Costa takes a walk around Warralily

CELEBRITY gardener Costa Georgiadis took a walk around the Warralily estate with the community on Saturday.

The star of Gardening Australia joined Warralily urban design manager Jeremy Minter for the Wetland Walk n’ Talk event in Armstrong Creek.

Starting at the Warralily parkland on the corner of Warralily Boulevard and Barwon Heads Road, the group headed along the Warralily creek pathway to Stewarts Reserve to enjoy a free picnic lunch and birdhouse making workshop among the eucalypts.

Georgiadis said he was impressed by the recreation of habitat and nesting sites in the wetlands by installing dead trees to create a “continuously connected hotel and residential breeding suburb within a suburb with choices of accommodation”.

“It is beyond exciting to see the thinking and theory translated onto the ground as real-time solutions.

Mr Minter said environmental engineering principles had been used in the creek to deliver state-of-the-art water treatment infrastructure.

“The design of the waterway system is to mimic as much as possible a natural creek system with a wide varying range of landform, plantings and rockwork to provide as much diversity over time as possible.”

Local artist Glen Romanis spoke about Warralily’s public artworks and how the art told a story that celebrated the history and natural landscapes of the land, and Wadawurrung elder Bryon Powell spoke about the creek’s rich Indigenous history.

Members of the Geelong Field Naturalists Club Bird Group took part in the walk, revealing the growing number of bird species they have surveyed at Warralily over the past 12 months and spotting 32 different species of birds on Saturday alone.

City of Greater Geelong councillor Andy Richards also launched the Warralily Discovery Trail Map, which highlights opportunities for children of all ages to explore and engage with nature.