Lake Mombeong Camping; a great surprise

We’re always on the lookout for great places to camp, and Lake Mombeong wasn’t a place that we expected to be anything overly exciting, but we were wrong again, and I love it when that happens.

We’d booked a night in to have a guaranteed spot to stay on Australia Day, and I was genuinely surprised at what we saw. Another tick for Camp Sites in Victoria!

Lake Mombeong or Lake Monibeong?

Talk about confusing. I have no idea what the actual name is. On Google the Lake is Mombeong, but the camp site is called Monibeong. Regardless, its one lake, and one camp site, so don’t get confused!

Where is Lake Mombeong?

You’ll find this place roughly 20 minutes drive South East of Nelson in Victoria, and not too far from the coastline itself

Do you need a 4WD?

We’d read that this was 2WD friendly, and were surprised to see a sign on the way in that says ‘soft sand, 4WD might be needed in summer’, or words to that effect. We didn’t find anything too difficult towing our Reconn R2, and you’d get most 2WD’s in with a bit of common sense and momentum as needed.

Other than this, the road is a decent condition gravel setup that is easily doable.

Is it caravan friendly?

Yep, you’d easily get a caravan in here with no issues. We only saw a couple, but they are about and there’s nothing that would make it too hard to get in.

What’s the Lake like? 

For us, this was the biggest surprise at all. We arrived at camp, and after setting up and relaxing for a bit I asked the kids if they wanted to walk over to the lake, and check it out. In my mind it was going to be another average fresh water lake that wouldn’t be suitable for swimming in.

I was surprised then, to see the first part of water that was about 10cm deep completely clean, and clear. I was even further surprised when we walked out onto the jetty and saw that the water was pristine, and even in 2.5 – 3 metres of water depth you could comfortably see the bottom.

There were a heap of people using stand up paddle boards and kayaks, and we quickly headed back to camp to grab snorkels and fins, and the vests for the kids. The water was warm, and visibility was probably somewhere around 4 – 5 metres out further. The scenery wasn’t anything insane, but its nice to float around in a freshwater lake and have a good look around.

The lake itself is huge, and I reckon if you swam a decent distance the visibility might get better, and its supposed to be quite deep in spots.

Amenities at Lake Mombeong

There are 4 flushing toilets at Lake Mombeong, which was another surprise. Other than that, each site has a fire pit, and many of them have some shade available too.

What does it cost to camp?

Camping here is $15 per site per night, which is pretty reasonable in our opinion.

See more on our vlog

Want to see more? You can watch our vlog below:

What is the campsite like?

I’m not going to rave about the camp site. I like to be honest, so hear it is! I wasn’t expecting much when we arrived, and probably got that about right. In winter when the grass is green it would be another story, but for us most of the grass was dead (late January). On camp site number 4 we had lake views, and a nice shady section with a natural cubby for the kids to play in.

Overall we’ve certainly been to worse camp sites and its nothing amazing in summer, but the lake more than makes up for it.

Mind the snakes

Being a cooler day in the middle of summer, I wasn’t expecting to see too many snakes, although we have seen a few. However, coming off the jetty my oldest son was in front, and he stopped abruptly, so I went to encourage him forward with my hand a little, only to see a big snake slither across the grass just two metres away. 

It had yellow on the bottom which made me wonder if it was a tiger snake, but either way, have a healthy respect for them and they’ll leave you alone. It was good for our kids to see another one, and to be reminded of the need to take due care in the bush!

Would we visit again?

As I said, we were really surprised by Lake Mombeong. We thoroughly enjoyed a swim and snorkel, and despite a recent comment on Wikicamps that said ‘only suitable for the adventurous’, we’d have to disagree. It’s a pristine place, with decent camp grounds and if you came when things were green it would be absolutely magic.

In many ways the lake reminded me of Piccaninnie Pond, or Ewens Pond, but without the booking and fees (and probably not as picturesque under water). We were glad of somewhere to stay for a busy Australia Day public holiday, and would certainly come again.

Have you been to Lake Mombeong? What did you think of it?

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