Around Inverloch

There is plenty to do around Inverloch within walking distance or short drive.

  • There is an Information Centre in the main street of the town at 6a A’Beckett Street (Tel: 1300 762 433) (email: invyinfo@basscoast.vic.gov.au). Open 9-5pm except Christmas day and Good Friday.
Eagle’s Nest
  • A visit to the excellent Bunurong Environment Centre will help you to interpret the natural surroundings, including the shells and dinosaur diggings of the area. Various boardwalks and tracks provide tranquil places for shorter and longer strolls or bushwalks and hiking activities.
  • The Beach. The beach is very close to Anembo. Walk out of the driveway and turn right. When you reach the creek turn right and walk along the creek path. Cross the road and go over the bridge. (You can also access the beach via the back garden: turn left and then right again.) The beach used to be very close to the road. In 2015, there was a dramatic natural transformation of the beach and now a “lake” has formed from sand drift, and there is a fairly long walk to the sea. The beach is moody and very changeable, but always interesting. NB: Keep children near the shoreline as a deep trench flows not far from the edge of the shore (depending on the tide).
  • Surfing. The best surf beach is a short walk west along the coastal road, the Esplanade, in the direction of Eagles’ Nest. (Turn right when you reach the Esplanade road.) The surf beach area has suffered from dramatic erosion in recent years losing up to 70 metres of land and coastal scrub. Much of the sand has been deposited in the Ayr Creek area near Anembo Cottage. 
  • Swimming. The best family beach is near the camping ground south of town, near the Lifesaving Club.
  • Fishing. You are able to fish nearly everywhere in the sea and the rivers, with the exception of the Bunurong Marine Park area. There is a fishing shop in the township which is very helpful with maps, times, tides, bait and information.
  • Cape Paterson. This is 10km west of Inverloch. There is not a lot there but the coastal drive is excellent and the beach is nice. The Cape Paterson Pub has good reviews, and there are new shops and cafes opening up.
Anderson’s inlet at dusk
  • Tying Inverloch to Cape Paterson is a stunning 14km stretch of the Bunurong Coastal Drive; it hugs the coastline and provides an abundance of photographic opportunities. Look out for Eagles’ Nest – a large rock structure adjacent to the coastline that resembles the top half of a map of Australia. One can walk to Eagles’ Nest from Anembo but it is a day trip there and back. The walk is excellent and there are caves to explore on the way. To fully admire the awesome scenery, or to swim or surf at any of the beaches, note that there are car parks, walkways and stairs which are easily accessible.
  • Rock pools. When the tide is out there are some great rock pools by the sea. You can find great shells and sea urchins. Some of the rock pools are on the beach near Anembo, others are closer to the town and near Eagle’s Nest. Since the dramatic recent coastal erosion at the surf beach, the local rock pools near the house have been covered over.
  • The Shell Museum. Part of the Bunurong Environment Centre is on the the corner of Ramsay Blvd and the Esplanade, Inverloch.
  • Dinosaur diggings tours These run occasionally during the summer months and cost a small amount of money. Monash University palaeontologists have a “digging” near Flat Rocks. If you turn up and look interested someone will generally explain things to you for free. Over the past ten years excavators have recovered over 9,000 bones from the area. A 90 minute excavation tour allows visitors to get involved in the recovery process too. The 9,000 bones that have been retrieved are up to 120 million years old. As most of the bones and teeth have been preserved in rocks, the process of removing them is meticulous. Participants spend the hour and a half rummaging through scattered piles of rocks, called “erratics”, in search of valuable pieces of the past.
Ayr Creek at dusk
  • The Inverloch Jazz Festival (est 1994) runs each year on the weekend of the 5th-7th August. This is pleasant and laid-back, regional festival that is well worth a visit with increasingly interesting and professional acts. There is free street entertainment, a street march, and concerts in ‘The Glade’ in Inverloch, as well as concerts at several ticketed venues around town. NOTE: Anembo is often pre-booked for this event well in advance.
  • The Inverloch Fun Festival is held mid-November each year. This is a quirky festival involving a range of activities, including rock wall climbing, and where un-motorised Billy Carts are raced down the Inverloch hill on A’Beckett Street for prizes. Yes, Billy Carts! Bring your own cart or rent one and relive your youth.
  • Birdwatching The unusual, salt-secreting mangrove tree can be found at the inlet and birdwatching can be enjoyed at Maher’s Landing and Townsend Bluff. From Point Smythe to Venus Bay is a stretch of beach which constitutes one of Victoria’s largest sand spits. In the north-western corner is a nature conservation reserve and a salt-marsh community can be found at the peripheries. Migratory birds are present and the occasional spotted native cat has been seen in the area. There is a picnic site at Fisherman’s Jetty. There is a small book on local birds in the bookshelf.
  • There is a small skate-board park for the kids in the town near the local Library. There is a small playground in Evergreen Street a minute’s walk from the house. Larger playgrounds at at Inverloch township and the Melbourne end of Wonthaggi near the hospital.
  • Inverloch Township. This is only a 10-20 minute walk from Anembo, depending on how fit you are. The best way is via the coast either on the beach or the esplanade road, but the inland route through the back streets of Inverloch is pleasant too. Walk down by the jetty near town and watch the fishermen. Hanging around the town hall and cultural centre is good fun. Check out the antiques store and have a coffee. There is sometimes a weekend market near the town hall area. If you keep walking beyond the town centre to the east you will eventually reach the Inverloch Camping Ground and the Screw Creek trail. 
  • There is a reasonable-sized library in town and you can join for free. There are also a couple of street libraries very near the house: one at the beach-end of Norman Road; the other on Ebor Avenue, off Veronica Street. Help yourself to free books. Or, better still: Drop one off and take another.

Other Bass Coast Events are listed here.