Moggs Creek Ocean View Walk

Moggs Creek Ocean View Walk is a 4.5 km circuit from Moggs Creek Picnic Ground, climbing through dry coastal forest before opening to a broad ocean lookout. Allow about two hours. The track is generally well graded, but there is a fair amount of uphill walking, so expect a proper couple of hours rather than a quick stroll. I’d choose it when you want a forest walk with a real coast-view payoff. This is the longer circuit from the picnic ground; the short lookout walk from Robyn Road is a different outing.

Start at the Ocean View Track sign at the western end of the car park and pass the first branch on your left. The path rises through forest; after about 20 minutes it crosses a management track, and the sea starts showing through the trees. Continue past a striking stand of Austral Grass-trees, then descend toward the wide Moggs Creek Track. Turn left and follow it downhill to the small heathland path for the lookout. Go out to the viewpoint, return along the same heathland path, cross Moggs Creek Track, and take the signed walking track ahead through forest back to the picnic ground. The two forest legs are different, so follow the signs at the crossings rather than turning this into an out-and-back.

The blackened ironbark trunks recall the 1983 bushfires and later fuel-reduction burns. Ironbarks, messmates, peppermints and eucalypts share the canopy, with Austral Grass-trees and a varied low scrub beneath. Large-leaf Bush-pea flowers in spring, and small terrestrial orchids can appear in winter and spring. Eastern Grey Kangaroos are often seen from the track; listen for birds such as the Rufous Bristlebird and White-throated Treecreeper.

At Ocean View Lookout, the coast opens toward Aireys Inlet to the east and Lorne to the west, with the Great Ocean Road shoreline running between them. Back at the picnic ground there are toilets, tables and wood-fired barbecues; bring your own wood. Dogs are allowed on lead on this route.