The Great Otway National Park stretches from Torquay through to Princetown and up through the Otways hinterland towards Colac. The park features rugged coastlines, sandy beaches, rock platforms and windswept heathland. In the north, the park features tall forests, ferny gullies, magnificent waterfalls and tranquil lakes. This 103 km² park was declared in 2004 when the Otway National Park, the Angahook-Lorne State Park, the Carlisle State Park, the Melba Gully State Park, areas of the Otway State Forest and a number of Crown Land reserves were combined into one park after a campaign by the local communities and the Otway Ranges Environment Network. The park is somewhat fragmented by interpolation of many towns and areas of private land (see MAP).
Within the Aireys Inlet district, the best entry points to the park are the Distillery Creek and Moggs Creek picnic areas (see maps below). The green dotted lines on the maps indicate walking tracks radiating from and linking the picnic areas. See Walking Trails for more details.
