Sight · Great Otway National Park
A sheoak-lined detour to reefs and big Southern Ocean views.
Overview
The Gables is a clifftop lookout on the Great Ocean Walk near Moonlight Head, where the track opens onto reefs and wide Southern Ocean views. It’s a good stop if you want a broad coastal outlook; the approach road is the tradeoff. The cliffs are described as among the highest on mainland Australia, though no height is given.
Parkwolf’s verdictIs this detour worth it?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 place
The Gables Lookout: Above the Reefs“You're nearing the walking access for The Gables Lookout, where a short path through sheoaks opens above the sea cliffs. Allow about half an hour for the return walk and a look along the coast in both directions.”
Plays as you drive up to The Gables Lookout 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
From the Great Ocean Road, take the signed Moonlight Head turnoff about 16 km east of Princetown, then follow a rough 4.5 km gravel road to the small car park. The short walking spur passes through a sheoak grove before reaching the lookout. Visitors report a narrow, potholed approach, so allow time and don’t count on a large vehicle finding it easy. There’s no food or drinking water service at the lookout; plan for those before you turn off.
The lookout sits between the Ryans Den and Devil’s Kitchen campsites on the Great Ocean Walk. From the open viewpoint, look both east and west along the coast toward the reefs around Moonlight Head. Keep an eye out for seabirds; whales are an additional possibility from June through September.
Check both directions before you leave. Framing the reefs and breaking surf with a section of cliff or the timber railing in the foreground gives the broad ocean view more shape and scale than pointing straight at open water. It’s a short walk from the car park, but the view depends on clear conditions; sea mist can obscure it.
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
EasyThe Gables Lookout Walk0.8 km · 30 min · 0.3 km awayA short sheoak walk to reefs above Moonlight Head.
ChallengingWreck Beach Walk2 km · 1 hr · 0.8 km awayHundreds of steps to two shipwreck anchors on a wild coastal beach.
ModerateDevil's Kitchen to Twelve Apostles16 km · 5.5 hr · 2.2 km awaySixteen coastal kilometres to the Twelve Apostles, with a sandy finishChallengingRyan’s Den to Devil’s Kitchen13 km · 5.3 hr · 5 km awayRugged Great Ocean Walk stage with cliff views and tide-bound anchors.Beach · 1.2 km awayWreck BeachTwo wreck anchors reward the steep stairs at low tide.
Campground · 2.2 km awayDevils Kitchen Hike-in CampgroundA booked walk-in camp with a coast view from its toilet window.
Campground · 4.9 km awayRyans Den Hike-in CampgroundA quiet ridge camp with ocean views between long coastal stages.Parkwolf’s Great Otway ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
