Lake Wivenhoe near Fernvale, QLD: Swimming, fishing & canoeing

Lake Wivenhoe near Fernvale, Queensland, offers camping at Logans Inlet, swimming at Billies Bay and a playground at Cormorant Bay. But enjoying southern Queensland’s largest lake, created by the Wivenhoe Dam, is harder work than it perhaps ought to be.

Lake Wivenhoe near Fernvale is the largest lake in southern Queensland, but it’s not a natural one. This man-made lake was created by the Wivenhoe Dam.

Where is Wivenhoe Dam?

The Wivenhoe Dam was finished in 1984, damming the Brisbane River around 80km west of Brisbane. It serves multiple purposes, although it was originally designed to mitigate flooding in the Queensland capital. Lake Wivenhoe also supplies a high percentage of South-East Queensland’s drinking water, and forms part of the water storage system for Wivenhoe Power System.

But why on earth would a visitor to Queensland care about any of this? Well, like neighbouring Somerset Dam, Lake Wivenhoe has its leisure uses too.

Lake Wivenhoe swimming: Billies Bay and Logan Inlet

There are several recreation areas around the edge of this bizarre-looking, splintered lake. The easiest of these to reach is the Hays Landing Recreation Area, a one hour and fifteen minute drive from Brisbane through Mount Glorious and the d’Aguilar State Forest.

Just south of Hays Landing is Billies Bay, one of the two designated swimming areas at Lake Wivenhoe. The other is at Logan Inlet on the western side of the lake. There is also a campground and playground at Logans Inlet.

View to Lake Wivenhoe from Mount Glorious — The view to Lake Wivenhoe from Mount Glorious, west of Brisbane. Photo courtesy of Tourism and Events Queensland.

Cormorant Bay near Fernvale

Another fruitful spot is Cormorant Bay on the south of the lake next to the Wivenhoe Dam. This is close to the Fernvale Visitor Information Centre, where you can pick up leaflets and tips about other things to do in the Somerset region west of Brisbane.

The most important leaflet, however, will be the Lake Wivenhoe Recreation Guide. This is also available online via the SEQwater website.

Cormorant Bay has a children’s playground, plus sheltered picnic facilities and public barbecues. It can be treated as a short diversion on the drive from Brisbane to Toowoomba.

Lake Wivenhoe fishing permits and canoe hire

The problem with Lake Wivenhoe as a tourist destination is that it can be unnecessarily hard work. Fishing requires a permit, boating requires your own boat and the nearest canoe hire outlet is in Fernvale. The One Tree Canoe Company offers $60 a day canoe rental, but the default setting is that you have to transport the canoes to the lake yourself.