Traditional custodians: Gunaikurnai, Bunurong and Boon Wurrung clans

The Northern circuit is a 60km round loop, taking you through fern forests, coastal heathlands, pristine stretches of beaches and occasionally muddy swamps (weather and season dependent). Overall it’s a challenging but rewarding hike and offers a look into a landscape that relatively few people explore.

Darcy and I arrived at Wilsons Prom late after work one evening, setting up the tent in a pitch black clearing not so far from the car park. The next morning we awoke to the squawks of yellow tailed black cockatoos and found ourselves surrounded by beautiful Coastal and Saw Banksia trees. We had just packed up camp and were double checking our gear when we discovered that the gas burner stove head was nowhere to be found. A quick call confirmed my frustrations that it was indeed left behind in Melbourne. Our evening meals had been planned with the intention of using a gas burner for cooking, so this gave us two options… we could either drive to the nearest camping supply store to buy a new stove head. This option would require a 3 hour round trip and potentially extend our initial plan of walking the loop in 3 days. OR we could continue with the food we had and shuffle around some of the ingredients so that we would be eating cold meals for the duration of the hike. Definitely not the most thrilling thought. In the end we opted for the second option, ditching the gas canister and a few food items in the car. The initial frustration had worn off and we were both intrigued to try a 3-day hike with only cold meals to sustain us.

Highlight:

We were lucky enough to spend Darcy’s birthday at Tin Mine Cove where we were treated to a mind boggling sunset across Corner Inlet. The westerly skies were showcasing all things red, pink and purple that evening - we watched in awe for a good 30 minutes.

Wilsons Promontory is a spectacular spot to experience some of Australia’s unique flora and fauna species. For the animal lovers out there – you may be enticed by the potential of sighting wombats, emus, wallabies, kangaroos, echidnas, an array of birds and a variety of small marsupials.

Advice:

The section from Chinaman Long Beach to Lower Barry Creek is dense and requires bush bashing your way through shrubs that vary from knee height to well over your head. The track isn’t well marked and should only be attempted by those with appropriate navigational skills as it is far too easy to get lost. The vegetation is also quite sharp and prickly so I would suggest wearing gaiters for most of the inland walking.

Plan your water resupplies accordingly as there are not many fresh water streams along the track. Resupply streams were near Five Mile Beach campsite, Tin Mine Cove campsite and Lower Barry Creek campsite. From memory I carried about 2-3L of water each day.

Words by Kyle Glover

Photos by Darcy Mahady

Parks guide & map:

https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/places-to-see/parks/wilsons-promontory-national-park/where-to-stay/northern-overnight-hikes