A great little walk in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne is the Mount Lofty Walk. It is park of the Warrandyte State Park and starts at the end of Reserve Road in Wonga Park.  The start of the walk takes you on a wide shaded gravel path following the Yarra River, before you leave the river and climb to the top of Mount Lofty.  Of course “Mount” sounds much more impressive than “Hill”, which is really what it is, peaking at around 140m.  But it does give you almost 360 degree views around the local area.

One of the great things about this short walk (4.5km - 5km) is the variety of scenery and vegetation. From the tall riverside gums, to flowering shrubs, from the cool of the riverside to the views across the hills. The other thing is that although only five minutes from civilisation, there are parts of the walk where you feel you could be very far away. It's a hidden escape without the travel time!

The walk does loop around, although sections of the return trip are quite steep/slippery when wet. So in wet weather it would be advisable to turn around and go back along the same path.

The start of the walk is also a common launch point for canoeing trips down the Yarra, with adventure operators bringing school groups through. So you can sometimes see/hear the groups as they canoe past.