Walking in Melbourne: Red Bluff beachwalk

A few months ago, while on another expensive trip to the mall, Willemijn bought a book with walks within Melbourne, in an attempt to let us explore our city of residence a bit more. Since then, the book has been sitting on the shelf, gathering dust.

But a couple of weekends ago we decided that we would need to remedy that situation. We took the great weather as a sign, flipped through the book, decided on a trail, invited some friends, packed our stuff (including our new drone) and off we went to the Red Bluff beach walk.

The walk starts close to the Sandringham Yacht Club and winds itself along the beach south to Half Moon Bay.

Parking at the Yacht Club is not free, however, and it was also very limited, as there was a sailing event going on. So we decided to look for parking in one of the side roads close by and found free parking without an issue.

The first half of the walk is along the sandy beach, so bringing your hiking boots may not be the best choice. Also, don’t forget swimming gear, towels and sunscreen… and extra time for the kids to play.

Once we had convinced the kids that it is time to move on, the view got even more impressive. The Red Bluff is a collection of heavily eroded, red sandstone, standing right on the beach. In some parts it even reaches into the water, so we were forced to climb through the rocky landscape.

Looking up from here, you would never guess that you’re still in the middle of Melbourne and that there is a busy road and a lot of houses not 30 meters behind that rocky outcrop.

The end of the bluff marks the beginning of Half Moon Bay, the southern end of the walk. A great time to rest, spend some (more) time on the beach and engage in that most Melbournian of pursuits: a coffee “to go” from the local vendor.

This vantage point also gives you the chance to look out at the HMVS Cerberus, an old military ship built in the late 1800s and now sitting in the breakwater.

While it used to be possible to get close to the ship and dive there, it has now deteriorated too much for this to be still possible. There is now an exclusion zone around it.

Luckily, this does not extend into the air, so flying close with my drone and taking a few pictures was still very much possible.

After a short break it was time to head back. There, we had the choice of returning along the beach, or using the paths on top of the cliffs. As it was getting late, we chose the latter. While maybe not as beautiful, the track though the forested area between the road and the edge of the cliff is still a nice place to walk.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable afternoon. Even though it’s close to home (we got here in less time than it takes us to get to the CBD), it felt like a day away at the beach.

Next time we’ll bring a bigger Esky. 🙂