Parking
Use the upper Distillery Creek Picnic Ground car park. The walk starts at the sign behind the picnic tables and barbecues; the lower picnic area is for a separate trail.
Overview
About Distillery Creek Ephemeral Wetlands
Why go
- A short boardwalk reaches a seat with a Painkalac Valley view.
- Toilets, picnic tables and barbecues are right at the start.
Heads up
- The wetland may be dry, and bird sightings are not guaranteed.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Great Otway map
Full mapElevation20–31 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Best time to go
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 Distillery Creek Ephemeral Wetlands, 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
- The Wreck That Became Another Boat
- 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 Distillery Creek Ephemeral Wetlands
A tiny wetland detourDistillery Creek Ephemeral Wetlands is a 300 m return walk from the upper picnic area to a seat…
Distillery Creek Ephemeral Wetlands is a 300 m return walk from the upper picnic area to a seat overlooking a shallow wetland, then back the same way. Allow about 10 minutes for the walk, plus whatever time you spend watching for birds. The wetland is seasonal and can dry out, so come for the short boardwalk and valley setting rather than guaranteed open water or wildlife.
From the tables to the overlookStart at the sign behind the upper picnic tables and barbecues.
Start at the sign behind the upper picnic tables and barbecues. Varnish Wattle grows near the track entrance. The short path crosses a moist patch on a boardwalk—look for land-yabby holes in the soil—then reaches a seat and information board overlooking the wetland and Painkalac Valley. Tall eucalypts, Moonah and Prickly Tea-tree frame the view. Retrace the same route; the nearby signed Amphitheatre track is separate and is not part of the 300 m walk.
Making it workUse the upper Distillery Creek Picnic Ground car park, not the lower picnic area, which serves…
Use the upper Distillery Creek Picnic Ground car park, not the lower picnic area, which serves a different walk. Toilets, picnic tables and wood-fired barbecues are at the upper area; bring your own firewood. Dogs are allowed on a lead.
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.
