SM4 – Site Details

About the site

The site, Clifford Park Activity Centre, offers bunk accommodation, permanent toilets and showers, a hall with a kitchen, a second, smaller hall and large under cover spaces in addition. There is room for archery, skirmishing, several list fields, merchanting and more. There are permanent campsites, each with water to the site and a fire pit, plus a small shelter, sink, waste disposal and earthern oven for each 4 or so campsites. Each numbered campsite has space for one large pavilion or a couple of smaller tents. There will also be a period encampment site available with space for many, many pavilions and shelters.

The site is 65 minutes from Melbourne Airport, 2 minutes from Kellybrook Winery (which is also a specialty cidery), 5 minutes from a liquor store and general store and 15 minutes from Croydon Station and Supermarket. There are power points available for CPAPS machines and other medical needs. Mobile phone coverage is good. Medical care is less than 25 minutes away (faster by ambulance!).

Getting there

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Driving on site
Please leave the gate as you found it (or as signed) and drive carefully as there may be children by day and wildlife by night. Note many roads within the property are one way – but all loop around – if you miss your desired car stopping place, please loop around and try again. A map of the roads is available here, but unfortunately does not show which way the roads run.

how to get there for locals – by car

This is the simplest route (shown here in google maps), other routes exist which may be 2 minutes faster.

From Maroondah Hwy, turn onto Yarra Rd in Croydon. In Wonga Park township, the road ends at jumping creek Road, turn right, then immediately (3m) left again into Dudley Rd. Turn right into Fulford Rd, and followteh road past Kellybrook Winery, continuing onwards until the road becomes a narrow dirt road. look for a gate with a large arch over it on your left – this is the entrance.

There should be signs to Keliebrook Winery along almost all of the route.

how to get there for locals – by public transport

Most locals will have to drive past Croydon station to get to site, or can spare a half hour round trip for a pickup. Ask on local email lists to prearrange a station pickup from Croydon Station.

Croydon station is located on the Lilydale line, approximately 50 minutes travel from Flinders St station. If your lift is willing, Ringwood station (2 stations earlier, also situated on Maroondah Hwy) may be a better choice of pickup location as it is visited by both Belgrave and lilydale line trains and thus has a greater service frequency. Special timetables apply over the easter period.

how to get there from interstate – by Car

Clifford Park is situated in Melbourne’s outer eastern suburbs.

From the city centre, the eastern freeway is conveniently located to transport you to the outer suburbs, where it is located only a large block north of maroondah highway. You may wish to leave the eastern freeway at springvale road to avoid the tollway (turn right into springvale and then left into maroondah hwy at the next very major intersection). From maroondah highway follow the local driving instructions.

From further east or north, or if hiring a car from the airport, you may wish to use the outer ring road to avoid much of melbourne’s traffic. Google maps suggests a route from tullamarine using the northern ring road.

How to get there from interstate without a car

The site is located on melbourne’s outer fringe. Melbourne is a large city. It may be worth asking if anyone from melbourne’s northern or western suburbs is able to give you a lift, and the journey will not be short. Taxi costs tend to be prohibitive.

From tullamarine airport, catch the skybus ($16) to southern cross station, then suburban train to croydon station. A airport shuttle service also exists from the airport to croydon station, this is expensive ($50 one way) and seldom quicker than skybus + public transport, but does have a seat and no transfers.

From Southern cross station (weather arriving by skybus or interstate train) transfer to the suburban train system. Buy a 2 hour zone 1 and 2 full fare ticket (health care cards are valid concessions, but students generally require a special victorian student pass). Be sure to validate the ticket on entry to the station. Catch a Lilydale line train to Croydon station. At certain times of the day, you may need (or be advantageous) to catch a Belgrave or Ringwood line train to Ringwood and change to the Lilydale line at Ringwood. All depart from the same pair of platforms. During peak hour (4:30-7pm), stopping all stations trains to Blackburn or Ringwood will be slower and require a change of trains at their terminus, but are more likely to offer a seat and enough space to get your luggage on the train. Train travel time approx one hour.

From croydon station, arrange to be picked up by a local with car. Pre-arrange your pickup – croydon station is not the most savory or entertaining of stations.