Friends Of The Bellarine Rail Trail

It starts at the Geelong Showgrounds and meanders through the countryside finishing at Queenscliff, at the entrance of Port Phillip Bay. On its way it passes by many of the famous wineries that are very prolific to the area. It is twenty six miles from start to finish, and from the township of Drysdale’s ancient Station many of the old steam locomotives take visitors on a memorable journey through to the very old town of Queenscliff. It is like so many things today run and maintained by volunteers. From Geelong to Drysdale the old tracks have been dispensed with and a walking, cycling and horse riding track as now taken its place, most of which is now sealed. The City of Greater Geelong decided in the early part of 2000 to refurbish the track with native trees, grasses and understory planting and called for volunteers to carry out this very lengthy project. The Friends of the Rail Trail began its beginnings in 2002 to plant and mulch all the way from the Showgrounds to the Drysdale Station. No further plantings were to be carried out beyond this area for fear of fire from sparks etc. from the locomotives. As in so many of these projects most of the volunteers came from the retired community along with a few ladies with children at school who gave us a few hours when they could. From the very beginning and to the present moment work has been a Wednesday morning project, and to this day continues as still there are areas that require planting and mulching. Among our may other tasks that we have undertaken is the building and assembling of benches and picnic tables scattered along the trail. When planting is finished maintenance will then be order of the day for us. On a Tuesday, fortnightly seeds are collected and cuttings from along the trail and taken to the Geelong Community Nursery where our members pot and seed many of the hundreds of plants that we require each year. So we are kept busy. So if you have a few hours to spare come along on a Tuesday and Wednesday and join our happy band that has turned this old railway track into one of the wonders of the Bellarine. Wally Wombat