Point Cooke and Cheetham Wetlands, Werribee, Victoria

Date of walk: 05/08/2012

Grade: easy (but partly on sand/beach)

Walk type: Circuit and return possible

Region/Town: Melbourne, Werribee

Park: Point Cooke Coastal Park and Cheetham Wetlands

Links: 

A printable map of the parks (the one I used) obtained from Park Victoria:

http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/315560/Pt-Cook-Cheetham-Visitor-Guide.pdf

Background information on the parks from Park Victoria

http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/explore/parks/point-cook-coastal-park

Direction: Entrance to Cheetham Wetlands is through Point Cook Homestead Road, past Werribee. Entrance to Point Cook Coastal Park is through Point Cook Road or through Point Cook Homestead Road, past Werribee. From Melbourne, take the Princess Freeway and exit at Point Cook exit. Follow tourist sign directing you to Point Cook Coastal Park or Point Cook Homestead. 

The Walk: you can do this as a large loop, starting in any of the two park (Wetlands or Coastal Park) and joining the two through a walk along the beach, or you can wonder around within each park.

Cheetham Wetlands: The main attractions here are the wetlands and their inhabitants. These can be observed from a viewing tower which provides a view of the entire wetland area (but you do need binoculars if you want to see any bird properly). The tower is accessible by wheelchair from the Cheetham Wetland car park, around 1.2 km away (see map and link provided). 

There also appears to be a new and finished link with the Point Cook Coastal Park Bay Trail along the wetlands which was still marked a ‘later stage’ in the map obtained from Park Victoria website. Although there are some tracks within the wetlands, these are strictly reserved to Park Victoria officers/rangers. As said above, this walk is great for those who love watching birds but does not have much of scenery.  

Path from the carpark to the tower is wheelchair friendly.

Once at the tower you can follow a grassy path towards the beach (not accessible by wheelchair, which are only able to do 'carpark-tower-carpark') which will allow you to join/go back to the Point Cook Homestead, where you will find activities for children, and a little cafe, old stables, etc. From there you can either close the small loop by returning to the car park, less than 200 meters away (in which case 1 hr is ample to close the entire loop) or continue along the beach to Point Cook Coastal Park and create a larger loop (that would require 2 to 3 hours depending on how fast you walk).

Point Cook Coastal Park: Following the beach from Point Cook Homestead you will arrive at Point Cook Coastal Park main area approximately 1.8 km away. In between the two, well there is a nice beach, many birds, and a sense of being in the wild while being so close to Melbourne, but there are no trails apart from the beach. 

Once in the main area of the Coastal Park you can walk around the different, but short, trails in search of the many birds to be seen, play with your kids and have a picnic or BBQ at the multiple playground/BBQ areas available. Although I make it sound like there is not much, there is still plenty to do and see, especially if you have kids running around. But if you have young kids, simply drive to the Point Cook Coastal park main area, the 1.8 km in the sand may be too much for their young legs.

Overall I would say this is a nice place for a lazy Sunday afternoon walk and outing, but not if you are looking for a good walk and scenery. I guess this is a good thing since the place is above all a bird reserve. And if that is what you are after, than this is a great place to do so. Go out and play!