We stayed at Lake Lonsdale a few weeks ago for a over night stop on our way to Melbourne. Besides the warning about blue/green algae which means don’t touch the water, even for our dog Shadow. It was a good, peaceful place with drop toilets, which surprisingly were clean and not smelly.
- Website: Lake Lonsdale
- Fee Category: Free
- Booking: No
- Dog Friendly: Yes
- Amenities: Drop toilets
- Dump point: No
- Pool: No
- Fire pits: Yes
- Telstra: Good
- Starlink: May have problems with trees
Our Opinion
This campsite is massive and made up of smaller sections along the lake and all with drop toilets. We headed to section 2 and got ourselves a lakeside spot right under some trees which gave us some much needed shade as it was very hot.
3 hours from Melbourne and on the edge of The Grampians, I am sure it is a popular location for that weekend getaway. There is a ranger that comes round and he advised that we could have a fire only up to midnight as a total fire band was being put in place. Since it was 32 degrees, too hot for us.
Unfortunately for us at the time we were there, the lake level was low and algae had broken out in the lake. Normally you can swim in the lake however due to the algae it was not advisable. It looked nice from a distance. There were signs saying don’t touch, poisonous.
The drop toilets were a pleasant surprise, as any seasoned camper will tell you they are usually a ‘last resort’ however these ones did look reasonable new and were actually nice. Plenty of loo paper and a sink to wash your hands.
We would definitely stay here again and maybe in the cooler months. Be nice if the water level in the lake is a bit higher next time. The website link above will give you an indication of the current lake level.
Images from Lake Lonsdale campsite
