The Gippsland & Wilsons Prom is a 5-day, 700 km drive from Melbourne to Buchan by campervan. Any 2WD campervan is fine - it's rated easy. Best in Summer (Dec-Feb) or Autumn (Mar-May). Budget from about A$950 per person, plus roughly A$168 in fuel.
Some road trips chase a single headline sight; this one keeps handing you another. In five unhurried days out of Melbourne you’ll watch little penguins ride the surf home at dusk, stand on granite peaks above squeaking white beaches, trace one of the longest uninterrupted sand shores on earth, and finish deep in limestone caves carved over millions of years. Gippsland is the quiet achiever of Victorian touring - less famous than the Great Ocean Road, arguably more varied - and it unspools perfectly at campervan pace.
The distances are forgiving and every road is sealed, so the driving never gets in the way of the stopping. Towns sit close together, the caravan parks are well run, and two of the nights are spent inside national parks with the wildlife wandering past your van.
Penguins surfing in at dusk on night one, a granite summit over a squeaking beach on day three, an underground river of stalactites on day five. Victoria packs a lot into 700 kilometres.
Why drive Gippsland and Wilsons Prom?
Because it delivers the full sweep of coastal Victoria without the crowds pointed the other way. Where the Great Ocean Road funnels every tour bus west, the drive east into Gippsland stays comparatively wild - and it hands you Wilsons Promontory, the southernmost tip of mainland Australia, where Mount Oberon looks down over beaches so clean the sand squeaks underfoot.
It’s also one of the easiest big trips to run in a van. One pickup in Melbourne, no one-way relocation fees if you loop home, and a rhythm that alternates driving days with proper base camps at Tidal River and Lakes Entrance. Start it with the Penguin Parade and end it in the caves at Buchan, and you’ve crossed beaches, lakes, forest and limestone country in under a week.
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Day by day
700 km total · about 11 hours behind the wheel across 5 days.
- 1
Melbourne to Phillip Island
140 km · 2hSlip out of the city and cross the bridge at San Remo onto Phillip Island, where the whole day builds toward one thing. As the light fades, take a seat on the boardwalk at Summerland Beach and watch hundreds of little penguins - the smallest species on earth - surf in on the swell and waddle up the sand to their burrows. Base yourself in Cowes, ten minutes away, with fish and chips by the pier before the show.
Highlights Penguin Parade · The Nobbies · Cape Woolamai · Cowes pier
Stay NRMA Phillip Island Beachfront Holiday Park · from A$50/nightcheck availability
- 2
Phillip Island to Wilsons Promontory
155 km · 2.5hTrace the coast east through Inverloch and the dairy-green hills around Foster, then turn south into the national park the locals simply call the Prom. The road narrows and dives through forest before opening onto Tidal River, where an orange-water estuary meets a wide arc of white sand. Set up camp among the tea-trees and watch crimson rosellas and the resident wombats move through the sites at dusk.
Highlights Inverloch · Tidal River · Norman Beach · Wombat spotting
Stay Tidal River Campground · from A$40/nightcheck availability
- 3
Exploring Wilsons Prom
35 km · 1hA full day on foot in one of Victoria's most loved wild places. Climb the granite dome of Mount Oberon for a panorama over the whole peninsula, then let the sand sing beneath your feet at Squeaky Beach, where quartz grains actually squeak as you walk. Cool off in the clear water at Whisky Bay before an easy evening back at Tidal River.
Highlights Mount Oberon summit · Squeaky Beach · Whisky Bay · Lilly Pilly Gully
Stay Tidal River Campground · from A$40/nightcheck availability
- 4
Wilsons Prom to Lakes Entrance
255 km · 3.5hThe longest driving day, and a gentle one. Head north out of the Prom and swing east across the Gippsland plains, detouring to Port Albert for a seafood lunch or to the endless dunes of Ninety Mile Beach - one continuous ribbon of sand you could walk for a week. Roll into Lakes Entrance by late afternoon, where the Gippsland Lakes meet the ocean and the fishing fleet ties up along the esplanade.
Highlights Port Albert · Ninety Mile Beach · Gippsland Lakes · Lakes Entrance footbridge
Stay BIG4 Waters Edge Holiday Park · from A$48/nightcheck availability
- 5
Lakes Entrance to Buchan Caves
120 km · 2hTrade the coast for limestone country. Drive north through the Snowy River foothills to the little town of Buchan, where guided tours lead you into the Royal and Fairy caves - chambers of stalactites, flowstone and mirror-still underground pools carved over millions of years. From here you can turn for home, or push east toward Orbost, Cann River and the New South Wales border, the wild eastern edge of Gippsland stretching on ahead.
Highlights Buchan Caves Reserve · Royal Cave · Fairy Cave · Snowy River country
Stay Buchan Caves Campground · from A$38/nightcheck availability