Cobden, Colac & Camperdown

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Two hours due west of Melbourne is a bevy of amazing cute little country towns, beginning with Colac, which has a bevy of glorious Op Shops. We toured through Colac, Camperdown and Cobden whilst staying in Forrest, there are plenty of great accomodation options in the area. These towns can easily be explored in a whole day, but if you’re like us and would like to take in the outdoors too, then 2 days would be the perfect amount of time.

Colac is the biggest of the 3 towns and is a bit of a hub for the area. There are a loads of awesome Op Shops here and some really cool Vintage stores, so make sure you visit each and every one of them.

From here, it’s a short drive to Camperdown, which has 3 of the sweetest country Op Shops I’ve ever seen, with the Sunnyside Op Shop being the stand out! It’s oh so cute with the friendliest staff who love a good yarn. The town has beautiful wide streets and beautiful old buildings, so it’s lovely to walk around.

Cobden is a short 20 minute drive from Camperdown and equally as cute, albeit without the big buildings and ornate architecture. It’s charm lies in the beautiful lake in the centre of town, which you can walk around, or perch yourself under one of the many oak trees and enjoy a picnic. In spring it was rich in flowers and in autumn it would be paradise of auburn leaves. The town is small, but it boasts two really great Op Shops! We bought a karaoke machine at one, which we’ll hopefully whip out one of these days.

And of course for adventure, the region has a number of crater lakes, some up to 60 metres deep. These were caused from volcanic eruptions many ages ago and the most reachable of themis Lake Bullen Merri. There’s a dirt road that descends down the hill and short walk to the edge of the water. These are perfect for a swim and kayak in summer and many of the crater lakes are stocked with salmon and trout if you’re adept at fishing.

Op shops

Colac

Lifeline Shop
227 Murray St, Colac
Closed Sundays
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Australian Red Cross Colac
124 Murray St, Colac
Closed Sundays
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The Salvation Army Colac Corps Thrift Shop
100 Bromfield St, Colac
Closed Sundays
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Vinnies Colac
41 Dennis St, Colac
Closed Sundays
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The Leap Shop
57 Bromfield St
Closed weekends
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How Bazaar
8 Skene St, Colac
Open Sundays
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Murray St Market
249-251 Murray St, Colac
Open Sundays
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Rae St Relics
23 Rae St, Colac
Open Sundays
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Camperdown

Sunnyside op shop
184 Manifold St, Camperdown
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Lifeline South West Vic Inc
178 Manifold St, Camperdown
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St Vincent De Paul
156 Manifold St, Camperdown
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Cobden

Uniting Church op shop
50 Curdie Street
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Cobden Health charity shop
41 Curdie Street
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Adventures

Lake Bullen Merri

Lake Bullen Merri is one of several crater lakes in the area, but is definitely the one that is the most publicly accessible. Take a picnic, your swimmers and some sort of floating device to drift the day away.

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Cobden Lake

Cobden Lake sits next to Cobden town centre and is great for a picnic. Be sure to take the kids’ scooter so that they can have a hoon around.

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Sleep

We stayed at the Otways Loft in Forrest to explore these 3 towns, with Colac a 30 minute drive away, but if you want to base yourself nearby, I’d recommend Camperdown for its grand historic charm.