Arthur’s Seat

Following on from my post last week, Arthur’s Seat is another place that I revisited recently after spending many hours there growing up. It is a lovely area that has so much to offer, from beautiful gardens and lovely walks to gondola rides (or a chairlift as it was when I was growing up). It is at the top of a mountain with views over the Mornington Peninsula and even Melbourne City in the distance on a good day.

At one point I lived quite near to the bottom of the hill, and opposite where we lived was the beginning of a walk that went up to the Seawinds Gardens at the top. We would do it fairly regularly for exercise and it was a lovely walk although it was very steep!

When we were in the area again over Christmas we decided to do the walk followed by a BBQ brunch at the top. Some of my family didn’t want to walk, so they drove up to the top and met us, carrying all of the food with them. This meant that we were able to walk freely without having to carry everything with us – which I, for one, was very grateful for!

It’s been a few years since I had done the walk from the bottom of the hill to the top and although I knew that it was steep, I had forgotten just how steep it was. The distance of the walk is only just a kilometre, but it is uphill the whole time, most of it very steep. I was very impressed with myself because I only had to stop a few times as we went, whereas previously, I would have had to stop every 20-30 metres for a break. While I arrived at the top pretty exhausted, it was also very satisfying because I knew that I had worked hard. And I also had the rewarding prospect of a good meal! We ended up taking up all the fixings for French toast and cooking it on the barbeque – for some reason things always taste better when they are cooked outdoors on a barbeque!

After brunch, we strolled down to the lookout and took in the view, which was very nice because it was a sunny morning. After this we packed up and headed home, thankfully driving rather than having to retrace our steps by foot.

I would recommend Arthur’s Seat to anyone looking for a fun, family friendly outing in nature. It has lots of options for the kids from easier walks to playgrounds and of course the gondolas. And it is a beautiful area for adults to enjoy as well!