According to Explorer Taylor, yes, yes it is. He poured the stagnant swamp water out for all the bottles, sleeping pads, and unsecured straps that have been lost along this rugged, overgrown way and got stuck in.


We Are Explorers acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the Country on which this adventure takes place who have occupied and cared for the lands, waters, and their inhabitants, for thousands of years. We pay our respects to them and recognise that sovereignty was never ceded.

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Quick Overview

The Northern Circuit is a veritable four-day festival of Type 2.5 fun. Located in the lesser-visited (some might even say completely neglected) northern wilderness area of Wilsons Promontory National Park, it’s the black sheep of the Prom, and easily among the hardest hikes in the state.

Read on for some unforgiving orienteering and wayfinding, a whole lot of schadenfreude, and the best secret beach camp in Victoria.

 

Don’t do this section at high tide

Northern Wilderness Circuit Facts

Distance: ~60km route
Duration: 3-5 days
Elevation gain: 1250m
Nearest town: Yanakie
Nearest shops: Tidal River General Store (located at Tidal River Campground) is a ~20 minute drive from the trailhead (Yanakie also has a general store and is a similar distance).

About the Northern Wilderness Circuit

If you recently hiked the Southern Circuit in Wilsons Prom and thought: ‘Wow, dang, that was so beautiful and lovely!! This must be the best bushwalk in Victoria!! I love backpacking!! Where can I get more of that??’ Then you might think that the Northern Circuit would offer something comparable, something adjacent, something lovable; but boy howdy is this a prickly neighbour.

Read more: Best Bushwalks Near Melbourne

 

RIP my Jolly Gear sun hoodie you served me well all these years. Props to the One Planet Extrovert Pack for holding up

 

Read more: One Planet Extrovert 55 Hiking Pack – Reviewed & Tested

Although there are a few decent climbs, it’s not the elevation that makes this the most challenging route (that accolade might go to the Viking Circuit). And although there’s waist-deep water, frequent downpours, and we had to take some emergency breaks under banksias to avoid heat exhaustion, it isn’t the unpredictable weather either.

No, it was the unforgiving, unrelenting, sadistically overgrown bush. This is a track so bereft of visibility and landmarks that near-constant navigation with a GPS is mandatory and madness-inducing.

The Northern Circuit is, by all definitions, a rugged wilderness experience. You’ll be traversing saturated swamps and heath-hemmed headlands. You’ll be cursing the weather a million times a day for a million different reasons. But also, you’ll fall asleep to the sound of waves at the most remote and beautiful beach camps in Victoria, and maybe accidentally commune extensively with the precious, lovely grass trees.

Read more: The Top 18 Beach Camping Spots in Victoria

 

Is this what they call forest bathing?

How to Get to The Northern Wilderness Circuit

Sadly there remains no public transport option to Wilsons Promontory, and thus a car is necessary to get around the park. This route begins and ends at the Five Mile Road car park. Drive 15 minutes from the park entrance down C144, then you’ll reach the gate a few kilometres down the unsealed road.

 

Honestly, some of the best views are on the road section

Where to Stay on The Northern Circuit

Five very lovely, primitive campsites exist in the northern wilderness. Johnny Suey Cove is the essential one, with Tin Mine Cove and Five Mile Beach also being quite charming.

The most important thing to remember is that, although they’re currently free and will almost certainly be empty, these campsites still need to be booked in advance. This is so that you can also fill out a hiker self-assessment form to absolve Parks Vic of any liability when they have to send a boat out to rescue you from one of the beaches because the swamp was too swampy.

 

Another waist-deep crossing at the estuary next to Five Mile Camp

Skill Level

EXTREMELY ADVANCED, EXPERT, PRODIGAL, PROFESSIONAL, AMBITIOUS, ENTHUSIASTIC

As we learned, it was totally a fair call that Parks Victoria requires that hiker self-assessment form before booking and undertaking this hike.

Not only does this route require wayfinding, it requires some fairly advanced wayfinding. We walked in spirals more than once. Backtracked regularly. Drank swamp water. Walked for hours at a time essentially just staring at our phones trying to follow a line on Gaia.

Read more: Comparing Different Methods of Treating, Filtering, and Purifying Water on the Trail

The banksia and tea tree hem you in like a sock. The grass trees form their own criss-crossed grid of paths. If you’re asking yourself if that’s the former track or a wombat trail, the answer is yes. But also, somehow, no?

 

One of maybe three trail markers still left standing

Nearby Accommodation

Essential Gear for The Northern Circuit

This is the longest gear list I’ve ever written for this section, and every piece of it feels crucial.

  • PLB or InReach – there’s decent reception on this hike, but there’s simply so much that can go wrong that it’s essential. Also you might use all your phone battery staring at the route, so maybe take a bigger power bank.
  • Map AND navigation device – although this .gpx is mostly accurate, some sections take other routes on Gaia’s map. The AllTrails map is allegedly closer to the ‘true’ route in some places.
  • Snake bandage – the route is so overgrown that you’ll rarely be able to see your feet or what’s around them. And much of it passes through prime snake habitat (Here’s how to survive a snake bite).

 

Plus if you look down you lose your hat…and the track…

 

  • Gaiters – seasonally dependent, but a good pair of gaiters is required, as the infamous swamp section can be extremely muddy plus, again, you basically never see your feet. Although, if you’re doing it later in summer you could risk getting away with just…
  • Hiking pants – I HATE it, but I have to be honest: doing the Northern Circuit in shorts would actually be murder. I refuse to believe anybody could make it through this in one piece without pants
  • Inflatable sleeping pad – anything you’d carry on the outside/sticking out of your pack is going to get torn to ribbons. Also make sure you have a pack that secures water bottles well, as there were many casualties along the route
  • DEET – even though you’re in long pants, the marsh flies on the beaches can still bite through them. And the mosquitoes can too. Also the swamp section has leeches. (Not sure how to deal with a loving leech? Check out this beginner’s guide to dealing with the suckers)
  • Water capacity – I’d say a 3L minimum carrying capacity is necessary, because there are some pretty dry stretches and that humidity + sun combo is brutal

Read more: 6 Reasons (Other Than Snakes) to Wear Gaiters While Hiking

 

Learn from my mistakes

What It’s Like to Hike Wilsons Prom Northern Circuit

This route broke me open and I still don’t know if I’ve been put back together yet. Among the fragments of my former self you may find my last opinion: that the time has come to say goodnight to this being called a track or a trail at all. The intermittent flagging, occasional foot pads, and vague infrastructure that were modestly expected – and perhaps once existed – along this route have been reclaimed by Father Time and Mother Nature.

The bush is more dense than War and Peace. My hiking pants are more pilled than the moderators of the incel subreddit. My heart is full though, I think. The swims, the rarefied solitude, and inadvertent full-body immersion into the bush are all precious in their own ways. The sense of reward is immense. Johnny Suey Cove is probably the best beach camp in Victoria.

 

Mercifully packed sand for the coastal walking too

 

To begin, the Northern Circuit is located in a wilderness area. It’s fair to expect less development, fewer facilities, and a more rugged and isolated hike. That much we can agree upon, and it’s certainly delivered in spades. What was unexpected was just how wild this route has become. My impression is that this track was last marked with flagging after a Black Saturday bushfire burned the wilderness in 2009, and has since been left to regenerate of its own accord.

Whether this is due to underfunding, permission from Traditional Owners, or a simple desire to keep the wilderness extra wild is yet to be confirmed.

Day 1 – Five Mile Road to Johnny Suey Cove

Distance: 22km
Duration: 6-7.5 hours

The maintenance road leaving the car park is an easy 18km of up-and-downs that dumps you right at Five Mile Beach. The campsites at the end of the beach are nice and well-sheltered, one even having a makeshift driftwood picnic table. The water from the estuary was drinkable further up as well.

 

Moody views back over the estuary at Five Mile Beach

 

It’s worth it to push on, though. Wading across waist-high water in the estuary, the first wayfinding section begins – over the headlands to Johnny Suey. The track disappears almost immediately into dense coastal tea trees, and so your navigation skills will be put to the immediate test. Good to get them dialled in here before the next couple of days (ideally take a navigation course before you head out!).

The open secret is that nobody really uses the hiker camp at Johnny Suey Cove – instead, everyone walks down to the beach and boaters camp, where decent water comes from a nearby estuary. These sites are pretty unbelievable and might treat you to one of the most beautiful sunrises on planet Earth. The rangers seem okay with it, and it’s easily a contender for the best campsite in Victoria.

Day 2 – Johnny Suey Cove to Tin Mine Cove

Distance: 15km
Duration: 8 hours

Lots of fox tracks and a couple dens, as well as bluebottles and a couple sea eagles on the morning beach walk to Lighthouse Point. There is one spicy section of boulder hopping (see the feature image) around the headlands, which at high tide can be very dangerous. We may have gotten a little bit wet.

Read more: Tips For Staying Safe On Coastal Rock Platforms

Once you reach the lighthouse at Lighthouse Point, it’s a long arduous bush bash inland through very dense coastal scrub. The tea tree is a woody curtain. The hakea is like a cactus. The banksia branches are like the gate arm of a parking garage. RIP to my foam sleeping pad, unscratched glasses lenses, and the sleeve of my poor hiking shirt. The craziest part is, despite all that, we still found this section to be more navigable than the upcoming swamp.

 

On the track down to Tin Mine Cove

 

After emerging victoriously onto Chinaman Long Beach, the track improves considerably on the 2km coastal walk to Tin Mine Cove. The campsites here are lovely, but are pushed back in the bush. The water from the creek was also fine enough. The March flies on the beach were brutal, but a couple of sea eagles watched us swimming, which was awesome.

Day 3 – Tin Mine Cove to Lower Barry Creek

Distance: 11.5km
Duration: 7-8 hours

No you’re not crazy, you read those distances and times right. What’s more hilarious is that the first 5km of the day are totally breezy. I’d echo most suggestions that it’s reasonable to expect to walk 1km per hour once you leave Chinaman Long Beach, and all the way to Lower Barry Creek. This may have been the most gruelling section I’ve hiked anywhere in Australia. The overgrowth is legendary. The unrelenting mud could certainly give the Tassie backcountry a run for the title.

The day begins with a nice 2km back over the headlands to Chinaman Long Beach where you can ponder dutifully over the next 3km why the hell nobody has changed the name of this beach yet. There were infinite Soldier crabs here at low tide too, it was nuts.

 

Literally millions

 

Once you leave the beach, it’s time for the gaiters/pants to go back on, as the densest, roughest, most unforgiving slice of this hike and maybe of all Australian bush is coming up. Turn that frown upside down. How’s the serenity?!?

Although we were masochistically hoping for Shrek-level photos of the infamous crossing, doing this hike in mid-February meant, for us, Chinaman Swamp and Creek were both pretty much dry.

 

Still had to drink this though

 

Some small mud pits remained, but were easily avoidable. This doesn’t mean the bush was any less impenetrable though, so the going was still just as slow. In fact, I’ve read in some trip reports that wading through the swamp was the easiest and most navigable part of this whole section, ha! So maybe we did it wrong by staying dry and sweaty, with none of the ‘drama of winter hiking’. I found some great photos of what the full swamp looked like pre-bushfires as well, and might almost find myself weirdly agreeing.

From Chinamans Swamp the vegetation does start to lower, but doesn’t get any less thick. Some of my favourite Australian bush composition is found here, with tons of grass trees and coastal banksias forming lovely groves. Lower Barry Creek sits among one of these stands, with just a couple of cleared spots existing next to the small, flowing stream.

Day 4 – Lower Barry Creek to Five Mile Carpark

Distance: 10km
Duration: 4-5 hours

Freedom is so close you can almost taste it. Why does it taste so much like tannins? A bit metallic even. Strange. It’s only 4.5km to the road, but at this stage, that almost feels like an insurmountable feat.

Hopefully, there’s still a little optimism left in the tank, as the first 2km out of Lower Barry Creek are just as thick as everything else we’d done up to this point. But great relief comes around the time of the last banksia grove, as a more noticeable footpad appears, and a track suddenly opens up.

 

Probably the most accurate photo of the views on this section

 

Oh to feel a real breeze from on top of some large rocks. The simple pleasures of life. A formed track. You can finally put your phone away, except for some photos, as it’s a straight shot back to the maintenance road, which ironically has the best views of the whole hike.

If you’ve somehow got some enthusiasm left in the tank, a quick jaunt down a side trail takes you to Millers Landing, home of the world’s southernmost stand of mangrove trees, and host to tons of unique migratory seabirds at the right time of year.

Hopefully, you left some finishing beers back at the car to celebrate!

 

See ya out there!

Tips for Hiking Wilsons Prom Northern Circuit

  • Both directions are fine for this hike, it all comes down to the weather and time frame. Just try and hit Johnny Suey Cove in the nicest weather
  • Faster hikers with their nav skills dialled in can do this in three days and two nights from Johnny Suey > Tin Mine > Five Mile, but flexibility is key because you WILL get lost at least once. Have a contingency plan just in case you end up out there for an unplanned extra night

 

Sometimes a random pole will tell you that you’re at least in the right vicinity though

 

  • Dense overgrowth means no breeze, so even in cooler temperatures the humidity and sun can be brutal. I nearly got heat exhaustion and it was only 18°C. Unbelievable. Glad we packed extra Gatorades
  • I found this super interesting, albeit very whitewashed, book about the Prom, and learned a lot about the wilderness area, including the tin mines and abandoned township that once existed there. Also, randomly, some of the coastline around this walk was charted by the HMS Beagle, on its third voyage after taking Charles Darwin to the Caribbean
  • As always, don’t forget to thank your beautiful, blessed companions for joining you on such a wild, unorthodox journey into the bush <333

Read more: An Ode to Our Adventurous Friends

 

And always wear a funny hat, and when there’s a breeze say, ‘Thank you breezus’

FAQs Wilsons Prom Northern Circuit

Can I drink the water on the Wilsons Prom Northern Circuit?

Yes, but treat everything. Even the clear stuff. Especially the swamp stuff. Bonus points for carrying at least 3L every day.

Is GPS navigation necessary for this hike?

Absolutely. Bring a GPS, a backup battery, and maybe a tiny prayer or two. The ‘trail’ on Wilsons Prom Northern Circuit disappears more often than your motivation.

What skill level is required for the Northern Circuit?

EXTREME! Advanced hiking experience is a must for this one. You’ll need navigation skills, physical endurance, and the kind of determination usually reserved for ultramarathons and the occasional IKEA furniture assembly.

Is the Wilsons Prom Northern Circuit the hardest hike in Victoria?

Explorer consensus says yes. If your idea of fun includes swamp-wading, GPS-induced existential crises, and being gently smacked by a thousand tea trees, this one’s for you.

Do I need to book campsites on Wilsons Prom Northern Circuit?

Yes, you still need to book – even though they’re free and often empty – because Parks Vic needs to know where to find you when you don’t come back. Ominous? Maybe. Realistic? Yes.

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