Parking
Use the lower Distillery Creek Picnic Ground car park off Bambra Road for this circuit. The upper picnic area is separate and has the toilets.
Overview
About Distillery Creek Nature Trail
Why go
- Interpretive signs and benches reward a slow, observant walk
- Fire-marked trunks and spring wildflowers give the short loop a clear story
Heads up
- The creek is often dry at the viewing point
- The mapped line is shorter than the published circuit distance
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Great Otway map
Full mapElevation25–37 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 Distillery Creek Nature Trail, 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 Distillery Creek Nature Trail
An easy loop with a story in the treesDistillery Creek Nature Trail is a gentle circuit through ironbark forest, described as 1.
Distillery Creek Nature Trail is a gentle circuit through ironbark forest, described as 1.5 km and about 45 minutes. Take it slowly for the interpretive signs, benches, a creek viewpoint and a short boardwalk along the damp creek edge. It is a good choice when you want an easy bush walk with something to notice along the way. The connected map line is shorter than that published distance, so follow the WT6/WT7 markers at forks and use the line as a locator.
Follow the nature-trail markersStart at the lower picnic ground and follow the Nature Trail signs.
Start at the lower picnic ground and follow the Nature Trail signs. At the junction where Currawong Falls Track branches away, keep to the WT6/WT7 Nature Trail markers. The circuit crosses the Ironbark Drive 4WD track twice before returning to the picnic area. The creek is often dry, so the viewpoint may look over a quiet creekbed rather than flowing water.
Read the forest as you goCompare the ironbark's rough, dark bark with the smoother gums that shed strips.
Compare the ironbark's rough, dark bark with the smoother gums that shed strips. Some trunks still carry black marks from the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires. Late winter and spring bring yellow wattles, white flowering shrubs and greenhood orchids. Pause to listen for kookaburras and robins; koalas and wallabies live in the forest, though sightings are never assured.
Make a picnic of itThe lower and upper picnic areas have tables and wood-fired barbecues; bring your own firewood.
The lower and upper picnic areas have tables and wood-fired barbecues; bring your own firewood. Toilets are at the upper picnic area, away from this circuit's lower starting lot. Dogs are not allowed on this trail. The boardwalk and creekside trees make the best frame for a photo, even when the creek is dry.
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.
