What a surprising town Colac is. We decided to stay there as we wanted a northern entry point to the Otways – we had been around the Great Ocean Rd a few times so wanted a different perspective. The Otways did not disappoint – we loved walking those wonderful forests. But Colac is a destination in its own right. It sits on Lake Colac, has some amazing old buildings and wonderful little cottage homes, it provides a focus for a lovely part of central Victoria, and there is much to do in the area. And we really enjoyed staying at the Lake Colac Caravan Park – a little beauty.

We were at Colac on 21, 22 & 23 February 2019.

Kerry’s snippets in fuchsia

Getting There

Dandenong > Colac~ 183kms

History

The Kolijon or Coladjin indigenous people lived in the Colac region before the European settlers first explored the area in 1837. The lake was a great source of food with its abundant fish and bird life.

The Gadubanud successfully avoided initial contact with European settlers in the 1830’s which lead settlers to believe that the Otways were uninhabited.

Pastoralists, including Hugh Murray who has the town’s main street named after him, settled in the area in the late 1830’s. He built the first homestead in 1840 along Barongarook Creek near Lake Colac. By 1855 the town was thriving with a hotel, churches, schools and even a bridge over Barongarook Creek. The town had a general store and butcher – just about everything it needed.

One of the worst environmental decisions in Australia’s history happened in the 1850s at Winchelsea. Thomas Austin released 24 rabbits onto his estate to make it more like England. Although it is believed the First Fleet carried rabbits back in 1778, Austin’s rabbits survived. The rabbits did what rabbits do, and before long they had infested much of the south east causing soil erosion, and the loss of many native species which had their food supply eaten. The rabbits were released in 1859 and by 1890 they had spread as far as the Northern Territory and Western Australia, with a bit of help from other misguided people who also released the pests.

The railway between Geelong and Colac opened in 1877 further developing the town, and narrow gauge lines linked near by Forrest and Beeac for timber movement from the Otways.

After World War One and World War Two many exservice men settled into the area under Solider Settlement Schemes. Many went on to become farmers and really added to the prosperity of the town and surrounding districts.

During the 1980’s Colac was put onto the Australian, if not world, spotlight with local identity Cliff Young. The then 61 year old potato farmer became an over-night celebrity with his long distance running. Cliff, with his famous shuffle and sometimes even in gum boots, ran and won the 1983 Sydney to Melbourne marathon running a staggering 875 kms. But that was nothing for Cliff, in 1997 at the ripe age of 76, ran 6520kms around Australia to raise money for charity. Sadly Cliff passed away in 2003 but is still remembered as a superstar in Colac.

Day 1 – Thu 21 Feb – To and at Colac

It was a straightforward drive to Colac, mostly on the M1, so a good 4 lane road. We started out on the M3 at 8:50 hoping the worst of the traffic would be over, then swung onto the M1 for Melbourne. Our hopes for light traffic were quickly dashed and we spent the next hour or so crawling toward and around Melbourne city.

We got a good way round before the traffic eased and we got a good run. We sailed around Geelong on the M1 and were surprised to see the M1 continue as far as Winchelsea. There are some lovely original buildings there.

We push on – they are doing roadworks to connect the last 20 or so kms to Colac. At Colac, the Lake Colac Caravan Park awaits on and it is right on the Lake and next to the Botanical Gardens. We have a very large drive through site, and for some strange reason Kerry agreed to the ensuite option, which is next to the site, for an extra $5 a day making the daily rate $40. But it is a really nice park, lots of open space and good facilities. We had full strength Optus and Telstra.  The lady running this park is lovely.  Greeting us with a huge welcoming smile and laughter.  Obviously she is happy in her work.  Such a nice feeling to this place.

After setting up we went to the Tourist Information Centre to get the lowdown. We worked out an itinerary for the next couple of days, but also got lots of maps, booklets and brochures for many of the places we are also aiming to visit after we leave here.

We drove around town to get a feel for it, and were pleased to see many old building and original looking homes. It is a really nice town and there is lots to do in the area.  Some of the houses are stunning.  I want one.

We got to the point on the foreshore of the Lake at the western end of town and walked around the pathway a bit.

We then drove back to the van park to get our shopping into Mobi, before we walked through the Botanical Gardens, which are lovely. So many different trees and most with a sign on or next to the tree giving its name and origin.

Walking back we saw a colony of bats hanging about in the trees. Something must have disturbed them and many took off – squeaking and calling out. They can make a racket, and luckily none of them deposited anything us. Bat poo is like bird poo on steroids.

Back at Mobi it is almost time for a beer, as we watch quite a few vans come in for the night.

Day 2 – Fri 22 Feb – The Otways NP

It felt a bitterly cold morning and was only 9C at 6:30, Kerry tells me. But it turned into a lovely day. We had a bit on the agenda so we got away at 8:30 bringing our lunch with us. It was a really nice drive south to Beech Forest.

We drove through Gellibrand, good to see some of the original buildings still going strong.

Initially we drove through farming lands, but increasingly we were going through forests. We saw a few logging trucks with full loads and a few recently harvested forest areas. Not pretty.

At Beech Forest we turned right onto the C159, a nice drive.

Shortly after that saw the signs for the Otway Fly and both Triplet Falls and Little Aire Falls. We drove up the side road first to the Fly and this was excellent – very similar to the Mamu Tropical Skywalk in North Queensland. With the seniors discount it cost us $43 in total – a bargain. When we arrived at the Office there were 4 or 5 other people just arrived in a mini bus, with privileged parking, so we hurried to get out onto the tracks before them. 

The track is great – a good hard-packed pathway although it is a steady descent. But we really enjoyed the walk.

Then, to the side of the path, we saw what looked like a small house built into the side of a tree. It had a white front door, with a series of steps leading up to it. There were 4 coloured windows and it looked lovely – such a surprise.

A little further on we saw another 2 homes in 2 trees close together. They had brightly coloured windows and doors, whites and reds and pinks. We learned later that the houses were built by the Colac Men’s Shed

Then we came to a lovely blue house with a toy fairy on a platform. The sign attached to the house said “The Tooth Fairy”. How cute.

Nearing the start of the Fly walkway, we saw a path to the left and a sign for tree ferns. We went down that and back – interesting but not essential. 

But that proved our undoing. About 20 or so tourists – loud and overwhelming – had caught us up and we were caught with them over the first half of the sky walk.

The walking platforms are brilliant and the trees are awesome, especially the pink colourings of the Mountain Ash as its bark peels away. The cantilever walkway is good but is really putting a lot of trust in engineers. Thankfully there was only the one cantilever section as it did feel a bit bouncy.  

When we got to the Tower, the tourist mob just took it over, all having to be on it at once, taking endless selfies, with plenty of calling and screaming. For us it was just not worth even trying, and as we had been up other such towers, we decided to keep going and get ahead of this pack.

We passed more little houses, some that looked quite funny with lots of steps leading up to the door. We passed a few more little houses then came to a little village of houses. It was so cute.

Then quite a few built into the roots of an overturned tree.

We really enjoyed our walk, despite the mob of takeover loud tourists, and the little houses and fairies added so much to the experience.  I think the fairy houses made this place extra special… Such a nice, happy touch. The village looks great on our video – see link below..

We continued down this side road to get to the Triplet Falls carpark. The walk to the Falls was stated as a 2kms circuit which all sounds reasonable. But the track goes straight down into the valley, which of course means that you have to get up again. We also see the walk to the Little Aire Walk – which was an additional 2.5km each way off the Triplet Falls pathway. We did not take that on.

The walk to the falls is really good – masses of Mountain Ash, Tree Ferns some gnarly old other trees. And all lovely and peaceful.  I think they were Myrtle Beeches.

We came to a massive Ash, perhaps 300 years old. The “Legend of the Forest” it was named.  Thank heavens it survived the first settlers.

We came to the lowest cascade of the Falls first. There is a good viewing platform but unfortunately you can hardly see the falls as lots of scrubby bushes have grown up to totally spoil the view.

We got a better glimpse of the middle cascade, but it was only when we got to the top that was could get a clear view of the waterfalls.

Thankfully the loop walk back did not seem to be as steep as the descent. At the top are a couple of timber trucks used in days long gone to carry the logged timbers to civilisation.  Must have been hard to get rails into this area. From the bottom of the waterfall, there were actually 225 steps to get out again. A bank of 79, then a very short landing, then a bank of 80 steps, then after that mostly easy slopes with shorter banks of stairs. 

We drove back to Beech Forest – a lovely drive – and had a look at the 2 tree stump sculptures – quite impressive.

We continued east to the turnoff to Beauchamp and Hopetoun Falls and went to Beauchamp first. We passed through a recently harvested forest area. Not so impressive.

 

We had lunch there before starting the descent. The signpost says 2.5km return. It is another beautiful walk down into the valley and we came to a lovely creek on the way.

Approaching the Falls, there is a wet and muddy side track which I took and it got me to the edge of the rock pool below the falls. Really beautiful.

Kerry had continued on the main track to the lookout and I joined her there. The Falls looked just as good from there.

We then retreated on the same pathway back to the carpark. As we approached the trailhead a group descending warned us that they had seen a copperhead snake on the path. We grabbed some sticks and made a lot of noise. Our Garmins gave a distance reading of well over 3kms.

At the Hopetoun Falls, you can get a distant view from the top viewing platform only about 30m from the carpark.

That was enough for Kerry, as she assessed yet another set of steps heading straight down, and as people arriving back up gain looked done-in. So I set off alone.

Again another wonderful and peaceful climb down and walk to the Falls. You could never get sick of this. You approach the falls from an angle so you don’t get a head on view. They are lovely.

The clamber out was tough but I took it easy and watched my heart rate.

We drove back to the C159 and kept heading east. It is a narrow and windy road with a steep drop off on one side. The speed limit is 40kms but a few people coming against us were doing far more than that – one had a large trailer on the back which made it a tight squeeze as he had cut the corner. But it is a lovely drive.

We turned north to Forest, the speed limit shot up to 80kph and farmland gradually replaced forests. We were going to stop and look around Forest but there did not seem to be much there. So it was back to Colac for us, and we spied a few more lovely buildings on the way to get some shopping. It had been an active 8:30 to 4:00 day

Day 3 – Fri 23 Feb – Around Colac

It was a cold start to what was to become a warm day. We are going up to see Lake Corangamite and Red Rock Lookout, 17kms north of Colac.

On the way we stopped at the local market in Cororooke. Not one of the best markets we had see with only 4 or 5 stalls. We did try out some honey – with salt and then with chilli. The latter was too overpowering, but we bought a bottle of the salt/honey which was surprisingly good. Very expensive though.  It was Murray River Salt they used to mix with the honey. Quite a butterscotchy flavour.

The Red Rock Reserve Volcanic Site Lookout provides excellent views to 30 volcanic crater lakes including Lake Corangamite along with some volcanic cones. There are so many lakes in this area. A set of stairs leads to the lookout from where we appreciated expansive 360 degree views that stretch for kilometres. We certainly got an appreciation for the size of Lake Corangamite.

There are picnic tables and public toilets at the base of the hill and a nice little stone church below us.

From there we drove to get to the Lake foreshore, taking a wrong turn a couple of times but driving through some nice farmlands. We say many stony outcrops in the fields and stone walls. The volcanic plains of Victoria’s Western Districts are famous for their dry stone walls. Built as early as the 1840’s from basalt rocks many of these historic walls are still intact.

Finally we get to the Lake foreshore and walked out – it’s a long way to the water. The Lake is a salt water lake and at 234 square kilometres, and is Australia’s largest permanent lake. it can be 4 times saltier that sea water. We were walking on soil covered by a grit like veneer, but perfectly firm. When we got close to the water we were met by a foul smell – like super strong fish sauce. We backed away quickly. The Lake is touted as being popular for fishing, camping, swimming, skiing and birdwatching, but with a smell like that no wonder we had the place to ourselves bar one other walker.  The smell was pretty appalling.  Shrimp Paste on steroids.

From the Lake, we drove towards Dreelite but took the right hand turn to Beeac. We drove around Lake Beeac, another salt lake, We could see a vast expanse of white shore, which contrasted well with the vivid blue of the small amount of water in the lake. We could not find any access to the Lake.

At Beeac, we stopped to look at the windmill display but the village had little to excite us so we pushed on.

We drove to Birregurra, crossing the A1 and only a few kms south. We had been told this was a good heritage village. The railway station is a lovely building. It opened on 13 March 1877, as the temporary terminus of the line from Winchelsea. The station was one of 35 stations to be closed under the New Deal for Country Passengers program in 1981. However, the station received a last-minute reprieve prior to the New Deal timetable. It still operates today.

The nearby butter factory and timber mill still look like they may be operating but they are a bit of a mess. We went back to the main street and say many original buildings, most still in operation but a few others were neglected.

From there it was a short trip back to Mobi.

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To look at photos from this blog, click here

To look at a video from this blog, click here