Ventnor Beach on Phillip Island (my rating A)

Ventnor Beach on Phillip Island is the only official offleash beach all year round without time restrictions.

There are 2 entrances to this beach, I'm not sure if there are toilet facilities at Tyro Street Entrance.  We parked at the end of Ventnor Beach Road.

(Credit: Bass Coast website)

It features a decent carpark and toilet facilities.

And a short 100-step walk to the sandy beach.

p.s.: On the way back, we stopped at the Chocolate Factory to end the day on a sweet note, but sadly the outdoor dinning patio was closed (don't know when and if it's permanently closed?  The last time we visited this place was 8 years ago).

Hepburn Regional Park (my rating A)

Hepburn Regional Park is in Hepburn,  near Daylesford, about 1.5hrs drive from Melbourne City.

Most of people think about springs and SPA resorts when hearing "Hepburn" or "Daylesford", yes, Daylesford is "SPA centre of Australia", but SPA isn't the only thing Hepburn/Daylesford can offer,  Hepburn Regional Park is a big GREEN area, offering many walking tracks. (Dogs are expected to be on-leash)

 

 (Yes, Hepburn Regional Park features springs as well)

We parked at the Hepburn Mineral Springs Reserve, and walked to Argyle Spring and back. It took us about 2 hrs return, including rest and refreshment.  There is a bench half way to Argyle Spring, but  Mum found some 'informal' resting spots - fallen tree logs along the track.

 

(Sign at the car park, the car park is roomy)

 

(the walk we did today, map from Park Victoria website)

The walk itself was relaxing, refreshing and satisfying.  even though no heartbreaking view.  We had many chances to study the plants, and trees, and birds.  We also met Little Jonny and Miss Minne, 2 funny cute "creepy" crawlings like caterpillars.

 

 (Little Jonny)

(Miss Minnie)

In my opinion, the walk requires reasonable fitness, as there're numerous steps: natural ones and man-made ones.  Thanks to the walking stick, Mum managed the steps and slopes.

There're quite some spiky plants throughout the track, guess it's the way the plants protect themselves.  You might want to wear long pants and long sleeve tops to avoid the cuts.

  

(These plants are very popular in this park, mind your bare skin)

As the ground is very uneven, a pair of proper hiking boots would be really helpful.

 

(Walking Track)

When we were there, we saw quite a few trees uprooted (or fallen), and also heard the trees cracking.  It's always a good idea to have the ears wide open, for the enjoyment of birds chipping, and potential danger of the trees falling.

 

(Broken Tree Trunk)

 

(Sign on the back back to car park)

Suggest you to go to Daylesford Visitor Centre to get a copy of the map.  The staff there are very helpful and friendly.  The visitor centre is located at 98 Vincent St, Daylesford.

Mt Beckworth Scenic Reserve@Clune (my rating A)

Mt Beckworth is located 35km north west Ballarat.  It's about 2.15hrs drive from Melbourne City via M80.

We spent some time searching for the entry.  I initially set the GPS to go from Pickfords Rd to Cork Oaks Camp Site, but for some reason, the GPS couldn't find the way.  We had to re-set the destination to the other entry (the one at the end of Mountain Creek Rd), and then followed the road within the Reserve to Cork Oaks.

 

(This is the Sign of "Mt Beckworth Scenic Reserve" at the Entry)

 

(The sign at the Entry)

There're a few signs in the park showing the way, but not sufficient in my opinion, especially when the road splits, there's no sign to tell you which way to go.  Thanks for my GPS, I had a reference (yup, to turn on to the road that looks closer to the destination).

But once we arrived, it made all the effort worth.  The Cork Oaks is a nice camp site, with toilet facilities.

After a well-prepared hotdog lunch, we set the hiking to "Mt Bechworth" summit.

As said before, there was no enough signs, we followed the sign of "Mt Bechworth" at the beginning, soon we found us climbing up the mountain following sort of walking trail.  It was literally and actually climbing, the path is really steep, and not well formed (so different from You Yangs and 1000 Steps).  Mum and Jessica climbed 2/3, then decided to go no further. 

It took us 45 mins to reach the summit, this is one of the reasons I believe we didn't follow the track (it says on the sign about 3hr return if stays on the walking track).

However, I must emphasize I made no complain at all.  The view is breathtaking, the climbing was fun! It made the hiking more adventurous, the only regret was Mum and Jessica couldn't make to the summit and enjoy the view.

My suggestion to you, if you plan to visit this reserve, please do have a hard copy of the Park Notes, and I'm sure you would thank your proper hiking boots after climbing the mountain, they would protect your ankles and also provide good grip.

 

(Sign at the Cork Oaks)

 

(This section of the climbing is easy compared to the summit part)

 

(View at 1/3 from the summit)

 

(path at the start, much steeper than what looks in this photo)

 

(This is the path heading summit)

 

(map from Park Vic website)

Malahang Reserve@Heidelberg West (My Rating A)

Banyule is the most dog friendly city council in Inner Melbourne, from what I've researched so far!  All the parks are dog offleash (there're some common rules to apply, like consideration to sport games, wetlands, and playgrounds, etc).

Malahang Reserve is a big recreation park in Heidelberg West, the park features: Playground with wide range play equipments, basketball hoop, netball hoop, skate park, BMX dirt track, large Ovals, paved path, toilets, BBQ, carpark and OFFLEASH, of course!

It is a popular park, especially during school holidays and weekends.  But when we were there on a sunny Saturday, though the park was busy, the kids had great fun!

The only regret was the toilet wasn't clean enough, guess it was because too many visitors using the toilets......

RJ Hamer Arboretum@Olinda (my rating A)

RJ Hamer Arboretum is surrounded by Dandenong Ranges National Park, a wonderful place to visit.  It's just about 1 hr drive from Melbourne city.

We loved the magnificent view, the vast green and massive beautiful trees.  The kids loved to run up and down the hills.  There are 2 BBQ stoves, sheds and toilet facilities.  The toilets are reasonably clean.

Please note there's not bin at the park.  You'll need to 'Take your Rubbish Home'.  We did take our rubbish HOME, and into our own Rubbish Bin. :-)

We did a bush-walk after picnic lunch.  It took us some moments to confirm that the first part of the track is to cross the grassy plain.  See the map below, the walk we did is traced over in blue, it took us 2 hrs return.  Some part of the track is quite steep, and because it was wet, the path was quite slippery.  There is no bench along the path, but we managed to find a few tree logs / stumps for Mum to rest.

 

(Map downloaded from Park Victoria website)

The only problem I found was to find the path and direction.  I hope Park Victoria can make the signs clearer and better.  To me, there wasn't enough track signs.

And because of this, I would highly suggest you to have your map ready (I had a softcopy map i.e. PDF file stored on my Smart Phone, downloaded from Park Victoria Website), the track guide map at the Information Display Board is barely informative.  And you'll find wearing hiking boots help a lot.

 

(How would you like it to have picnic lunch facing such magnificent view?)

 

(This is where we started our walk)

 

(After 50-100m, the path is more visible)

 

(At the edge of of the grassy plain, there's a sign on the left). 

(The stony road is Mathias Road)

 

(Follow Mathias Road, past "Red Dog Hut" on the left, you'll see this sign)

(We turned left onto Sequoia Track)

 

(Follow Sequoia Track to the end, you'll see the T section, and the Sign)

 

 

(This kookaburra accompanied us till Red Dog Hut)

(It was low-flying ahead of us, then stopped and waited, and flew again)

Sunbury Recreation Reserve@Sunbury (My Rating A)

 It's not easy for me to find a Skate Park that ticks off all my requirements, which says:
offleash, playground, grassy, children friendly (or beginner friendly, I should say), and toilets.

This one, Sunbury Recreation Reserve, I picked purely by judging the facts provided on Hume City Council website, is the ONE that ticks off all the requirements.

Sunbury is a suburb in Melbourne, near Melbourne Airport.  We went to this park after the walk at Woodlands Historic Park (just 15mins drive from Greenvale)

Big offleash grassy park with ample space for dogs to run.  2 nice playgrounds, one on each side of the bridge, toilets are near the playground near Aqua Centre.

The Skate Park which is suitable for all levels (looks like to me, coz my kids love it, and I see some big kids doing amazing tricks on their BMX bikes),  The BMX dirt track is just next to the Skate Park, featuring different ramps.  A patchy grassy area (under trees) near the Skate Park where I set up my picnic rug and made myself comfortable.

I knew this park to be on my A list when I heard the kids say "Mum, can we come to this park again?"

 

(My baby exploring)

 

(The playground that close to the Skate Park, the other one is even better)

 

(a Skate Ring)

 

(Ramp to the BMX dirt track)

 

(BMX dirt track)

 

(Skate Park)

 

(Skate Park)

See the blog entry of Woodlands Historic Park.