Friends Of The Bellarine Rail Trail

Friends Of The Bellarine Rail Trail The Bellarine Rail Trail

The Bellarine Rail Trail is situated on the Bellarine Peninsula in Victoria. It is wonderful now to see so many people using it.

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

Hey everyone!Today the Friends Of The Bellarine Rail Trail will be having their fundraiser barbecue at the Leopold Bunn...
11/04/2026

Hey everyone!
Today the Friends Of The Bellarine Rail Trail will be having their fundraiser barbecue at the Leopold Bunnings car park in Leopold.

Come and support us and a fantastic asset for Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula.

Hey everyone,The Friends Of The Bellarine Friends Of The Bellarine Rail Trail will be holding a Bunnings BBQ Fundraiser ...
11/04/2026

Hey everyone,
The Friends Of The Bellarine Friends Of The Bellarine Rail Trail will be holding a Bunnings BBQ Fundraiser tomorrow (12th of April) from 8 00pm at the Leopold Bunnings.
Come along, say hello and support a great community organisation.

Your support goes a long way!

Good evening everyone.It is with profound sadness that I inform you of the passing of David LeLievre, past president of ...
09/04/2026

Good evening everyone.

It is with profound sadness that I inform you of the passing of David LeLievre, past president of the Friends of the Bellarine Rail, who passed away peacefully on the 8th of April.

David's many years of service as president of the Friends of the Bellarine Rail Trail were marked by kindness, dedication, and an unwavering commitment to the community, particularly in Leopold and the Bellarine Peninsula, inspiring many, including myself.

His loss will be deeply felt, and he will be greatly missed. The funeral service for David LeLievre will be held on Saturday, the 18th of April at 1:30 pm at Jonathon Hepners, 199 Ormond Road, East Geelong, in the Uniting Church Hall behind the Hepner's building.

May his legacy always endure.
Rest in Peace David LeLievre.

President of the Friends Of The Bellarine Rail Trail - Thomas W Harrold

For Sale! Bellarine Rail TrailHere is your chance to purchase 32 km of native bush land.This offer is only available tod...
01/04/2026

For Sale! Bellarine Rail Trail

Here is your chance to purchase 32 km of native bush land.
This offer is only available today.

If you miss out on your chance to purchase the Bellarine Rail Trail then please come and support us by purchasing a Sausage at the Bunnings BBQ Fundraiser in Leopold on Sunday the 12th of April.

This week the Friends Of The Bellarine Rail Trail had Community Nursery on Tuesday morning and the general meeting in Le...
19/03/2026

This week the Friends Of The Bellarine Rail Trail had Community Nursery on Tuesday morning and the general meeting in Leopold in the evening.

On Wednesday we held our Wednesday working bee at Boundary road while some were at Leopold sorting out the new shed.

We did a bit of watering, weeding and a lot of gathering up rubbish and putting it in a pile for the council to pick up.

Next week we will have Community Nursery on Tuesday morning again (start time 9 30am) and hold our Wednesday working bee at Jetty Road in Drysdale.
Start time is 8 30am.

Ob the 12th of April the Friends Of The Bellarine Rail Trail will be holding a fundraiser BBQ at Bunnings in Leopold.
Please come along and support us. 👋

Hi everyone,The Friends of the Bellarine Rail Trail (FoBRT) have celebrated the construction and opening of the new stor...
14/03/2026

Hi everyone,

The Friends of the Bellarine Rail Trail (FoBRT) have celebrated the construction and opening of the new storage shed at the Leopold Community Hall site.

The FoBRT identified the requirement for a new storage shed for the storage of two work trailers, mobile watering tanks, tools and equipment associated with working bees conducted along the BRT.

While the FoBRT has had access to a storage shed for many years on private property, the property is expected to be sold in the near future necessitating the need for a new storage shed.

Over the last 2-3 years, we investigated a number of sites and approached the Leopold Hall committee who were very supportive of our storage shed proposal. We subsequently were successful with the City of Greater Geelong Community Infrastructure grant scheme, being formally notified in Dec 2024.

We approached 3 Geelong based garage / shed construction companies for quotes and Bayside Garages were successfully chosen to design and construct our storage shed project.

After a process of seeking planning approval and building design diagrams and preparation of legal agreement between the FoBRT and the Leopold Hall Inc., the storage shed was constructed in February 2026.

On Wednesday, 4th March 2026 the FoBRT held the official opening of the new shed in conjunction with the CoGG and the Leopold Hall Committee. To help celebrate we had a BBQ / sausage sizzle with FoBRT volunteers, members of the Leopold Hall Committee, Councillor Trent O’Sullivan, a photographer and media and other stakeholders too.

On behalf of the Friends of the Bellarine Rail Trail Inc., we would like to acknowledge the following entities who helped make this a successful project outcome:

1. The Leopold Hall Committee for their support and site location

2. The City of Greater Geelong Community Infrastructure Grants program without which funding this would not have been possible

3. Bayside Garages who were very patient with our timelines, and responsive to any of our enquiries.

Hope to see you out on the trail ✌️
Friends Of The Bellarine Rail Trail .

On Wednesday the Friends of the Bellarine Rail Trail held the official opening of the new shed.To help celibate we had a...
05/03/2026

On Wednesday the Friends of the Bellarine Rail Trail held the official opening of the new shed.
To help celibate we had a BBQ, members of the Leopold Hall Committee, Councilors a photographer and media and other stakeholders too.
The new shed also was fitted with a sign made by one of our members Dick.
We also had a new member join the the group too.

On Tuesday we had Community Nursery and our Wednesday working bee was held at the Fred Cook Reserve in Leopold on Christie's Road.

Next week we will have Community Nursery on Tuesday at 9 30 am and our Wednesday working bee will be at Roxanne Place in Newcomb beginning at 8 30 am.

This morning the Friends Of The Bellarine Friends Of The Bellarine Rail Trail met again at Grasslands Grove in Leopold a...
04/02/2026

This morning the Friends Of The Bellarine Friends Of The Bellarine Rail Trail met again at Grasslands Grove in Leopold and did a massive amount of watering removing tree gaurds and sticks and a monumental amount of cutting the long grass with combustion powerd cutters.
Combined the 5 combustion powered cutters it was about a total of 8 hours trimming the long grass.
Then there was the members on the hands and knees weeding around and under shrubs where the combustion powered cutters couldn't get to.
We watered over 300 plants with a 1000 litres of water.

Next week the Friends Of The Bellarine Rail Trail will be at Melissa Court just over the trail on the Northern side of where we were this morning.

Also happening next week on Monday and Tuesday will be our new she being constructed.

I presume there will also be a watering party on Monday morning.
I haven't been given the details yet.

On Tuesday next week we will have Community Nursery in Geelong.
We are beginning to propergate new plants from seeds for the planting stage in 2026.

Last Wednesday the Friends Of The Bellarine Rail Trail held our working bee at Grasslands Grove in Leopold. We did a lot...
02/02/2026

Last Wednesday the Friends Of The Bellarine Rail Trail held our working bee at Grasslands Grove in Leopold.
We did a lot of watering, weeding and getting rid of the long dry grass.

Next week on Monday the 2nd of February we will be watering behind
the Jayco Caravan Sales Yards in Moolap between Coppards Road
and the Bellarine Highway.

On Tuesday the 3rd of February we have community Nursery
beginning at 9:30am.

On Wednesday the 4th of February we will be back at Grasslands
Grove in Leopold watering, weeking and trying to sort out the long dry grass.
Start time is 8:30am

Also just a reminder that if you haven't expressed interest in doing the Bunning BBQ fundraiser on March 28 please do so.

Below is a map of Grasslands Grove for Wednesday February 4.

Mixed start this morning at Roxanne Court in Newcomb. Trying to rain at the start and then sunshine. Mostly weeding and ...
19/11/2025

Mixed start this morning at Roxanne Court in Newcomb. Trying to rain at the start and then sunshine. Mostly weeding and again cleaning the area. This is a well-used fly tipping area, and again a huge pile of rubbish was collected. It's such a shame as this really can be a very nice part of the trail, ruined by inconsiderate morons. This is not part of our job, but we cannot let it go to the dogs. Next week we will be at the Scarborough old station area in Curlewis. Enter via Hermsley Road and it's about 3 klm along the trail. Usual start time 8.30am. Hoping for the usual great turn up.

05/11/2025

I had a very early start as I was required to be back in Ocean Grove at 10am. Did a bit of weeding. On my leaving the rest of the fellas were beginning to arrive. They were eying up the huge pile of mulch that was going to be moved and spread. It was going to be another hard morning for them. There is no easy way of doing this is by the hard way by shovel and barrow. No further information on where to next week but feel sure Tommy will let us all know.

Address

Ocean Grove, VIC
3226

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