Best Wilsons Promontory Photo Spots
Wilsons Promontory is one of Victoria's most beautiful, rugged, and sublime locations, and is mainland Australia's southern most point. The entire promontory is a national park and contains a range of short, medium, long and multi day hikes. You can spend as much or as little time here as you like. The entrance is around 2 1/2 hours from Melbourne, and then a further 30 minute drive to Tidal River, the main tourist area.
I've visited the prom twice, both times I've stayed overnight in the nearby town of Foster, drove half an hour into the park in the early hours of the morning, and back again after sunset. Most of these images have been taken in locations that are easily accessible by car on a day trip, however you may be hard pressed to visit each spot in one visit and do it justice. The park has a visitor centre (with all the info you could want) at Tidal River, and a general store and cafe. You can book camping spots in the park at various points, with Tidal River being the main spot. There are also cabins available to hire if you like a little more luxury, but book ahead as they book out months in advance. On each of my visits I've brought food in with me so that I could concentrate on photography without needing to get back to the car and drive to the cafe for lunch, ALTHOUGH it's pretty nice to be able to get a hot coffee in between spots!! If you are visiting outside Summer, the weather can get cold quite quickly, particularly after dark, as you are surrounded by ocean, so bring some layers. This area really is a landscape photographer's dream, and is one of my favourite spots in Victoria. There is huge variety of landscape in such a small area, and I really look forward to my next visit to get to know the park a little better.
Some of the recent images here have been taken with a medium format camera, a Fuji GFX50S, which takes 50 megapixels of incredibly detailed and dynamic images. I rented the camera for the weekend, it was an absolute dream. One day down the track and a huge amount of $$$ later, it shall be mine!
At the bottom of the page is a sun path calculator to help you plan the best time to visit each spot.
If you have the time there are some great hills and fields around Foster that can make for some stunning images. This shot was taken on the way to the Prom after I slept in as my app told me the sunrise wouldn't be any good!!
(B) Foster & Prom Country Lodge (link)
3800 S Gippsland Hwy, Foster VIC 3960
Not a stop as such, but I've stayed here both times I visited the prom, it's a fairly large property, so if you have trouble getting a room closer to the park, this is a great option.
The rooms are comfy and warm with all the amenities, the staff are friendly and warm. They have a *wonderful* restaurant on site, that serves really great food. Not cheap, but *great* quality if you want to treat yourself. I recommend you book when you arrive as they fill out quickly. I've eaten here both times after a LONG day on the prom while I've been going through all my images. The town of Foster has a couple of supermarkets so you can stock up on food for breakfast if you're getting up super early, or to take with you to the prom. There are a couple of restaurants and cafes here too. Prom Country Lodge rooms have a microwave, plates and cutlery if you want something on the cheaper side.
Have you ever wanted to explore Tatooine? This is your chance! The Big Drift is a huge area right at the entrance of the park full of HUGE sand dunes that can make for some spectacular images. Particularly during golden hour, when the sun creates great shadows on the dunes. Parking is at the Saddle Yard camping spot. When you get to the park entrance, it's on your far right, so you may need to enter and then take a U turn to get to the entrance. Once you've parked, it's a 45 minute walk to the dunes if you take your time, 30 minutes if you power. I kind of power walk as I'm always panicking that I'll run out of time and miss the perfect shot.
It's quite a large area, so make sure you keep track of your wandering to remember where the entrance is. This is a reasonably popular area, so if you visit in the afternoon there will be a lot of footprints and body board tracks covering the dunes. If you get there early in the morning it will be more pristine. I feel that the light is better in the evening as the sun sets over the sea behind the dunes (you can't get to the sea). Sunrise is behind the dunes, on the other side of the Prom, but I'm sure in the early morning you could still get some great images here.
(D) Whisky Beach
Whisky Beach Car Park, Wilsons Promontory VIC 3960
Whisky Bay is a famous spot for sunset shots in Wilsons Promontory. Very easy to access, this is a short 5 minute walk from the car park, and is best visited close to sunset.
Like Squeaky Beach, there are some great boulders on the beach that you can use to create some beautiful seascape compositions. The great thing about this beach, is that the arrangement of the rocks is such that they will line up wth the setting sun at certain times of the year. A great spot to experiment with ND filters and slow shutter speeds when the sun doesn't quite line up, or to lower your aperture and work with the boulders to create sunstars when it does.
Squeaky Beach is a beautiful little beach with pristine white sand, and great rock formations. Very easy to visit, the beach is only a short walk from the car park, or you can take the hike over the headland from Tidal River.
As you enter the beach, there is a group of red boulders directly ahead, which is the far right hand side of the beach. There is a little stream that comes out from the bush and runs past some of the boulders. This gives the opportunity for some fabulous compositions. I just love the combination of flowing water against statuesque rocks. You have to be relatively lucky to get here with the stream flow enough to make for a good image. My first time here in April, it was pretty much completely dry, my second time in June there was enough flow to make for a great image. In April I shot from the opposite direction to capture the waves from the sea side of the rocks, in June I shot from the stream side. Recommended gear here is a good waterproof tripod, and an ND filter to slow down your shutter speed. The sun rises on the other side of the prom, so at Dawn it is obscured by the mountains, you don't get any direct sunlight until later in the morning. This could be beneficial for those long exposures. At sunset the sun will be projecting directly onto the beach.
At the other end of the beach there are some more great rock formations as you follow the trail up to the headland. There are some interesting boulders, and some great shots down onto waves crashing against the rocks. If you keep following the trail up you'll get a great view back over the beach and some really interesting coastal vegetation.
Tidal River is the heart of Wilsons Promontory. As discussed above, there is a settlement here that includes camp grounds, cabins, a cafe, general store and a visitor centre. It's a great spot to stop for a coffee and snack, or lunch if you hadn't brought it with you. There are also ample toilets here, as there are in most of the main car parks in the park. This is the 'base camp' for many of the hikes through the park, and there is an overnight car park here for people going on multi day hikes. The area can get really busy during the warmer months, but you can pretty much park where you like during the colder months. Running through this area is Tidal River, which is a magical spot, with a few key areas. As you can tell, the hight of the river will change with the tides where it meets the sea. The area around Whale Rock in particular changes with the tides, whereas the area near the Loo Ern board walk isn't affected as much, but the tides will make the difference between still water that acts as a mirror, or running water that isn't as effective for making some amazing reflections on the water. The boardwalk has a number of observation areas at particularly beautiful outlooks, perfect to set up a tripod and shoot to your heart's content.
The image above was taken from the Loo Ern boardwalk facing north. Only minutes before it was overcast and raining, a break in the clouds sent this beautiful warm light spilling across the trees.
The image below was taken from the same spot, however facing to the east. You can see the movement of the water with the tide in this image, where as the one above is perfectly still.
These images are taken from the Tidal River foot bridge, the image above is taken facing east towards the Loo Ern boardwalk.
The image to the left is take facing west with Whale Rock in the mid ground.
(G) Mount Oberon
Telegraph Saddle Car Park, Wilsons Promontory Rd, Wilsons Promontory VIC 3960
Mount Oberon offers a stunning 360 degree view of Wilson's Prom. In terms of scenic value, it's pretty hard to beat! I've been up the mountain only once, in late morning through to early afternoon. I wanted to visit Tidal River for sunrise, and Whisky Bay for sunset, so Mount Oberon got the middle of the day slot! Most of the stops on the main tourist route I feel are best for sunsets, as they are on the western side of the prom, however the top of Mount Oberon would be ideal for both sunset and sunrise. If you're planning on a visit, I would make a choice between Tidal River and Mount Oberon for sunrise.
In Winter you can drive up to the Telegraph Saddle Car Park, and from there it's a one hour hike up to the top. Most of the way is a wide graded road with chairs every so often to rest. It's not particularly difficult, but it's quite long and you do build up a bit of a sweat (Tidal River is a 5 minute stroll from the car). In Summer the car park is closed, and you need to either hike from Tidal River up, or you can catch the shuttle bus from Tidal River to the Saddle, but check the Visitor Centre for times. In Winter I as able to park as close as I liked going up, but when I came down in the early afternoon cars stretched along the road for quite a while.
At the end of the road you will need to climb up quite a lot of stairs cut into the granite, which can be slippery so hold on to the hand rails! At the top you can explore the granite rocks, again, be very careful if it's wet and don't get too close to the edge! There are heaps of opportunities for compositions using the granite rocks as part of your foreground, with wide sweeping vistas lying beyond. The light was quite soft when I visited due to the cloud cover, and I found the inland view a much more interesting composition.
(H) Darby River
Darby River Carpark, Wilsons Promontory Rd, Wilsons Promontory VIC 3960
This is a spot I haven't explored much, but it's on the main road in and out of the Prom. The light here can be just amazing as the sun is coming up or going down, and the beams spill over the top of the hills. I couldn't resist the opportunity. I quickly pulled into the car park, ran over the road and fired off a few frames before jumping back in and heading off to Whisky Bay.
(I) Fairy Cove
Darby River Carpark, Wilsons Promontory Rd, Wilsons Promontory VIC 3960
Fairy Cover is a beautiful little beach that you can reach on the hike to Tongue Point. It's around a 45 minute walk with a moderate uphill climb on the way from the car park. The final climb down to the beach is quite steep, with part of the trail washed away by erosion. The final climb down there is a nice stable staircase.
Sun Path & Ray Map
The map is set to the the Loo Ern boardwalk at Tidal River, you can search for any location using the search box.
Zoom right in or out, or move the yellow icon around then press execute to see update sun information.
Remember to uncheck 'DST' if you are outside daylight savings time! Sunrise and Sunset times are listed. Experiment with some of the dates from my images above!