Naturist Walk in Woodlands Historic Park, Greenvale. Rescheduled.

This walk has now been rescheduled for Sat 22nd Sept. Max temp 20 to 21C with a late shower. Chances are we'll be finished before the shower. Will have to be sunny in the morning to get to 21C.

This walk will be repeated on Fri 28 Sept (Grand Final Holiday) if you can't make Sat 22 Sept. Temp 19C and partly sunny is forecast.

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We will visit the old Greenvale TB asylum site, ruins of a grand old house and see many friendly kangaroos and wallabies as well as having great views of Melbourne airport.
GRADE | LENGTH | TYPE: Easy 7km bushwalk on gently undulating grassy hills.  This will give us plenty of time to stop and enjoy the interesting features of this historic park. 
MEETING TIME | LOCATION: 10:15am at the Jolly Miller Cafe, Shop 7-9, Greenvale Shopping Centre, 1 Greenvale Drive, Greenvale.  After about half an hour for coffee, snacks and briefing, we will take all cars in convoy to the start of the walk 2km away. 
MAP REFERENCE: Melway map 178 grid J8 | Google map goo.gl/maps/o1bZt2PNXYp.
DISTANCE | TIME FROM GPO: 26km and 30 minutes from the GPO. 
TRANSPORT: 

• Car: travel via the Tullamarine Fwy and take the Mickleham Rd exit.
• Public Transport: catch the 9:09am Craigieburn train from Flinders Street to Roxburgh Park Station.  From there catch the 543 bus towards Greenvale Gardens, arriving at Greenvale Shopping Centre at 10:11am.

COST: $7, free for Nomads financial members.
FOOD: Carry lunch, snacks and water.
APPAREL | FOOTWEAR: Sunscreen, hat, sunglasses.  Wear comfortable walking shoes/boots.  Shorts etc. for the start and end of the walk.  A small towel to dry off in case you feel like a dip in the large dam in the back paddock.
ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: This walk is for naturists.  Stroll through the gently undulating open forest of this historic park just north of Melbourne which is virtually unused.  It has a large population of kangaroos and wallabies who do a wonderful job to manicure the grass.  We will visit the site of Melbourne's old North West Hospital where there was once a five storey hospital to house the patients with TB (tuberculosis), a fatal infectious disease of the lungs which was more commonly known as Consumption.  Kangaroos now happily graze the extensive lawns.  We then move on to to see the beautifully graffitied water towers and may climb into the shorter one, sing a song and check out the wonderful reverberations of your voice.  From there it's an easy stroll down the hill with great views of the planes lined up at Melbourne airport to reach the Back Paddock where they are trying to preserve a population of the threatened Eastern Barred Bandicoot.  Time for a dip in the large dam if hot, and then on to visit the ruins of a grand old two storey house.  As we head homewards look out for the “black wallabies” before we walk through a thick forest of tall spindly eucalypts to eventually escape from the large wired enclosure of the Back Paddock.  Then if desired we can take a short side trip to the top of Gellibrand Hill with 360 degree views including the Melbourne skyline and the airport runways.  As we return towards the cars we traverse through a most interesting aboriginal cemetery amongst the rocks and trees.

AFTERNOON TEA: After the walk, if you'd like a cool drink, a coffee or a snack, we can go to a nearby hotel - Gladstone Park Hotel at 196 Mickleham Rd, Gladstone Park.  It is 6km and 7 minutes from the end of the walk and is on your way back to the Tullamarine Fwy.
FURTHER INFORMATION: parkweb.vic.gov.au/explore/parks/woodlands-historic-park.

LEADER | BOOKING: Russell W. | preferably by Friday 21st September. Email the Leader if you have any questions. Members can access leader contact details under the Members->Leader Contacts tab when logged in to the website.

Tickets dated 15th Sept will be OK. If problems bring cash to the event.