Lakes and Craters

Forty thousand years ago, this part of western Victoria was volcanically active. The craters are quiet now — filled with water, rimmed with remnant bush and home to populations of birdlife that have expanded dramatically since European farming gave way to dedicated conservation. Tower Hill, outside Warrnambool, is the most spectacular example: a large volcanic crater containing a central island, ringed by an older outer crater, all reforested since the 1960s when volunteers planted 300,000 trees to restore what clearing had destroyed.

Today Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve has koalas lazing in the trees at eye level, emus walking the tracks unbothered by pedestrians, and echidnas snuffling through leaf litter at your feet. It's one of the most accessible wildlife experiences in regional Victoria — free to enter and reliably rewarding at any time of day.

Lake Bullen Merri and Lake Purrumbete are volcanic crater lakes west of Camperdown — deep, cold and clear, with populations of introduced brown and rainbow trout that make them popular with fly-fishers. Camperdown's two main lakes are within the town itself, an unusual urban setting for crater lakes. The rolling volcanic plains between here and the Great Ocean Road, green with pasture and punctuated by stone walls, are some of the most beautiful pastoral landscapes in Victoria.