By JESSE GRAHAM
IF you go out in the woods today, be sure of a big surprise.
It’s one of the more reclusive areas in the Yarra Ranges, but a trip out into Warburton’s Redwood plantation is the perfect place for a Teddy Bears’ Picnic – or simply an adventure through the forest.
The Californian Redwood plantation is located about eight kilometres out of Warburton’s main township, about one kilometre down Cement Creek Road, on the left.
Even when pulling up outside the plantation – there’s an area to park cars at the fence-line – the immensity of the forest doesn’t quite hit home.
It’s once you walk past the threshold into the shady forest that the still beauty of the area is really made clear – and it is very still.
The plantation contains 1500 trees, each placed in near-perfect rows that stretch into the distance, and the dense canopy overhead means a walk through is often cool, even on warmer days.
The trees were planted as part of a re-vegetation program conducted by the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works in the 1920s and 1930s, following the clearing of forested areas through fires and logging.
Though the forest is typically silent, with the odd bird call, it is a popular area for tourists, adventurers and locals and it is not unheard of to find musicians practising in among the trees or strange, woven structures made from fallen tree limbs.
While the plantation area can be eerie, it is surrounded by different areas, with an open, green field filled with different plants and flowers, through to a path into a ferny area of the forest that passes by a stream.
Those looking for an area off the beaten track or a unique area to explore on a sunny day will have time well spent heading to the plantation, which is also a favourite for photographers and artists.
There is plenty of room to set up a picnic blanket, or to set up with a good book, relax and escape from it all for an hour or two.
However, the area has little-to-no mobile phone coverage and is around 10 minutes away from Warburton, so travellers should be prepared with adequate food, water and fuel to return.
Due to the risks involved, it is not advisable to visit the plantation and the surrounding forest on days of severe, extreme or catastrophic fire risk, and the road to the forest can become muddy after heavy rain.
There are no bins around the area, so visitors should take any rubbish with them when they leave.
The plantation is listed on the Register of Significant Trees of Victoria by the National Trust.
