Lake Elizabeth, Great Otway National Park, Victoria, Australia. A family day trip from Melbourne

Lake Elizabeth, Great Otway National Park, Victoria, Australia

2 January 2019

Lake Elizabeth is in the Great Otway National Park just outside of Forrest in Victoria. The lake is on the Barwon River East Branch a lovely 45 minute bush walk from the campground car park.

The walk isn't too challenging. The track undulates along the river going up and down the in sections but not much is very steep. It is one of the prettiest bush walks we've done. Lots of tall timber and tree ferns as tall as... trees. It can be quite dark on the trail below canopy because of the trees and ferns in some sections with only some dappled light coming through.

When you arrive at the lake there is a wooden boardwalk and a boat ramp for the canoes locked in place. As we were leaving a couple of people arrived with oars and life jackets for an evening paddle.

The lake is what is called a "perched" lake. It is a natural dam. Back in the 1952 the area saw some heavy rain which caused a land slip that block the river. Then the lake was formed. A few months later a natural spillway formed and washed away much of the blockage leaving the lake as it now exists - about one fifth the size of the original lake. Dead tree trunks stick out of the lake reminding up that this was once a river valley. Now nature has formed this beautiful lake.

The walk to the lake boardwalk takes about 45 minutes. We still had plenty of daylight left thanks to daylight saving so we thought we'd continue on to Elizabeth Beach. The walking trail loops right around the lake. We didn't think we had enough daylight to do the whole thing.

The "beach" is similar to a beach if you define a beach as a flat land meeting the water. No sand here. Just mud, reeds and grass. Another beautiful spot though. Even though we were there in the middle of the summer it was a cool day so the kids didn't do much more than stick their toes in.

The walk between the canoe ramp and Elizabeth beach has some scenic lookouts along the way. You get higher up the valley on to the side of the hill looking over the lake so there are some very pretty views of the lake. The setting sun's golden glow just made the view more spectacular. In the morning or evening you may see some platypus but to Georgia's disappointment unfortunately we didn't see any. They don't call them elusive for nothing I suppose. We didn't see the glow worms either but I suspect it has to be very dark to see them.

Except for the canoeists and campers we only saw a few people, maybe half a dozen, walking back from the lake but we didn't see anybody else for the rest of time we were there. So if you're into seclusion it is a perfect place to get away from it all. We were there on the 2nd of January, right in the middle of school holidays, and it was still quiet.

Lake Elizabeth is perfect for a family day trip from Melbourne for a picnic and a bush walk. There are a number of walks and water falls in the area. This is one of the parts of the National Park where dog's are allowed as long as you have it on a leash.

Lake Elizabeth is about 2 hours from Melbourne in the Great Otway National Park and just few minutes from Forrest. There's loads of other places to see in the area too, including the Great Ocean Road, a bunch of other waterfalls, and the beautiful Otway Ranges. Forrest is is a cute little village on the Forrest Apollo Bay Road. We had lunch at the Forrest General Store and there is a chocolate shop, Platypi Chocolate, in town too.

Check out the Lake Elizabeth on on the Forrest Otways website.

Check out our Youtube video below:

Many of the pictures on this page are by Michelle. Essentially the good ones. Michelle retains full copyright and they can not be reproduced without permission. For licensing and using the photos contact Michelle at Michelle Newnan Photography