Wilsons Promontory Northern Circuit

The Wilsons Promontory Northern Circuit is a roughly 60 km (37 mile) loop from Five Mile Road Car Park through the park’s remote north-east and back. Allow three to four days, carrying everything between small wilderness camps. You’ll visit Barry Creek, Five Mile Beach, Johnny Souey Cove, Tin Mine Cove and Lower Barry Creek; the route uses some of Five Mile Road again on the return. This is a Level 5 walk for fit, experienced hikers who can navigate with a map and compass when the footpad and markers disappear. If you want a signed coastal walk, choose another track. If you want long beaches, small coves and a proper navigation challenge, this is the Prom at its wildest.

The common four-day itinerary camps at Five Mile Beach, Tin Mine Cove and Lower Barry Creek, with Barry Creek and Johnny Souey Cove as intermediate camps or stops. Reserve the overnight sites and get the Parks Victoria permit before setting out; the Hiker Self Assessment Form is required first. A limit of two consecutive nights at each camp and six people per group applies. There are few easy ways to shorten the circuit once you leave Five Mile Road.

Your first 18 km is mostly management road east, passing Barry Creek before the last stretch of sand into Five Mile Beach. It’s an exposed, steady walk rather than a gentle warm-up; repeated rises open views back across Corner Inlet but offer little shade. The road is used by management vehicles, so expect a broad dirt road here rather than a foot trail. Five Mile Beach camp sits between the sand and tidal Miranda Creek. Check the tide before crossing the estuary, and don’t treat its water as a drinking source.

From Five Mile Beach the route heads north over scrubby headlands to Johnny Souey Cove, skirts Three Mile Point and follows the cross-Prom route toward Tin Mine Cove. Around Three Mile Point, stay on the clearer track just above the rocks; an old, fainter line climbs over the point and can disappear in scrub. Three Mile Beach is the best place to stop and look back: pale sand, green hills and grey standing trunks. A short length of old corduroy track, with logs still held by rusted cable, recalls an earlier vehicle route across the Prom.

From Tin Mine Cove, walk Chinamans Long Beach before the poorly marked inland section toward Lower Barry Creek. Chinamans Swamp has no boardwalk and its uneven ground can be wet or knee-deep. Dense tea-tree and button grass close over the old footpad in places, so the track can be hard to find again after a wrong turn.

This isn’t a walk to fit between fixed times. Northern tracks are graded Level 5; some have flagging only and others are undefined. Parks Victoria’s self-assessment warns that creek crossings on the Lower Barry Creek to Johnny Souey Cove route can reach 1.5 m. The northern wilderness also includes dense scrub, swamp and tidal crossings such as Miranda Creek. Navigation skill is a requirement, not an optional backup, and you should leave room for slow going and route-finding.

Northern camps have no toilets or other facilities. Creek water might be available but isn’t guaranteed, and anything you collect needs treatment. Carry enough between sources and pack out your waste. Dogs and other pets aren’t allowed in Wilsons Promontory National Park. This circuit rewards self-reliant hikers with remote beaches and a real sense of distance, but its difficulty comes from the route itself, not a big summit.