Wilsons Promontory is arguably Australia’s best known national park and home to the southernmost point of the mainland Australia. It was also the second port of call on our East Coast road trip, after Phillip Island (which you can read about in a previous post). Leaving the aforementioned Phillip Island on fairly grey and cold Tuesday morning we drove the short distance, in Australia terms that is, of around 200 km to our chosen camp ground of Tidal River. This camp site is continually placed in the top 10 places to camp in Australia so it was an obvious choice for us.

Driving into Wilsons Promontory we were surprised by the police who were carrying out random breathalyser tests on all drivers entering the national park; luckily we were sober so passed through without problems. Passing into the park we were greeted by endless views of forestation, backdropped by brief glimpses of the nearby sea and the small mountains, it was a spectacular site. Tidal river is around 30 minutes drive deeper into the park and the road there brings even more dramatic scenery to marvel at. Bush walks spread out from various carparks dotted along the route and the closer to the southern end of the park you get the more beaches begin to appear.

Tidal River, being so popular, is often extremely busy and quite often full but we were lucky and checked into a space easily, although the steep price of $62 a night was a bit of a kick in the teeth. This was our first attempt at putting up our tent and we were both excited but nervous. We had bought one on the basis that it was an ‘easy up’ tent so we put it to the test. Within 5 minutes it was up and pegged in. We set up the bed trying to beat the inevitable rain that was looming overhead and dived inside the tent as it began.

Rain passed and we decided to head out to explore the beaches. First up was Squeaky Beach, famed for its squeaky sand as you walk on it. However, no such luck in our case and the sand didn’t make any noise. It was a beautiful spot and clearly everyone else agreed with us as it was extremely full. Families, couples and travellers alike shared the sand and sea seemingly unaware that it was cold by Australian standards.

Next up was Picnic Bay. We drove into the car park and proceeded to walk down towards the beach. We didn’t know but luckily there is an amazing lookout half way down which gives you equally good views over Picnic Beach and Whiskey Beach. Whiskey beach was fairly busy for its small size crammed with families playing cricket and sunbathing. On the other hand, Picnic beach was deserted albeit for three people, enjoying their own private Australian beach. What a luxury.

We made other various stop offs at lookouts by the side of the road as we drove around this magnificent national park and snapped away to our hearts content at views that definitely made their claim for the best we had witnessed yet here in our six months of Aussie living.

After arriving back at Tidal River we walked across the footbridge and up to Pillar Point. This takes about 45 minutes each way and gives beautiful views of Norman Beach and Squeaky Beach from a vantage point way out into the headland. Nobody else was around and we took the opportunity to climb up to the best viewing spots and admire.

We headed back to call it a night after sight seeing and attempted our first camp stove meal. It went surprisingly well and the stove we had picked up for $20 worked a treat. In no time at all we had eaten, packed away and were sat drinking wine whilst reading our books.

Just after sunset we walked down to Norman Beach and strolled along it in the moonlight appreciating how quiet it was compared to earlier in the day. Happy with our first successful day we climbed into the tent and after Hayley’s excitement of camping had diminished we slept.

The next morning after being woken several times by the hurricane force winds (this may be an exaggeration but when sleeping in a tent every breeze feels like this) we packed up the tent, made scrambled eggs and caught the shuttle bus up to the base of the Mount Oberon walking trail which was had been assured would be the best views available of Wilsons Promonotory.

In the sweltering midday sun we trekked up the side of the hill, taking around 40 minutes to reach the top. The first thing that greeted us was the strong wind which was extremely welcome and soon cooled us down as the walk had us dripping with sweat. The next thing was incredible.

The views from this height are matched by none that we had so far seen and we were stunned into silence for at least a minute. We snapped back into life and took advantage of being the first couple from our bus to reach the summit by taking picture after picture before the rest of the group arrived. Climbing further along the ridge from the initial vantage point we managed to get some even more impressive views of not only the coast line but the rest of the national park itself. Forestation stretched for miles on end only interrupted eventually by the clear blue sea or the golden sand of some of the spectacular beaches. Extremely impressed but also by now extremely cold from the wind we decided to head down and end our time here in Wilsons Promontory National Park.

Next stop was Lakes Entrance further north up the Victorian coastline, some extremely strange camping and our first stop in New South Wales, all featured in our next blog post.

Also, to go with this post Hayley has edited a video together of our time here on Wilsons Promontory. Check it out on our YouTube channel using this link

Jonny & Hayley 🙂