The place where I finally got my wish to see a wild wombat!

Wilsons promontory is one of Australia‘s national parks, located at a peninsula southeast of Melbourne. Affectionately called “the Prom” by the locals, it is home to many wild animals, including wombats (!), and is considered the southernmost point of mainland Australia.

The whole Prom area is quite large and populated with wallabies, emus, wombats, echidna, many different birds and other wildlife, so you will likely spot a lot of them by the side of the road. I was there for only one day, which is not nearly enough, but what I did see was breathtaking.

Wilsons promontory is an extremely popular location with Australians and accommodations can be fully booked up to a year in advance during school holidays, but for some reason I did not see it on many “must-see in Australia” lists and I was not really planning to got there. That is, until my cousin, who was on a working holiday visa in Australia at the time, took a bombastic selfie with a wild wombat. Wombats are one of those special little critters, which are unique to Australia and ever since I’ve found out that wombats poop cubes, I’d wanted to meet them. They are also adorable in every possible way and can be quite deadly with their claws.

Impressions from Wilsons promontory

The promontory has a lot to offer: you can choose between several hikes, such as the short climb up Mt. Oberon and the Loo Errn Boardwalk track, or the long hikes, like the 19 km walk to the Sealer’s Cove beach or a day-long hike to the Lighthouse, where you can stay overnight in one of the small cabins. Apparently you can also see black swans in the northern part (Miller’s Landing) at the world’s southern-most mangroves and tons of bird life, sharks, seals, dolphins or even migrating whales at the Refuge Cove. The Norman Bay beach is beautiful too and there are several boat trip options along the coastline (you can check out more on their tourist website here).

However, I was mainly interested in wombats. So, in Wilsons promontory, I finally got my wish and encountered several wild wombats, and my friend and I even found a wombat hole.

Note my “OMG WOMBATS!” face. 🙂

The wombat encounter

To avoid cluttering this post, you can read a bit more about how I ended up there, the epic journey to find the wild wombats and see the wombat hole video here. If wildlife is your thing, I’d say Wilsons promontory is definitely a very lucky place to go. It is unfortunately impossible to visit without a car though, so it would be best to rent one and even plan a multi-day visit if circumstances permit, because the drive from the nearby Melbourne takes about 3 hours in one direction.