10 reasons to visit Wilsons Promontory

When it comes to adventuring outside Melbourne, you can head west down the Great Ocean Road or to the Grampians. You can head north to the wild High Country and cool climate vineyards. Or you can head east to Gippsland, the Lakes District and the rugged granite peaks of Wilsons Promontory National Park.

Also known as the ‘Prom’, Wilsons Promontory is the southern-most tip of the Australian mainland. Covering about 50,000 square hectares of unspoiled wilderness and jutting out into the Southern Ocean, the Prom is crisscrossed with hiking trails, campsites, Indigenous landmarks and white quartz beaches, and is home to abundant native wildlife. In short: the Prom contains everything great about Victoria (other than the coffee, but you can get a good cup on the way in Meeniyan).

If you’re after horizon-to-horizon views, some truly epic bushwalking and a glimpse of Victoria that hasn’t changed much in a hundred thousand years, set aside five or six days to explore the Prom.

Need another reason to go? We’ve got 10 of them right here.

You don’t have to be a full-time twitcher to enjoy the Prom’s birdlife. Australia is home to several unique native bird species, and you can find 180 of them right here in Wilsons Promontory. Keep an eye out for the more obvious species, such as kookaburras (you might them before you see them), as well as indigenous species including godwits, cormorants, flycatchers, scarlet robins, sea eagles, yellow-tailed black cockatoos and even the occasional wandering albatross.

Wilsons Prom is the kind of place that gets geologists excited. It’s one of the largest exposed Lower Devonian batholiths in Victoria. In layperson’s terms, it has a lot of rocks. Granite being the big one. The granite mass on which the Prom is built extends all the way to Tasmania, and visitors can enjoy soaring granite cliffs, rocky lookouts, and boulder-hopping along the banks of Tidal River, the biggest body of water flowing through the Prom, stained purple-brown from native tannin.

Whether you’re after wilderness camping or something a bit more luxurious, the Prom has you covered. You'll find a range of accommodation options in surrounding towns such as Yanakie. Inside the national park, there are several campsites to choose from. The obvious starting point is Tidal River Campground, located at the park's only real visitor settlement. Tidal River has a range of campsites, caravan sites, self-contained cabins and bigger lodge accommodation. Other options lie further into the park  – Stockyard is one of our favourites. For the really adventurous, there’s the famous Wilsons Promontory Lightstation: the original lighthouse, built in 1859 on a spit of rock jutting into Bass Strait, which now doubles as cottage accommodation. Keep in mind, the lighthouse is a 19-kilometre hike each way from Tidal River, and there are no shortcuts.

In Australia, a three-hour drive is considered an easy jaunt, and the journey to Wilsons Promontory from Melbourne isn’t overly tiring. You could be eating croissants in the city for breakfast and walking the white sands of the Prom by lunchtime. If you’re looking for pit stops along the way, make sure to pull in for refreshments at Olive at Loch in what is arguably one of the cutest country towns in Victoria. Drop by sweet Meeniyan, where Pandesal Bakery makes an excellent refuelling station, and Fish Creek – if only for a photo of the giant fish resting atop the roof of the pub. Wilsons Promontory is also a perfect place to visit while travelling the Melbourne to Sydney Coastal Drive.

Wilsons Promontory is the largest coastal wilderness in Victoria, and it has been more or less left alone for tens of thousands of years. Tidal River is the only settlement inside the park, and apart from hiking trails and some off-grid campsites, the rest of the Prom has been very well protected. Its pristine nature makes the Prom an incredible place to experience Victorian wilderness and wildlife. There are humpbacks and killer whales cruising offshore, dozens of empty white quartz beaches to explore – Whisky Bay, Squeaky Beach and Oberon Beach are the most popular – and barely any other tourists in the off-season. Visit during the colder winter months if you’re after fewer crowds; Tidal River tends to get jammed over Christmas.

First-time visitors to Melbourne may be disappointed not to see kangaroos hopping past their inner-city hotel window, but it’s hard to visit Wilsons Promontory and not see wildlife. The Prom is home to kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, emus, echidnas, white-footed dunnarts, long-nosed potoroos, feather-tailed gliders, southern right whales, penguins, sea lions, dolphins… and we’re not even close to naming them all. The unspoiled wilderness of the Prom makes it a nature-lover’s paradise, and if animals are your thing, you should definitely try the Prom Wildlife Walk, which leaves from the park's Wildlife Viewing area. It’s an easy 2.3-kilometre (45-minute) loop track that snakes through the coastal grasslands. Note: sunset is prime kangaroo time.

Arguably the most famous beach in the Prom, and perhaps Victoria, Squeaky Beach is so-named for the sugar-white quartz sand that 'squeaks' beneath your feet. You can drive all the way into the Squeaky Beach carpark, which makes this one of the more accessible Prom beaches, or you can walk to Squeaky via Tidal River, Picnic Bay or from the Lilly Pilly Gully carpark. Spend the day lazing on the sand, cooling off in the turquoise water, or exploring the granite boulder maze at the northern end of the bay. The best times to visit are without doubt sunrise and sunset, when the light warms up the stone and turns the granite boulders an orange hue.

Speaking of hiking, there are more than 80 kilometres of trails tracing their way across the Prom. Some of these are quite beginner-friendly – such as Cotters Lake, Loo-Errn Track and the Mount Oberon Summit Walk – while others involve several hours of slog. Lightstation Walk is the longest at 19km each way. You can find a good round-up of walking trails at visitpromcountry.com.au. Remember, Wilsons Promontory is a national park, and the climate can get wild and challenging with squalls blowing off Bass Strait. Always plan for the conditions and dress appropriately. If you have questions or you need some hiking tips, the friendly folk at Tidal River Campground can point you in the right direction.

Wilsons Promontory sits on a huge ridge of granite that has thrust its way up through the icy waters of Bass Strait. As such, there’s very little flat land across the whole national park. This is an undulating wilderness of cliffs, hills, mountains, valleys, tidal rivers, sand dunes and spectacular lookouts. Explore any of the dozens of hiking trails and, sooner or later, you’ll find a picture-perfect panorama. The jaw-dropping Mt Oberon is one of the highest points in the park, and has some of the best views.

Well, mainland Australia, that is. Let’s not forget Tasmania (they get quite cross when we do that). But yes, if you’re on the mainland, the tip of Wilsons Promontory is as far south as it gets. When you’re standing at the South Point lookout, staring out to sea, there’s not much else between you and Antarctica, 5000-odd kilometres away. This gives Wilsons Promontory a pleasing end-of-the-earth kind of vibe, which is difficult to find elsewhere on the mainland. Definitely one for the bucket list.