Day Walks Melbourne

Book excerpt: Describes 41 walking areas around Melbourne with a total of 94 walk variations. For each walking area, one walk is described in detail and a series of variations based on the main walk are also given if appropriate. Areas covered range from Torquay, Barwon Heads, Geelong, You Yangs, Brisbane Ranges, Creswick, Daylesford, Lerderderg Gorge, Altona, Westerfolds Park, Jells Park, Braeside Park, Mordialloc, Birds Land, Sherbrooke Forest, Olinda Forest, Kinglake, Maroondah Dam, Black Spur, Cathedral Range, Lake Eildon, Gembrook, Powelltown, Cape Woolamai and Fort Nepean. The February 2009 fires have burnt a number of the walks - the update page lists the fire effected walks. Walks range from 4 to 23.5km in length. Grades range from Easy to Hard and the grading is similar to that used by most walking clubs in Victoria hence there is something for everybody. The guide includes walks of all standards, while many of the Easy walks are suitable for families, some of the Hard walks require some scrambling and are intended for experienced walkers. The book is a full colour production with colour topographic maps. Map sizes range from half page to 2 pages for each walk and standard metric scales of 1:25,000 or 1:50,000 are used . The guide also includes a 2 page key map of the Melbourne area and a 6 page Walk Index designed to assist with selecting a walk. An innovation over some books are the inclusion of gradient profiles showing climbs and descents, all at identical scales enabling easy comparison between different walks.