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A weekend in Otways: a walk at Otway Fly Treetop Adventures

Great Otway National Park

Otways… That’s the affectionate name for the vast area surrounding Great Otway National Park, right next to Victoria’s most famous attraction, the Great Ocean Road (GOR). In our itineraries, we detail all the must-see points on a trip through those parts, but I’ve blogged little about the road and its beauty. This is partly because we travelled it mostly with guests, trying to show them as much as possible in a day or two. You see, walking far and wide (as we like to do) doesn’t work in this mode.

However, in the middle of December 2024, we were surprised to discover that the child’s Saturday school was over, and Melbourne is promising pleasant, sunny, warm weather for the coming weekend. Why stay at home? So we packed up and went to Otways to walk and wander along the paths.

There are two ways to get to Otways

There are two ways to get to Otways: take the Great Ocean Road or the Princess HWY (A1) and then turn south after passing the town of Colac. Of course, you have to consider where exactly in that part of the park you want to go, but in general, the second option is a bit quicker, and this is how tourist buses from the GOR tour usually return to Melbourne.

We decided for ourselves that the main purpose of this trip would be to visit Otway Fly Treetop Adventures – a walk through the rain forest on bridges 25 metres above the ground, and some other things if we have time and mood.

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Walks of this kind are not new to us. I (Katerina) have been there with guests before, but a long time ago. We have walked similar trails as a family at Illawarra Fly Treetop Adventures in NSW (I haven’t written about it and don’t know if I ever will). Finally, we have a similar platform in Warburton, certainly not as long and thorough as here in Otways, but free. 

Otway Fly Treetop Walk and the Otway Fly Zip Line Tour

Otway Fly Treetop Walk a
The Otway Fly Treetop Walk and the Otway Fly Zip Line Tour offer two types of entertainment. The first is a short 2km walk through the forest, 600 metres of which is actually ‘in the tops’ of the trees. The second is a pre-booked 2.5h ‘tree climbing’, with harnesses and helmets, all adult. If you have strength, then you can walk in the forest. As we were going quite spontaneously, there was no question about any booking in advance. So we leisurely bought the tickets and, even more relaxed, went for a walk and admired the endemics of Victoria and Tasmania: Myrtle Beech (Cunningham’s Notophagus), Blackwood and flowering Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans). About Blackwood, but about the other two, Wikipedia says the following:
Treetop Walk

Myrtle Beech or Cunningham’s Notophagus is an evergreen tree up to 40 m tall (rarely up to 55 m) with scaly dark brown bark. Leaves are simple, 1.5-2 cm long. Young leaves are red, orange or yellow, later becoming dark green. Flowers are yellow-green earrings. Mature trees can withstand temperature increases to +40°C and above and short-term frosts to -15°C but cannot withstand fires.

Mountain Ash  (Latin: Eucalýptus régnans) is an evergreen tree, a species of the genus Eucalyptus of the Myrtaceae family. It is considered to be the tallest flowering plant on our planet. Trees of this species reach a height of one hundred metres or more. As an adult, it can withstand temperatures of -9… -10 °C without significant damage; young plants completely freeze at such frosts. It is poorly resistant to fires.

What I particularly like about Otway Fly Treetop Walk is that everything is made for people with children and pushchairs. There are smooth ramps, wide exits, and even a free shuttle bus for the tired runs periodically! The only exception is the tower with a spiral staircase and many steps, but walking there without it is great.

Like everywhere else in Australia, there are information boards along the path detailing everything that surrounds us, from types of ferns and species of eucalyptus to a list of unique fauna inhabiting the forests around us.

If you are short of time, you could run through everything in an hour, but we were in no hurry, took a thousand and one family photos, had a lot of fun and jumped on one of the spans, breathed in the deliciously moist, cool air, so thick with odours that sometimes it seemed that you could eat it with a spoon.

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Otway Fly Treetop Walk

In conclusion

Cuala

For those of you who have read to the end, here’s a useful hint on how you can save money on admission tickets. Firstly, the tourist information booklets available at Federation Square in Melbourne regularly print small discount vouchers. Secondly, if you live in Australia and shop at Coles, their Flybuys Points can also be used to buy discounted tickets. And thirdly, if you are a tourist who plans to visit Melbourne and Sydney, we advise you to buy the so-called Merlin Pass, which will give you free admission not only here but also to both oceanariums, the observation tower in Sydney and many other places.

Otway Fly Treetop Adventures is open daily from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. The ride itself is open until 4 pm.

Ticket price: $25 for adults, $15 for children 4 to 15. There are discounts for families and pensioners. I would also like to suggest to you a well organised Great Ocean Road Day Trip. 

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