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Colac Otway Shire Trails (Recreation and Cultural Trails)

Temporary Closure

The Old Beechy Rail Trail is temporarily closed from Wimba to Beech Forest.
Trail users are asked to obey all signage and not use the trail in this sections.

The Colac Otway Shire has several trails available for sight seeing, walking and cycling. These include:

Beeac Heritage Trail

Birregurra Heritage Trail

Colac Botanic Gardens Trail

Forrest Mountain Bike Trails

For further information on the Forrest Mountain Bike Trails please use the link provided: https://www.visitotways.com/ride-forrest

Lake Colac Foreshore

Old Beechy Rail Trail

For more information on the Old Beechy Rail Trail please use the link provided: Old Beechy Rail Trail

Tiger Rail Trail - Forrest

The Forrest section of the Tiger Rail Trail is a 6km shared pathway north from Forrest connecting the township of Forrest and the Forrest Mountain Bike Trails with the Forrest Recreation Reserve at Yaugher. It is a successful piece of the integrated trails infrastructure around the township of Forrest and is popular with local people and tourists because it links the Forrest township to the recreation reserve, and follows a gentle terrain which is accessible for walkers as well as riders.

Tiger Rail Trail Feasibility Study

In 2014 the Colac Otway Shire completed investigations into the feasibility and construction of the ‘Tiger Rail Trail from Forrest to Birregurra’ which would follow the alignment of the former Cape Otway Forrest Railway line which opened in 1891. The railway line route had a number of stations along the journey including Forrest, Yaugher, Gerangamete, Barwon Downs, Murroon, Deans Marsh, Whoorel and Birregurra. The proposed trail’s “Tiger” name comes from the days when trains stopped running between the towns and a converted Dodge sedan, painted black and yellow, ferried passengers instead.

Due to the complexity of establishing an agreed alignment for the proposed ‘Tiger Rail Trail’ and following a detailed analysis of the issues and opportunities for the proposed shared trail, Council determined not to carry out the feasibility study for the originally proposed construction of a rail trail between Forrest and Birregurra, and instead directed that a limited feasibility study for the extension of the existing Forrest shared trail to Barwon Downs be undertaken.

Consultancy firm Transplan Pty Ltd examined the feasibility of extending the existing Forrest shared trail through to Barwon Downs. Due to the private ownership of the former railway alignment and limited support from private landowners for the trail, it was recommended that Council does not undertake any further work in extending the Tiger Rail Trail from Forrest to Barwon Downs. Colac Otway Shire at the time considered the feasibility report and has no future plans to implement an extension of the trail from the finish of the existing shared path through to Barwon Downs.

The only constructed section of the Tiger Rail Trail (shared trail) is that around the Forrest township which extends 6km north of Forrest, ending just beyond Yaugher Road.