A Walk Through Koroit’s Natural Soul
When you wake in Koroit, the first thing you notice is the stillness. The air is cool, touched with the scent of gum leaves, and in the distance there’s often the soft call of magpies greeting the morning. From the gardens of The Convent at Koroit, it’s only a few minutes before the landscape opens wide into something ancient and humbling — the volcanic basin of Tower Hill.
Into the Crater
Stepping down into Tower Hill feels a little like walking into another world. The rim of the crater curves around you like a natural amphitheatre, and inside are pockets of wetland, scrub, and open grass where kangaroos graze lazily. Emus wander the walking paths with surprising boldness, while koalas tuck themselves into the crooks of eucalyptus branches. If you pause, really pause, you can hear the rustle of echidnas nosing through the undergrowth.
The Shape of the Land
It’s not just the animals that make this place so extraordinary — it’s the land itself. The ridges and cones are reminders of fire and eruption, frozen in time and softened now by bushland and seasonal wildflowers. Standing there, it’s easy to imagine the volcanic rumblings that created this wide crater thousands of years ago, and to feel a quiet awe at how nature rebuilds and heals.
Green Corners of Koroit
Back in town, the rhythm slows again. Koroit’s Botanic Gardens are a gentle place to wander, their old trees offering shade and their paths inviting reflection. The town’s connection to the land is written not just in gardens and open spaces, but in the stone walls and surrounding farmland. There’s a lived-in, layered beauty here that feels deeply rooted.
Paths for Wanderers
For those who like to walk further, the Port Fairy–Warrnambool Rail Trail threads its way past Koroit, offering long views across farmland and glimpses of the sea on the horizon. But sometimes the best walks are the shorter ones — around the Convent gardens at dusk, when the sky turns rose-gold and the first stars appear.
A Place to Breathe
What makes Koroit’s nature so special is its intimacy. It doesn’t overwhelm; it invites. Whether you’re watching a kangaroo bound across a crater floor, sitting quietly beneath a spreading oak, or sipping tea in the Convent gardens with the sound of birdsong around you, there is always a sense of being gently folded into the landscape.
Here, on the edge of an ancient volcano, time seems to stretch and soften. And in that pause, you find exactly what you didn’t know you were looking for — space to breathe.