Blackburn Lake Sanctuary

It is amazing how Melbourne’s suburbia hides away little pockets of nature. You can be driving along with the trees on the nature strip and eventually you realise the houses themselves are gone, replaced by the sprawling expanse of a sanctuary.
Blackburn Lake Sanctuary is on of these many magical places. Tucked in from the train line and busier surrounding roads, it is near a number of schools, so it’s no surprise their field trips will include walking through the park and looking for wildlife.
With open park area and play ground for kids, there is perfect space for picnics and events. Community music events — like a jazz festival in February — will often set up shop here for people to attend and listen for free.
And after you’ve stuffed yourself with nonna’s best home cooking and cleaned up the paper plates, what better way to burn it all off than with a walk around the lake itself. Not so big that the whole family couldn’t do it, there are several smaller paths leading to different places outside the realms of the park. One school actually backs on it, as does a nearby church. All manner of wildlife can be found — ducks, birds, even a fox once or twice.
Don’t swim — apparently in the 50s they used to, but sadly water pollution has turned that idea quite sour. However, sitting by the water and watching life go by has never looked better.