Arthurs Lake - a great place to visit

Until recently, Jonah Bay and Pumphouse Bay campgrounds were managed by a third-party group. When their lease ended recently, we took the opportunity to assess the campgrounds and facilities. This assessment identified a number of safety concerns and the need to upgrade some of the visitor facilities. We've shared our progress, findings and decisions with regular campers and the local community, and sought their input along the way.

What's been decided?

Based on our assessment, we've decided to undertake a number of upgrades, including:

• installing new toilets
• improving vehicle access - including new turning circles
• removing dangerous trees
• making site boundaries easier to see
• improving site drainage
• maintaining existing buildings

The campgrounds have been temporarily closed until August 2023 and preliminary works are underway at Jonah Bay. Works at Pumphouse Bay will start in May.

Future management

When the campgrounds reopen, there will be some changes to the way they're managed to make sure everyone gets a chance to enjoy the new facilities. In the future, we'll offer seasonal and short-term camping sites - and the seasonal spots will be allocated via a ballot system or similar.

We've prepared 5 new bush sites that offer great lake side views and easy access to the Jonah Bay boat ramp. Disappointingly, to get these sites ready, we had to spend quite a bit of time (and money) cleaning up after previous visitors. Rubbish needed removing, illegal logging sites needed cleaning up and we've had to instal rocks to prevent cars accessing the foreshore and causing further damage. Poor behaviour is not uncommon in this area and it puts a real strain on the environment. We appeal to you all to help address poor behaviour by assisting us in keeping the area clean, safe and not damaging the environment. If you witness unsocial behaviour, please contact us on this site by posting a question or contacting us directly through the contact details shown.

The 5 additional campsites (see map) are bush sites - so come prepared for rough terrain (only one is 2WD suitable) and no facilities. Space is limited and we'd ask you to camp within the rock boundaries and limit your stay to 7 days:

• Sites 1,2 and 3: 4WD only
• Site 4: 2WD accessible
• Site 5: 4WD only and within the TWWHA (for more info, read here) so additional restrictions apply

Read our top tips to minimise your impacts and bookmark our recreation site map to discover alternative destinations. Please avoid camping in undesignated areas.

You can also download one of our handy destination guides for the Central Highlands, Upper Derwent Valley and North West.

When visiting any of our sites around the state, please consider adopting some of the illustrated tips below to help keep them clean and safe for others. It can be tempting to break the rules but do you think about the impact on you? Broken gates, destroyed signs, damaged trees, churned up roads and rubbish all cost a lot of money to fix - the more we spend cleaning up after others, the less we have to add the new facilities and features that we all enjoy.

Visiting Gunns or Little Lake?

A special call out to you super-adventurers! We know the formal track to Little Lake is in bad shape but please don't use the informal track via Gunns Lake. The vegetation in this area is extremely fragile and slow growing - your car can cause damage that takes years to recover from. It's also protected within the TWWHA - for more information about what this means, read here.

We're looking into upgrading the track but until this work is done, please consider choosing a different site, parking and walking in, or using the formal track and taking things super slow!