Freycinet Peninsula Circuit

How to get there

1. Drive to the Walking Tracks Car Park as for the day walks. Leave a vehicle here for the duration. Parks Pass required; no extra walk permit.
2. There is no southern pickup. Plan to finish where you began.
3. Do not treat Coles Bay lodge Wi-Fi as your emergency plan. Reception is patchy in the park. 000 needs a signal. Emergency+ and a PLB / satellite messenger are the realistic overnight notes.
4. Print official walk notes and the overnight-walker camping page before you leave home. This page is orientation, not a permit.

How to do it (step by step)

1. Official day shape (anti-clockwise): car park → Hazards Beach campsite (~7 km / 2 h, easier) → Cooks Beach (~5 km / 1.5 h) → Wineglass Bay campsite via the Mount Graham area (~11 km / 6–8 h, steeper) → car park (~4 km / 1.5 h).
2. Optional Mount Freycinet summit side-trip from the high section: about 1.5 km return / 2 h, steep — only if time, energy and water allow.
3. Camps: small free sites at Wineglass Bay, Hazards Beach and Cooks Beach. Official page: no charge, no bookings. Water: tap at the car park; Lagunta Creek at Hazards (unreliable, boil); tank at Cooks Hut (unreliable, boil — hut is emergency use only). No water at Wineglass camp. Top up before leaving Cooks.
4. Fuel stove only. No open fires. On Total Fire Ban days stoves are banned — that can cancel cooking, not just campfires. Check the official fire page.

What to expect

This is a 27 km, 2–3 day Grade 3 circuit, not a hut-to-hut with showers. Camps are small, free and unbooked. You carry everything. The middle day via Mount Graham is the hard one (6–8 hours, steep and challenging sections). The first western day to Hazards and Cooks is easier walking and the usual place to settle the pack.

Official walk notes are the document to print, not this page. Use Parks Tasmania’s Peninsula Circuit walk notes and overnight-camping page for the current water, camp and Phytophthora advice.

Official day shape (anti-clockwise)

Official walk notes (anti-clockwise): car park to Hazards Beach 7 km / 2 h easy; Hazards to Cooks 5 km / 1.5 h easy (many parties combine these). Cooks to Wineglass 11 km / 6–8 h, medium, 500 m of climbing, steep and challenging. Exit Wineglass to car park 4 km / 1.5 h. Optional Mount Freycinet 1.5 km return / 2 h, steep — plan it, do not add it on a whim.

Parks Tasmania advises anti-clockwise (western side first) to minimise Phytophthora (root rot) spread. Follow that unless official notes change.

Water is the critical factor

Official notes: tap at the Walking Tracks Car Park; Lagunta Creek at Hazards (unreliable, boil); tank at Cooks Hut (unreliable, boil). Cooks Hut is for emergency use only. No water tanks at Wineglass camp — carry enough from Cooks to get back to the car park.

Winter creeks are more reliable. In summer, plan as if every tank is empty.

Permits, camps, comms

Parks Pass only — no extra walk permit. Overnight walker camps are free, no bookings, foot access only. Composting toilets. Fuel stove only. Record intentions. Tell someone your plan who is not on the walk.

Official PWS pages do not publish a carrier coverage map. Secondary sources describe limited / patchy in-park reception, better in Coles Bay township. We do not guess coverage. 000 needs reception. Install Emergency+. A PLB or satellite messenger is worth packing overnight. Camp internet or Starlink is not required or official.

When this walk is the wrong choice

Skip the peninsula if you have not yet stood on the lookout, if you cannot carry dry-camp water for Wineglass, if the only stove plan dies on a Total Fire Ban, or if the group wanted Wineglass photos and a Coles Bay dinner. Those visits belong on the day-walk pages.

Do not squeeze “just the first day of the peninsula” onto a tired first visit. Use the two-day Coles Bay itinerary instead.

Map (orientation)

Pin may be approximate. Confirm trailheads, parking and track status on Parks Tasmania before you drive.

Extra tips

• Water is the planning problem, not distance. Summer parties fail by carrying “day-walk litres” for a two-night trip.
• Walk anti-clockwise as Parks Tasmania advises to reduce root-rot spread.
• Winter is quieter and creeks are more reliable; summer is hotter, drier and busier at Wineglass camp.
• Fuel-stove only. On Total Fire Ban days even stoves are banned — pack a cold-food plan or do not start.
• Printable overnight skeleton: Peninsula Circuit itinerary on this site. Water article under Articles.