Sweetwater Creek Lower Nature Reserve and Walking Trails (Frankston South)

Anyone looking for a tranquil hour or just a few minutes to enjoy a beautiful, natural reserve, will find it here.

There is a profusion of indigenous trees, shrubs and grasses, thrilling bird life and the serenity of a tumbling stream. The Reserve corridor remains a unique ribbon of forest, heath, swamp and grassland interlocked by walking trails and resting places. The main track takes walkers beside rock pools, across bridges through an enclosure of native shrubbery and eventually onto a boardwalk, through a corridor of melaleuca and swampland. Side tracks provide opportunities to explore and observe.

There are many entry points to the Reserve apart from the one on Nepean Highway, at the foot of Olivers Hill. They include the Liddesdale, Hoadley, Parkside, Baden Powell, Grange, Bembridge and Fleetwood entrances.

The walks in the reserve include boardwalks, staircases of varying heights and dirt/gravel walking tracks.

Narringalling, meaning 'sweet water', is the name given to the creek by the local Boon Wurrung people who used it as a source of freshwater. Around the 1850s European settlers built huts near the creek mouth. In the late 1800s logging by woodcutters operating out of Canadian Bay resulted in the clearing of most of the eucalypts and wattles. The timber was used for the Melbourne fuel, furniture and tanning markets. The denuded areas were then invaded by Coast Tea-tree. The reserve has been rehabilitated and the creek has again become an excellent habitat for indigenous plants and animals.

Map of Route

Access for Dogs:

Dogs are allowed to enter provided they are on a lead and must remain on constructed pathways at all times.
Cats are prohibited in Sweetwater Creek Lower Nature Reserve.

Review:

A 3.2km lap around the Sweetwater Creek Nature Reserve with a side excursion to the bay is an interesting walk. There are a number of information boards along the way and the reserve has a lot of sections of boardwalks. There are houses along the sides of the reserve but they are well camouflaged by trees and bushes. There is a small playground at one section of the reserve with swings, rocker and climbing structure plus a lookout in the shape of a bow of a ship. One side is high (with a lookout point) and the other side is lower. There are plenty of benches for rests throughout the reserve. Near the boat launching ramp are toilets.