Derek agreed to come with me on the Murchison Rail Trail as it was relatively short – 7.5 kilometres each way. As we were camping, this meant that Kenji the dog would be coming too. We had trained him to sit well in a basket in front of me, but recently the front basket had broken and this would be our first trial of Kenji in a basket on the back.
Murchison is a small but pretty town on the Goulburn River in Victoria and eventually it is planned that the rail trail will extend to the nearby former gold town of Rushworth.
The trail climbs 56 metres very gradually on the way out with a little less effort required on the return journey as a result.
Derek followed behind initially to make sure that the dog didn’t jump out of the basket, but fortunately Kenji was quite content to look at the scenery and bark at the occasional sheep.
About three kilometres out of town, we came to the Stuart Murray Canal crossing.
As we continued on, we passed an attractive wetlands area called Doctors Swamp.
We let Kenji out for a run but unfortunately the blue stone gravel was quite sharp on his feet and he was not enjoying himself as much as we had hoped.
“I think I’ll stay in the basket thanks Mum.”
When we came to the smoother surface of the crossing at Cattanach Canal, Kenji had another chance to stretch his legs.
At about the 4.5 kilometre mark the trail crossed the Bendigo Murchison Road. From there, the track was a long straight path through lightly wooded forest. To our right, the bank of the Cattanach Canal rose a few metres above the level of the trail.
The Stuart Murray and Cattanach Canals divert water from the Goulburn River Weir (built between 1887 and 1891) to off-river storage in the Waranga Basin.
The trail ends abruptly at this railway bridge.
Back to Murchison
Heading back we crossed the road again and Kenji kept an eye out for Derek as he crossed the first canal.
We passed Doctors Swamp again and came to the Stuart Murray canal.
From there it was only a few more kilometres back into town and a coffee at the bakery.
The long term plan is for the rail trail to extend all the way to Rushworth and the old rail tracks appear to skirt along the edge of the Waranga Basin. We will definitely be back for another visit when the trail is completed.
Another great rail trail nearby is the O’Keefe Rail Trail between Bendigo and Heathcote.
