There are worse ways to spend a morning than wandering the crater of an extinct volcano, surrounded by koalas, emus, kangaroos, and wallabies?! Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve is a bit out of the way for most Australian travelers. It’s several hours from Melbourne and Adelaide in rural Victoria. However, if you’re searching for an easy walk where you’re all but guaranteed of spotting Australian wildlife, Tower Hill makes a nice addition to the Great Ocean Road or Grampians National Park.

Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve

Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve is a small nature preserve west of Warrnambool in southeastern Australia. It sits in the crater of an extinct volcano, just a few kilometers inland from the Southern Ocean. This area has a rich geological heritage and Aboriginal cultural heritage. However, many tourists venture here for something else: the wildlife.

You won’t find native bushland or backcountry escapes within Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve. European settlers cleared the native vegetation for farming more than a century ago. Over the last few decades, however, the area has been restored through planting efforts and relocating animals to the park’s restored bushland.

The reserve isn’t big, but it’s packed with Australia’s most popular animals. You may not need to leave your car to spots koalas, kangaroos, and emus from the road or car parks. Many tourists take a quick drive through the park and maybe stop for an hour for a small picnic near the Visitors Centre. However, you can have more of a natural experience by getting out on the park’s easy walking tracks.

Tower Hill Day Walks

The walking tracks at Tower Hill are short, easy, and signed, and the park is somewhat enclosed. To be clear, you won’t find unspoiled bushland or backcountry here. (For that experience, try the nearby Great Ocean Walk.) However, the animals here are wild. And you can piece together an easy day walk by combining some of the park’s short, self-guided walks into your own route:

• Peak Climb (1.5km, steep hills, 30 minutes return)
• Lava Tongue Boardwalk (1.6km, flat, 30 minutes circuit)
• Wagon Bay Loop (1.5km, 30 minutes circuit)
• Journey to the Last Volcano (1.9km, some steep hills, 1 hour circuit)

Travelers can catch the walking tracks near the visitor center and explore most of the park in 2-3 hours. Watch out for snakes on the trail–and look for a range of marsupials at the edge of the bush, including solitary swamp wallabies.

The reserve is an important habitat for migrating waterfowl. However, international travelers typically focus on another bird, the Emu. Emus usually aren’t aggressive, but these giant birds can be intimidating at close range (and should be given plenty of space). Look for them grazing near the lake and in pockets of grass with nearby tree cover.

Tower Hill is also one of the easiest places in Victoria to spot wild koalas. (For more walks to spot wild koalas in the area, please click here.) Koalas stick close to eucalyptus trees, which are concentrated near the car parks.

Most of the walking tracks are accessible to families with young children, people with disabilities, and older walkers. I prefer harder hiking, but this small National Park offers close encounters with wild animals that clearly beat the controlled conditions of Australia’s zoos and animal sanctuaries, such as Healesville Sanctuary in the Yarra Valley. If you want to see the most animals, arrive early in the day or in evening, particularly during hot times of year. Most of the park’s animals will be most active within a few hours of sunrise and sunset.

a nice side wildlife side trip

Tower Hill will not make hikers’ or backpackers’ bucket lists of outdoor adventures. This is easy walking on short, developed trails in a small, managed wildlife reserve. Still, if you’re an animal lover, there’s a good chance that you’ll enjoy a short side trip to Tower Hill for a few hours of walking. It’s a nice side trip on the Great Ocean Road and worthwhile stop on a multi-day loop from Melbourne through the Great Ocean Road and Grampians National Park. With little effort, you can see a lot of wildlife in just a few kilometers at Tower Hill.