Platypus Picnic to celebrate our 25th birthday AND the trail opening
June 21 @ 11:00 am - 1:30 pm
At today’s event we’ll be celebrating:
- the platypus population in Campbells Creek
- our partnership in a $200,000 funded project to help improve platypus conservation
- the opening of the newly finished trail (24 years after we wrote the submission!)
- launch of the new ‘Sound Trail‘
- the Friends of Campbells Creek Landcare Group’s 25th birthday
- our role in the $1.8 million funded Forest Creek Revitalisation project
- (and Winter Solstice at 12:41 p.m.!)
We’d love to have as many people as possible walking and cycling the trail. You’ll be able to see what 25 years of landcare effort can achieve. We’ve helped double the platypus population in the creek, but it it is now under threat from urbanisation in and around Castlemaine. This event is an opportunity to show your support for the platypus!
Bring: any platypus themed items you can: clothing, posters, placards, stuffed toys, etc. You can search for “platypus themed merchandise” if you don’t have anything.
Wear: weather appropriate unique clothing so you can identify yourself later in the drone flight video.
We’ll have buses and a bicycle trailer to return tired people to your starting point, so you don’t have to make the journey twice!
If you’re travelling with a mobile phone, why not try out the Sound Trail? Install the free Soundtrails app. It’s available for Android and iPhone/iOS. After installation, open the app and search for Campbells Creek. Select that, then click the green ‘Start’ button. You can read more about the Campbells Creek sound trail here.
When: Please be at the official launch before 11:00 a.m. If you’re travelling along trails, you’ll have to start earlier!
Where: The official launch site is here, just north of Princess St, Campbells Creek. There are many places to start if you want to travel the trail. See the table and map below for suggested starting places and travel times to arrive in time for the official opening of the trail. If you can’t travel the trail, you can park on Princess St: it’s only 200 metres from the launch site.
Afterwards there will be a free BBQ lunch, platypus information, displays showing how the creekside environment has changed over time, music, activities for children and more.
Please click here to RSVP so we can estimate how much food to supply!
Trail map (click to see bigger version)
| Map point | Suggested start point | Number of road crossings | Distance to launch site (km) | Slow walk (3 km/hr) duration (hrs:mins) | Child cycling (12 km/hr) duration (hrs:mins) | Adult cycling (20 km/hr) duration (hrs:mins) |
| 1 | Forest St | 0 | 3.6 | 1:12 | 0:33 | 0:11 |
| 2 | Campbells Creek playground park | 0 | 0.93 | 0:31 | 0:05 | 0:03 |
| 3 | Walker St (the Mill) | 1 | 5.0 | 1:40 | 0:25 | 0:15 |
| 4 | Froomes Rd (north end of Botanical Gardens) | 1 | 5.8 | 1:56 | 0:30 | 0:18 |
| 5 | Wesley Hill | 3 | 6.8 | 0:34 | 0:21 | |
| 6 | Maldon (Railway station) | 1 | 19 | 0:56 |
This event is supported by the Mount Alexander Shire Council Events Grants Program.
