Wilsons Prom Southern Circuit

Every night in the southern section is a hike-in camping permit, booked in advance through Parks Victoria and priced per person, per night (with a two-night maximum at any one campsite). You book each campsite for each night, so a two-night trip is really two bookings that have to line up on consecutive nights.

That's exactly where it gets competitive. The campsites have generous quotas, but the popular ones (Sealers Cove above all) fill for summer weekends and holidays well ahead, and when they're gone the whole loop reads as "unavailable" even though the other camps have room. Because Victoria funds half-price camping at Parks Victoria campgrounds, demand for these already-cheap permits is high.

Here's the thing though: the circuit is rarely actually full. Plans change, groups shrink, and the forecast turns, so cancellations trickle back into the system constantly, and a single freed permit at the right campsite, on the right night, can quietly reopen a trip that looked booked out for months.

If your dates look full, it's worth watching. That's what Spotbagger does: we check the Parks Victoria booking page often and alert you the moment a complete two-night loop opens up for your party, so you can grab it before anyone else refreshes.

The Southern Circuit is walkable year-round, and bookings are open year-round, but the character changes with the season. Summer is warm, busy, and the beaches are at their best; it's also the season that books out first. Autumn is quieter and often settled. Winter and spring are cooler and wetter, with shorter days and cold southerly weather rolling in off Bass Strait: beautiful, but a trip for people who are ready for it.

Whatever the month, this is exposed coastal country: creek crossings rise after rain, the tea-tree can be wet, and the weather can change fast. Fires are not permitted at any time in the southern section, so a stove is essential, and you carry out everything you carry in.

The loop strings together a handful of hike-in camping areas, each just a cluster of sites with a non-flushing toilet and little else:

• Sealers Cove: the classic first night, on a broad sheltered bay reached through fern forest. The most sought-after camp on the circuit.
• Refuge Cove: a small, protected horseshoe bay, a favourite of walkers and passing yachts.
• Little Waterloo Bay: quieter, backed by granite boulders and lilly pilly forest, a common second night.

Oberon Bay, Roaring Meg and Halfway Hut sit on the longer southern and lighthouse routes; the standard two-night loop uses the three coastal camps above.

The walking is straightforward, but you're carrying everything and there's no bailout. The short list:

• Tent: all southern camps are tent-only; no huts on this loop
• Stove: campfires are banned year-round; no stove, no hot food
• Water: carry it and/or know how to treat what you find; tank water is unreliable
• Rain jacket: proper waterproof, not water-resistant; Bass Strait weather is fickle
• Rubbish bag: you carry out everything, including food scraps
• Toilet paper: not supplied at the camps