Not far past Warrnambool is Tower Hill Nature Reserve, nestled in the crater of a dormant volcano.
The reserve was declared Victoria’s first national park in 1892, but was eventually lost to farming and agriculture.
An unprecedented revegetation project began in the 1960s. Over several decades school children and volunteers planted thousands of trees. As the bush returned, so did the wildlife.
It was a spot I wanted to visit before starting the long trip back to my home in Melbourne’s south-east.
I arrived too early to get a look inside the rather nice-looking visitor centre.
I took the track winding around the edge of the lake. 
I was wandering through the bush, birds were singing, butterflies flitting, when I hear a quite loud, rather ominous rattling of the undergrowth. I stopped, wondering what it could possibly mean, when suddenly, onto the track in front of me, dropped my first ever emu in the wild.
After the initial shock, I was thrilled. It wandered along in front of me for awhile. I kept my distance; they’re awfully big creatures. Suddenly, more rattling, and another dropped out onto the track. 
They wandered very much at their own pace, which was slow, and I wandered behind, till eventually I decided I’d have to get past, otherwise I would have been there all day. I got closer, they pulled to the side of the track, and I edged by and continued my walk.
On getting back to the Visitor Centre picnic area, there was an emu there posing for photos. Obviously, I didn’t have to be nervous of them after all, as they seem pretty-much tame.
Tower Hill is a lovely spot if you’re on the road and yearning to stop for a bit of nature.
Planning to the Nth 
It is an amazing place.
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Your story about the emu brought back a memory of my first experience of an emu, also at Tower Hill but a very long time ago, as we were driving into the park there were a few emus wandering around and one very curious emu came right up to the car, as it was a lovely day we had the windows of the car down this emu became a little too friendly and stuck his head into the car giving us all a fright, he was not being aggressive just nosey!!
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Gosh, Penny. I’d have been a little intimidated.
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They can be quite cheeky can’t they? There’s a lovely caravan park at Mulambin near Yeppoon that has a resident wild emu who just wanders about checking all the campsites like a feathered caretaker.
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A resident emu. Gorgeous.
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It’s a lovely spot, Lindsey, for sure. Very sedating.
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thanks for illuminating my day.
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I’ve heard Emus can be a bit aggressive, especially if the dad has his young with him. It would have been thrilling to have them so close though.
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These were introduced to the park during the re-vegetation process, Chris, so I guess they’re used to we humans. Still, I edged past pretty carefully, just in case.
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My pleasure, Richard.
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I find emus very scary, such big birds and I’ve seen them stand their ground! Good to see these ones behaved themselves.
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I agree, Glenys, emus are very scary. I think I would have turned around and retraced my steps rather than go past them 😳
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Wow! One of the things I loved about Australia on our visits was the wildlife. On the other hand, an emu killed a farmer in the U.S. this past week — I don’t know the circumstances.
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Oh gosh, that’s absolutely awful!
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How cool to come across the Emus like that! Looks like a lovely place.
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What a treat to see Emus in the wild. Your images are magnificent.
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Thanks, Lisa. I was a bit stoked, I have to say.
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Making me homesick!
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To think that you encountered an emu is a great sign that the place is preserved well. I would have freaked out if that happened to me hahaha great post by the way!
-Carlo, TGF
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Thanks, Carlo. Yes, it was a bit intimidating but I’ve found out since they’re pretty tame. Still, they are big. I preferred to keep my distance.
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ahahaha I could just imagine your experience 😂
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