Campground · Great Otway National Park
A quiet ridge camp with ocean views between long coastal stages.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Great Otway Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Great Otway National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Great Otway audio tourRecorded for this area
The Whale with a Smooth Back“If you spot a whale from a coastal lookout, watch its back as it surfaces. A southern right whale has no dorsal fin, so you may see a broad, smooth curve above the water.”
Plays on the road 1.4 km from Ryans Den Hike-in Campground in the Parkwolf Great Otway Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Ryans Den is a small, unpowered hike-in campground on a wooded ridge in Great Otway National Park. It is an overnight stop on the Great Ocean Walk, not a drive-up campsite, so plan it into a multi-day walk and book ahead. There are eight tent sites, with up to three people per tent.
The walk in from Johanna Beach is about 14 km and five hours, graded medium-hard. From Ryans Den to Devil's Kitchen is about 13 km and five hours 15 minutes, also medium-hard. Treat either leg as a full walking day and carry the food and water you need; there is no road access to bail out to.
Tall eucalypts shelter the camp, with ocean views east toward Cape Otway and west toward Submarine Rock. The small tent areas are spaced apart, so it feels more like a quiet, solitary stop than a social campground.
A three-sided shelter and two rainwater tanks are provided, but the water is untreated and not guaranteed. Bring a way to treat it and enough backup for the walk. A composting toilet is also available.
Wildlife
204 sightingsKoalaMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
35 sightingsGrey KangarooMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
109 sightingsEchidnaMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
58 sightingsKookaburraMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
97 sightingsSwamp WallabyMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
20 sightingsBrushtail PossumMost seen around 8 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Great Otway. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ChallengingRyan’s Den to Devil’s Kitchen13 km · 5.3 hr · At the trailheadRugged Great Ocean Walk stage with cliff views and tide-bound anchors.
ChallengingMilanesia Beach to Ryan’s Den6.4 km · 2.5 hr · 4.3 km awayA hard coastal walk from Milanesia Beach to Ryan’s DenModerateMilanesia Beach Walk3.4 km · 1.5 hr · 4.3 km awayA steep coastal track drops to a quiet beach, then climbs back.
EasyThe Gables Lookout Walk0.8 km · 30 min · 4.8 km awayA short sheoak walk to reefs above Moonlight Head.ChallengingWreck Beach Walk2 km · 1 hr · 5.5 km awayHundreds of steps to two shipwreck anchors on a wild coastal beach.
ModerateDevil's Kitchen to Twelve Apostles16 km · 5.5 hr · 6.6 km awaySixteen coastal kilometres to the Twelve Apostles, with a sandy finishBeach · 3.3 km awayMilanesia BeachA long, tide-timed beach crossing on the Great Ocean Walk.
Sight · 4.9 km awayThe Gables LookoutA sheoak-lined detour to reefs and big Southern Ocean views.Beach · 6 km awayWreck BeachTwo wreck anchors reward the steep stairs at low tide.
Campground · 6.6 km awayDevils Kitchen Hike-in CampgroundA booked walk-in camp with a coast view from its toilet window.
Campground · 8 km awayJohanna Beach Hike-in CampgroundA booked ridge camp with a broad Johanna Beach outlook.Parkwolf’s Great Otway ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
