Wilsons
Promontory is a great national park in Victoria.
Wilsons Prom is one of the most popular
national parks
in Australia, known for
its coastal scenery, granite headlands, fern gullies and beaches,
hilltop views and wildlife.
The park covers a peninsula
in the southernmost point of mainland Australia
and includes marine reserves around the coast and offshore islands.
Whiskey Bay. Poster by AllPosters. Click on
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The handiest way to get
to and do this beautiful national park:
Geological History
Wilsons Promontory National Park is situated where Tasmania
used to be connected to
Australia before the sea levels rose about 15,000 years ago. The
national park sits on the highest point of a 300km-long and 50km-wide
batholith (igneous
rock deposit) which links Tasmania to the mainland
Australia.
Tidal River. Poster by AllPosters. Click on
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Aboriginal and European History
Wilsons Promontory is mentioned in some Dreamtime stories and the shell
middens along the western coast show that Aboriginal
people used to collect
seafood here. Since Europeans arrived, the area was used for sealing
and whaling,
quarrying, mining and timber-cutting before it became a
national park at the turn of the last century.
Whiskey Bay. Poster by AllPosters. Click on
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Australian Plants
Before logging and a severe bushfire
in 1951 there were
60m-tall trees in Wilsons Promontory. Today, the park is still rich in
flora – about 700 species of plants such as banksias,
she oaks, tea trees,
Spinifex and wildflowers are found in its temperate rainforests,
grasslands and
gullies.
Eucalypts. Poster by AllPosters. Click on
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Australian Animals
Wilsons Promontory National Park is also a great place for
watching wildlife. The animals include grey kangaroos,
koalas,
wallabies,
wombats,
possums
and bandicoots.
The birds
found in the park include emus,
parrots
like rainbow lorikeets and
crimson rosellas;
yellow-tailed
black cockatoos,
forest ravens, cape
barren geese, oyster catchers and sea eagles.
Wombat. Poster by AllPosters. Click on
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Tidal River - the Park's Centre
In the end of the park’s only access road in western side of the park
is Tidal River, where there is an educational centre, a fuel station,
general store, lodges and camp sites, barbeques and picnic sites, an
open-air cinema during the summer and the Wilsons Promontory National
Park Office, where you can make bookings, get information, maps and
camping permits.
Tidal River. Poster by AllPosters. Click on
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Southern Bushwalks
There are 22 walking tracks in the Wilsons Promontory National Park,
which total in 130km and vary from short strolls to long overnight
bushwalks. Short walks from Tidal River take you to lookout points on
western coast in Norman Point, Squeaky
Bay and to the top of Mount Oberon
where there are good views over the ocean. Longer walks go to
South-east Point Lighthouse, Brown Head,
Horn Point and Sealers Cove. There are
national parks' camping sites at Sealers Cove, Refuge Cove, South
Point, Oberon Bay,
Frasers Creek and near Mount Wilson.
Norman Beach. Poster by AllPosters. Click on
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Northern Bushwalks
The northern areas of the Wilsons Promontory National Park are less
visited, but there are some long bushwalking tracks to Vereker
Lookout, Miranda Bay and Johnnie
Souey Cove. There are campsites at Barry
Creek, Miranda Bay and Johnnie Souey Cove but again, it
is best to book beforehand.
Sealers Cove. Poster by AllPosters. Click on
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Beaches along the Coastal Drive
Along the road from the park entrance to the Tidal River there are a
few
side drives to Cotters Beach and Darby
Bay which are beautiful. Another side road (your first
one on the left hand side as you enter) takes you to the starting point
of the bushwalks in the northern sections of the park near Millers
Landing.
Mount Oberon. Poster by AllPosters. Click on
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to
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Tours and Where to Stay
If you don’t want to camp in the bush, you can stay at Foster
Backpacker Hostel, Dannevig Motor Huts or Tidal
River Cabins.
Small Islands. Poster by AllPosters. Click
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Here's a map of Wilsons Promontory,
where I have tagged the places that I mentioned on this web page. You
can click on the tags to see what places they are, and double-click
anywhere on the map to zoom it in and see the places closer. Drag the
map to move around, and if you want to see the satellite image with
Google Earth, click on "Sat" in the top right hand corner.
We all love to read about other travellers' experiences - good or bad!
Tell us where you went and what you enjoyed. Or if there was anything you didn't enjoy.
Living there? Enjoying it? Why?
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What Other Visitors Have Said
Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
what i DIDNT do Not rated yet Feed the rosellas as it affects the eco balance.... +1
what i did Not rated yet i fed heaps of rosellas and i saw about 9 wombats.
me and my mum were eating some crakers in our tent and we also had cinamin popcorn and the wombats …
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