Parking
From the Great Ocean Road, turn onto Bambra Road just east of Aireys Inlet’s shops. After about 2.5 km, turn left at Distillery Creek Road. The lower picnic area and car park are on the right; the upper picnic area is across the road.
Overview
About Aireys Inlet Woodland Circuit
Why go
- The ironbark woodland gives way to a distinctly greener creek-side return.
Heads up
- The short descent on Loves Track needs care.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Great Otway map
Full mapElevation25–113 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
3 active Great Otway alerts
- ClosureWye Road closed after storm and flood damageWye Road is closed until further notice because recent storm and flood damage requires road maintenance and repair works; plan around the closure.Official details
- ClosureLorne-area walking trails closed after flood damageSome walking trails near Lorne are closed for public safety after the January 2026 flash floods washed away or severely damaged bridges and walkways.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Great Otway Tour Guide
Your drive to Aireys Inlet Woodland Circuit, narrated.
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 trailhead
Distillery Creek: A Short Ironbark Walk0:00 / 0:33
“You're nearing Distillery Creek Picnic Area, a pair of picnic grounds in dry ironbark forest. For a short woodland break, start at the lower ground and give the Nature Trail thirty to forty-five minutes.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Great Otway Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Sunnymead Beach and The Shack
- The Seed Head That Rolls Away
- The Crabs That March Forwards
- Five Weeks After the Wreck
- 252 audio storiesacross Great Otway’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Koala, Grey Kangaroo, Echidna, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 83 trails, 79 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“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!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Aireys Inlet Woodland Circuit
A short woodland loopAireys Inlet Woodland Circuit is an easy 4.
Aireys Inlet Woodland Circuit is an easy 4.5 km loop from the lower Distillery Creek Picnic Ground, taking about 1.5 hours. It starts with a gentle uphill through ironbark woodland, dips briefly on Loves Track, then returns beside Distillery Creek. The appeal is the change from dry, open woodland to a greener creek-side stretch.
Follow the routeStart behind the lower picnic area at the small Nature Trail marker.
Start behind the lower picnic area at the small Nature Trail marker. Take the right branch over the boardwalk; at the cross track about 170 m ahead, turn left onto Ironbark Drive. At Loves Track, turn right for the short descent, then right again at Currawong Falls Walking Track and follow the narrow creek-side path toward the picnic area. Around 4 km, the route meets Aireys Inlet Nature Trail, which provides the return to the start. This is the longer Woodland Circuit, distinct from the separate 1.5 km Distillery Creek Nature Trail.
Ironbark woodland and creekIronbark Drive passes tall trees with patches of dense wattle, daisy bush, pomaderris and Dusty…
Ironbark Drive passes tall trees with patches of dense wattle, daisy bush, pomaderris and Dusty Miller beneath them. Some trunks are blackened reminders of the 1983 bushfires. Terrestrial orchids may flower beside the track in spring. By the creek, Manna Gums, peppermints, Mountain Grey-gums and messmates form a taller canopy. Listen for birds here; Powerful Owls are sometimes seen, and Victorian Christmas Bush flowers from December to January.
Starting detailsThe lower picnic area has tables and wood-fired barbecues; bring your own wood.
The lower picnic area has tables and wood-fired barbecues; bring your own wood. Across the road, the upper picnic area has toilets and an information board. The signed Nature Trail used for the circuit's opening access is listed as dog-prohibited, even though dogs may be allowed on lead in the lower day-use area. Leave pets out of the walk, and take care on the short downhill section of Loves Track.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Great Otway
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.
