Friendly Beaches

How to get there

1. From the Tasman Highway (A3), turn onto Coles Bay Road (C302). The Friendly Beaches turn-off is gravel, roughly 9 km after leaving the A3 — you do not drive through Coles Bay to reach it.
2. No 4WD required for the standard access in ordinary conditions, but it is gravel. Drive to the conditions. Parks Pass required.
3. Fill water in Bicheno or at the Freycinet Visitor Centre before you commit to the spur. There is no Visitor Centre on this access.
4. Bicheno is the useful service town if you are staying north. Coles Bay is further down C302 if you continue to the lookout later.

How to do it (step by step)

1. Park at the signed area and walk the beach. There is no single “summit.” Turn around when energy or wind says so.
2. Official range is about 100 m to 5 km, Grade 2. You choose the length.
3. This is unpatrolled surf / swell country. Swim with care. Wind on the dunes is the usual surprise.
4. Leave no trace. Isaacs Point camping is official-only if you are staying — not a day-visitor overflow car park story.

What to expect

Friendly Beaches is the long, quieter sand. It is still Freycinet National Park and still a Parks Pass park. On a January Saturday it is simply less crowded than Wineglass. Official walk range: about 100 m to 5 km, Grade 2.

There is no summit and no signed “do this exact loop.” The beach is the walk. Wind and space are the product. Shade is limited.

It does not replace the Wineglass crescent photo. If that is the only reason you came, you still need the lookout on another morning.

Access before Coles Bay

Gravel turn-off about 9 km after leaving the A3 onto C302 — before Coles Bay township. People who “missed the beach” usually overshot this junction on the way to the lookout.

No 4WD in ordinary conditions. Still gravel. Parks Pass required. Fill water in Bicheno or at the Visitor Centre. There is no café on the spur.

Hazards that actually matter

Unpatrolled swell, wind, sun, and a gravel road. Dusk wildlife on the A3 and C302 still applies on the way out.

Isaacs Point camping is official Parks Tasmania only. Day visitors should not invent a campsite or a tap.

What not to stack

Do not add Mount Amos because you have “time left.” Do not treat this as a secret Wineglass substitute — different view, different access.

If you wanted a formed easy circuit, that is Cape Tourville. If you wanted the saddle crescent, that is the lookout. This is the long-sand day and the honest Plan B when the icon car park is full.

Map (orientation)

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

Extra tips

• Best peak-season escape when the Walking Tracks Car Park is full.
• Isaacs Point camping is a separate official system — book only on Parks Tasmania channels. Never via this site.
• Watch for the gravel junction before Coles Bay township. People overshoot it on the way to Wineglass.
• Sun and wind on open sand — hat, SPF, more water than a short stroll suggests.
• Day two of a Coles Bay stay often belongs here, not on a second hard granite climb.