Picnic in the shade of Eucalyptus trees just near the Lower Stoney Creek Reservoir Dam
Get out to the rugged, dry forest where there’s plenty of wildlife and native flora, just over an hours drive to the west of Melbourne.
The Stoney Creek Picnic area is in a beautiful part of the Brisbane Ranges National Park where you can take a short walk to the base of the Lower Stoney Creek Reservoir dam or Anakie Gorge Picnic Area, otherwise walk further and make your way up to the top of the hills where the soil is a rich red colour and all you can see is Eucalyptus covered hills rolling to the horizon.
The picnic area has great facilities, including some shelters, multiple picnic tables and barbecues, toilets, loads of open space and lots of shade from the trees.
Stoney Creek Picnic Area is one of the nicer picnic areas of the Brisbane Ranges National Park, only a short drive from Anakie, Steiglitz and the two main campgrounds of the national park.
Getting to the Stony Creek Picnic Area
The Stoney Creek Picnic Area is about 10 minutes north of the Anakie township. If you’re coming from Geelong, head straight to Anakie, keep going past the Fairy Park, another three roads on your right will be Switch Road. Turn right into Switch Road and follow the winding road all the way to the picnic area.
If you’re coming from Melbourne, it’s a bit over an hours drive. Head along the Princess Freeway towards Geelong and take the Werribee exit, instead of turning left, head right along Wests Road. It’s best to follow a GPS from here, but more-or-less, you’ll go around the back of Little River and enter the Brisbane Ranges National Park from the east. As you’re on the eastern side and almost drive past the Anakie Gorge Picnic Area, if you felt like a short hike, take Anakie Gorge Walk to to the Stoney Creek Picnic Area.
Camping at Stoney Creek Picnic Area
Camping isn’t allowed at the Stoney Creek Picnic Area although there are a couple of decent ones nearby.
Fridays Campground and Boar Gully Campground are the two only drive-in campgrounds in the Brisbane Ranges National Park.
Fridays is about 15 minutes from Stoney Creek Picnic Area. It’s one large campsite split into individual sites, where everyone more-or-less camps next to each other with a dirt track going around the perimeter. There are several day hikes and a multi-day hike that go through here or start at the campground.
Although Boar Gully is a little bit further, it’s our preferred campground in the Brisbane Ranges as each campsite has a bit more space and privacy from other campers, plus there’s a dam that’s decent for fishing.
You can book both campground and check for campsite availability on the Parks Vic website.