Four Tiny Towns In To Visit South West Gippsland and Their Best Seasons

Corinella, Fish Creek, Kilcunda, and Loch are four smaller, lesser-known towns in Victoria’s Gippsland worth exploring on their own, as stops on a road trip, or as launching points for larger adventures. Emma shares where to go and how to get there.

There’s something special about these places – cute and quaint on the surface, with unexpected beauty and chances for adventure the deeper you look. The longer you stay the more you realise you’ve only scratched the surface. 

Each of these towns could easily be visited in a single trip, but I’ve found that spacing out visits at different times of the year really lets you see all that this corner of Victoria has to offer. 

Expect to pass golden paddocks filled with hay bales in the summer, and lush green grass and storm-lashed coastlines in the colder months. There’s so much to explore here, you’ll need all four seasons. 

1. Summer in Corinella

Distance from Melbourne: One and a half to two hours by car or public transport
Favourite Trail: Corinella to Coronet Bay Walk
Favourite Coffee Stop: Fig and the Bay
Favourite Lookout: Settlement Point

The tide coming in over the mangroves on one of Corinella’s ‘beaches’

Corinella is the coastal holiday town of your childhood. There’s no coffee caravan down at the pier. No frozen yoghurt shop. Just bordering farmland and a mix of old fibro shacks and modern houses on a small peninsula jutting out into Western Port Bay. 

This is the perfect place to stop, unwind, and do nothing at all. But if you’re looking for a more active summer holiday, then you’ll find plenty to do.

I think the cattle on this Corinella farm appreciate the sunrise views

From Corinella you can launch a boat and head out fishing in Western Port Bay or catch the only vehicle barge to French Island. If you think there’s not much going on in Corinella, then just head down to the boat ramp. The facilities here are newer, shinier, and better-maintained than those found in many coastal suburbs with much larger populations. 

Expect to find a wide, concrete boat ramp, BBQs, and outdoor kitchens for cleaning your catch. Approaching the boat ramp on a weekday morning, I find that the town isn’t as sleepy as it first appears. It seems like the whole population – locals as well as blow-ins from the caravan park (it’s right next to the boat ramp) – are launching out into the bay. 

A family of kookaburras personally check that all visitors take their rubbish home

From the boat ramp it’s an easy walk or drive up the hill to Settlement Point (for some nice views or maybe a picnic). 

On the other side of the peninsula, you’ll find Fig and the Bay. This cosy little cafe is housed in a 1920s homestead, with the magnificent old Moreton Bay figs and proximity to the water providing a clear reason for the name.  

It’s always worth a visit to Settlement Point at sunrise or sunset

These are the big ticket attractions in Corinella (if anything can be called ‘big’ around here) but some of the best things in this tiny town are discovered by simply wandering around. Embrace the childhood nostalgia. Get out of your car, and on your bike or your own two feet, start wandering down dirt roads or along the rocky beaches and see where it takes you.

When I was out for a run one day on a beachside track (and in the spirit of exploring, I’m not going to tell you which one) I spotted a lonely cairn. Perched on the side of the road, next to an ordinary farm fence, it didn’t stand out in any way, but on closer inspection I found that it marked the site of the first Government House of Victoria. 

There are gems like this to be found throughout the small town, but to me the real must-do in Corinella is the combined Corinella Foreshore Walk and Corinella to Coronet Bay Walk. At around 8km one way, this track takes you past many of the town’s attractions, with views over the water as it skirts the Corinella Peninsula and heads south to the equally pretty Coronet Bay. 

2. Autumn in Fish Creek

Distance from Melbourne: Two hours by car or two hours and forty minutes by public transport
Favourite Trail: Hoddle Mountain Trail
Favourite Coffee Stop: Little Oberon
Favourite Lookout Point: Mount Nicoll Lookout

Perhaps the largest, but far from the only fish-themed artwork in Fish Creek

Stop at Fish Creek in autumn and you’ll find a postcard-perfect small town where the leaves are turning, the cafes are inviting, and the natural surrounds are beckoning you back out again.

Autumn is also when the annual Tea Cosy Festival takes place. And you surely don’t want to miss that.

The town itself is a bit like a tea cosy. Leaving the wide paddocks and open sky behind, on the road into Fish Creek the trees hug the roads a little closer, forming tunnels of eucalypts. As I turn off the main road, the town seems to be pulling its lid of trees and quirky country ease close around it. 

Fish Creek is full of galleries. And, of course, fish sculptures, fish mosaics, and fish paintings abound throughout the shops, galleries, and streets.  

Fish Creek Memorial Hall and Little Oberon

Stop in at the Alison Lester Gallery if your love of adventure started with books like My Farm or Magic Beach. Here, many of the author and illustrator’s original artworks are on display and you can pick up a book or a print for the little ones in your life. 

See the Gippsland countryside captured in Alison Lester’s picture books

Passing through the heart of Fish Creek is the Great Southern Rail Trail, and the township is also the perfect launching place for the 17km, Grade 3, Hoddle Mountain Trail. 

You can walk the full Hoddle Mountain Trail, or opt for shorter segments. On a clear autumn day I decide to drive up Mount Nicoll Road to the Mount Nicoll Lookout (a literal high point of the trail) and there I’m rewarded with almost 360º views over the folded hills of the Gippsland countryside. 

Mount Nicoll Lookout gives panoramic views of Fish Creek and its surrounds

From the top, I can see out towards the Yanakie Isthmus and Wilsons Promontory. Down below in Fish Creek and along the rail trail the gum trees and acacias provide towering shelter, but on the walk to the Mount Nicoll Lookout, the hakea, banksia, and gum trees crouch lower, clinging to the slopes as I wind my way up.

Cows moo below. Birds chirp in the scrub. Wedge-tailed eagles circle over the paddocks. A herd of black and white stretches out of a gate and along the road. It must be time for the afternoon milking. The dairy cows are on the move. 

There’s plenty to look at on Mount Nicoll Lookout

3. Winter in Kilcunda

Distance from Melbourne: Ninety minutes by car, or two to three hours by public transport
Favourite Trail: Bass Coast Rail Trail
Favourite Coffee Stop: Udder & Hoe
Favourite Lookout Point: Bourne Creek Trestle Bridge

Will you go over or under the Bourne Creek Trestle Bridge in your quest for adventure?

Icy winds off the Bass Strait.
Seaspray and beach sand like needles to the face.
Is winter really the best time to visit Kilcunda?
Yes. Yes, it is. 

Don’t get me wrong, this place is magical year round, but winter is when nature really comes out to play. Whether you want to go whale watching or take to the water yourself in the epic surf, before retreating to Kilcunda Ocean View Hotel for a warm and cosy evening listening to the storms outside, some of the best times I’ve spent in Kilcunda have been in the colder months.  

There are rockpools galore to explore on Shelly Beach in Kilcunda

If you’re blessed with one of those cold, clear, winter days, there’s no better time to tackle the Bass Coast Rail Trail. Stretching 21km along the old railway line, you can ride to either Wonthaggi or Woolamai from your base in Kilcunda. 

Hints of the old railway line are still there, if you look closely, but there’s one you certainly can’t miss. Riding towards Wonthaggi, you’ll soon cross the 12m-high, heritage-listed trestle bridge. Originally constructed in 1911, it offers incredible views of the ocean on one side, Bourne Creek below, and inland to rolling paddocks and the Strzelecki Ranges beyond. 

The George Bass Coastal Walk winding out of Kilcunda

There’s an abundance of perfect lookout points in Kilcunda, including some along the George Bass Coastal Walk, but whether Kilcunda is a pit stop on a road trip or you’re staying a little longer, the trestle bridge is a must.   

Winter in Kilcunda is also whale watching season! I recommend downloading the Wildlife Whales app for live notifications of sightings of Humpback and Southern Right whales as they swim past on their annual migration. 

Watch the sun set over Cape Woolamai from the caravan park, then cross the road to the Kilcunda Ocean View Hotel for dinner

4. Spring in Loch

Distance from Melbourne: Ninety minutes hours by car or one hour forty-five minutes by public transport
Favourite Trail: Great Southern Rail Trail
Favourite Coffee Stop: Olive at Loch
Favourite Lookout Point: Loch Stock & Barrell Suspension Bridge

If you’re pedalling into town on the Great Southern Rail Trail, then look for this as your welcome to Loch

Just off the South Gippsland Highway and the Great Southern Rail Trail, Loch is a perfect base or pit stop, whether you’re road tripping or bikepacking. 

Loch is incredibly pretty, with English cottage gardens flowing out onto the nature strips, old weatherboard cottage houses turned into shops selling local produce, and community crafts dangling from the street trees. 

Stop to smell the flowers (or pastries) in Loch

Listen out for whipbirds from the main street and enjoy a BBQ by the skate park where there’s a playground for little Explorers. It’s all very walkable and incredibly handy for anyone stopping in from the trail. 

There are plenty of options when it comes to food, including tasty treats from the bakery or a drink at the Loch Brewery & Distillery if you’re up to linger a little longer. 

The Loch Brewery & Distillery makes ales and gin on site

When I stopped in at Olive at Loch and asked for my scone to go, I was expecting a standard paper bag. I wasn’t expecting it to come in its own little picnic basket with a small pat of butter wrapped in a twist of brown paper like an old-fashioned lolly. But that’s Loch for you. Even a quick snack on the road is delightful. 

Make a stop with your picnic or camp for the night at the Loch Memorial Reserve

Just outside Loch, the hills aren’t so much rolling as towering, and the dairy cows are doing the kind of hill repeats I can only aspire to. 

On the other side of the South Gippsland Highway, you’ll find the Loch Memorial Reserve. You can get here from the rail trail via a suspension bridge, and the old tennis courts have been converted into campsites for caravans. 

Leave the rail trail behind, head for the mural by artists Jack and Josh, and under the bridge into town

Gippsland is filled with memorable places, but for me, some of the most interesting spots to explore have been off the well-worn tourist trail. 

I also think it’s a shame to assign ‘visiting seasons’ to certain locations. The mountains are for skiing in winter, and the beaches are for swimming in summer. But we can probably all agree that the Australian Alps are an amazing place to hike in summer, while some of the best trips I’ve had have been with friends where we experienced the wind, the cold, and the rain in typical ‘summer’ locations. There really is nothing like bonding over Type 2 Fun. 

Corinella, Fish Creek, Kilcunda, and Loch are far from the only small towns worth a visit, but I feel like they represent that hidden charm you find when you slow down, pull off the main road, and stop checking off the to-do list of must-see attractions. 

If you haven’t already, add them to your list, but I also hope you’ll make your own.