of parking above the Reserve. The entry point to the Reserve beside the car park is a manicured parkland parcel including its own views, potable water, playground, shelter and BBQ facilities.

Below this, the extensively landscaped Reserve spreads gracefully across the site and down to the shoreline of the large quarry lake. There is ample seating for those needing an exercise break, a quiet sit or conversation. Swathes of lawn encourage running, tumbling, sunning, reading, being and picnics.

Jetties and waterside approaches provide for water access. Bird watching, people watching, fishing, paddling and swimming are activities worth considering.

Other walks in this area
Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens
Wombolano Bushland walk, Ringwood East
Bungalook Conservation walk, Kilsyth
Dorset Recreation Trail, Croydon

Dogs must be on a leash.
Clean up after your dog
Take rubbish home with you.
Take note of signs warning of algal blooms in the water.

Rate this walk

4944 Views

Points of Interest

1. Upper Ferntree Gully Railway Station

Arrive and depart by bus or train. No car required.

2. View from the end of Hilltop Road.

After Railway Avenue, you will climb Hilltop Road to the beginning of the track around the top of Quarry Reserve. This is the view looking across Ferntree Gully to William Angliss Hospital.

3. The track above the Quarry

Above the cliff face of the quarry, the track is well fenced, gravelled and wide. With the bush above you and the view below, it is an alluring walking space.

4. View to the city.

The ever extending Melbourne CBD skyline is some 30km away.

5. The first switchbacks.

As you descend beside the Quarry site there are various ways of getting you down. First come gravel path switchbacks (with seating if you happen to tire after choosing to go the opposite direction).

6. An elaborate stairway.

After the short stretch of switchbacks comes a small footbridge flowed by this elaborate stairway taking you down the next slope. The Council have gone to a lot of trouble on walkers' behalf.

7. Bug Hotel.

Seeing a Bug Hotel along the track suggests it has been embraced by the neighbours.

8. The Quarry Reserve cliff face

From the first Lookout above the Quarry Lake you can look back on from where you have come. Impressive!

9. A park within a park.

Above the entry to the slopes of Quarry Reserve is an amenity rich pocket park with BBQ, shelter, seating and tables, playground, more lookouts, pathways and potable water.

10. Car parking.

There is plenty of car parking (also with great views) if you don't want to take up the public transport option.

11. Made for families.

There is plenty for the whole family to enjoy in Quarry Reserve.

12. Dogs on a leash.

Dogs are welcome, but this is not an off leash dog playground. Please respect other users of the Reserve by having your dog under control at all times and pick up after your dog.

13. A more direct route to the bottom.

Mapped here are the switchback paths for getting up and down the slope to the lake. However, there are also a diverse range of direct routes if you want them.

14. Seating.

There are seats of various styles and in various locations across the Reserve. Some are designed for group conversation, some for solo contemplation others for a more restful ascent back to the top.

15. Quarry Lake.

Such a picturesque place. Everyone present appeared to be enjoying something different about it. There were fisher peeps, children with scooping nets, writers, observers and they all looked relaxed.

16. Dandenong Ranges architecture.

If you are one for admiring local housing as you walk, Ferntree Gully has many examples of classic Dandenong Ranges hillside homes of the past. Some looking great, some sad and some in between.