Tarra-Bulga National Park is located in southeastern Victoria known for its giant Mountain Ash trees and beautiful valleys and drives filled with ferns. It's considered one of the best examples of a cool temperate rainforest in the Strzelecki Ranges.
We're currently living full-time in our campervan, a 2018 Mercedes Sprinter, and exploring Australia, with a plan of "driving the lap" (completing the entire perimeter of the country). I first visited Australia in 2019, following the classic backpacker route, mostly visiting big cities, staying in hostels and traveling by public transport.
My parents joined us for a few weeks of van life between Sydney and the Great Ocean Road near Melbourne. Tarra-Bulga National Park was one of the first stops we took my parents to.
For thousands of years, the Gunaikurnai people lived on this land, long before any Europeans arrived.
From the 1870s, Europeans began to establish prosperous dairy farms in western Strzelecki Ranges after clearing much of the forest. The eastern side was not so successful as the land was steeper, higher and more rugged and not well-suited for farming.
In 1903, Alberton Shire Council established a public park near Balook to protect the fern gullies. It was originally just under 50 acres and named Bulga, the aboriginal word for "mountain". A separate park was established in the Tarra Valley of an additional 99 acres. The two parks were combined and the size increased to 3,040 acres in 1986 to become the Tarra-Bulga National Park. It has continued to grow with new areas being included within the park boundaries; it currently covers 3,760 acres of the Strzelecki Ranges and has been managed by Parks Victoria since 1996.
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Below is some useful information for preparing for your trip to Tarra-Bulga National Park. In all cases, please be sure to check with the relevant local authorities for the latest and accurate information.
Language: The official language of Australia is English. In Tarra-Bulga National Park, the traditional language of the Gunaikurnai people is Gunai/Kurnai.
→ Learn more about the language of the Gunaikurnai people.
Currency: The currency used in Australia is the Australian dollar, denoted as AUD $. I use a Wise account when I travel which allows me to have a single, free account with multiple currencies. I only have to pay once to convert my money in the app and then I can pay in AUD $!
→ Check the latest currency conversion between AUD $ and your local currency.
Data: Before you arrive, I recommend purchasing an eSim on your phone so that you can access data the moment you land. eSims are much more convenient as it means you don't have to put a separate physical Sim into your phone. AirAlo offers great deals for eSims of various data sizes and time lengths with Optus.
→ Load an international eSim on your phone with AirAlo.
If you are visiting Australia long term, you might wish to put a physical Sim in your phone as AirAlo is geared more towards short term visitors on holiday. This way you can access a local phone plan. There are three main mobile phone network providers in Australia: Telstra, Optus and Vodafone. Telstra has the best coverage across the country whereas Optus and Vodafone are good within cities. I recommend Telstra as it means you have the best coverage while you travel around the country, especially in rural areas.
We travel with a Starlink in our campervan which enables us to have unlimited WiFi wherever we are, even in places without coverage.
There is no phone reception inside the national park; you'll need to head to the closest town of Yarram to get coverage.
Visa: All passport holders except New Zealand require a visa to visit Australia. All arrivals must fill out an Australian arrival card before landing.
→ Check which visa you need for Australia.
Time of year to visit: Australia can be visited all year-round as can Tarra-Bulga National Park in southeast Victoria as it is a temperate rainforest so will be cool even on hot summer days.
There are different things to look forward to in every season. In spring (September-November), you can see the new fern fronds growing and unfurling from the crown; in autumn (March-April), you get hundreds of fungi popping out; in winter (June-August), it will be the rainiest, wettest season but it's also when the lyrebirds are most visible.
Length of stay: We spent one day exploring Tarra-Bulga National Park which gave us a great taste of what there is to do and was the perfect amount of time to visit the park's main highlights and go for a short hike.
By flight: The closest major airport is in Melbourne, a two-and-a-half-hour drive west. Most visitors to Tarra-Bulga National Park will arrive in Melbourne if coming by air.
→ Check out my complete guide to visiting Melbourne!
By car: If you're driving around the country as we are in our campervan, then the easiest way to get to Tarra-Bulga National Park is with your own wheels. This gives you the freedom to explore the national park at your own pace, stopping whenever and wherever you like.
The roads into Tarra-Bulga National Park can be quite tight and winding. The best way to reach the national park is from Traralgon heading south on Strzelecki Drive Route 94 (the full scenic route is marked here - it's beautiful!).
→ If you don't have your own car, you can rent one in Melbourne.
You might want to start in Melbourne as your base for renting a campervan to explore Australia.
→ Rent a campervan in Perth with Apollo, Camplify, Indie or Juicy.
By guided tour: There are a number of licensed guided day or multi-day tours in Tarra-Bulga National Park.
There are currently no public transport options available to reach Tarra-Bulga National Park.
Tarra-Bulga National Park is located in southeast Victoria, about 190km east of Melbourne.
Of course, the easiest way to explore is with your own wheels. We are traveling around the entire country in our campervan for a year and it gives so much freedom to get around.
→ If you don't have your own car, you can rent one in Melbourne.
If you don't have a vehicle, you have a few other options, although they are infrequent. there are a number of licensed guided tours through the park, either as day trips or multi-day adventures.
→ Check out guided tour options to visit Tarra-Bulga National Park.
Hotel: Not traveling by campervan? Visiting from nearby Melbourne? Driving in a car? Whatever your reason for needing a place to stay, there are some gorgeous accommodation options in and around Tarra-Bulga National Park.
→ Check out places to stay to suit your budget and accommodation type.
Camping: We are driving "the lap" around Australia, exploring the country in our campervan. As with the rest of Australia, Victoria permits freedom camping on designated sites. These sites can vary greatly; some offer a variety of facilities such as toilets, trash bins, picnic tables, outdoor cooking stations and others have none of this and might simply be a pull-out on the side of the road.
The best way to find legal freedom camping spots is to use an app. We use Wikicamps Australia, a cheap app that has every single amenity listed (both free and paid) that you might need on the road. This includes things like where to fill up fresh water, where to dump grey water, where to empty toilets, where to stay, gas stations, information points and also has suggestions for things to do as you go.
→ Download the Wikicamps Australia app.
After our day exploring the nearby Tarra-Bulga National Park, we actually were recommended the free campsite in Port Albert, just under an hour south of the park, by a local working at a nearby gas station! He said it's one of the prettiest free campsites he's ever been to. He was right. It's located right on the waterfront at Port Albert with parking on a flat, paved parking lot (beats a dusty, off-the-beaten-path spot any day!) and you can hear the waves and the seabirds overhead. There are also toilets available.
Okay, the spot I am going to recommend is not that close to Tarra-Bulga National Park but it is in Fish Creek which is about halfway between the national park and Melbourne, which makes it the perfect pit stop on your trip to or from the park.
We stopped for coffee and sweet treats at Little Oberon on the main street in Fish Creek, a little town full of art galleries, creatives and quirky statues. The coffee was outstanding and they even had incredible gluten-free goodies available in the mix. Highly recommend stopping here as you drive through!
We spent a day exploring Tarra-Bulga National Park as well as another day exploring the surrounding area. I have included my recommendations both for within the park and in the nearby regions.
Take in the view from Shaheen Lookout
As you drive south on Strzelecki Drive Route 94 from Traralgon, you'll get such a gorgeous welcome to the cool temperate rainforests of the Strzelecki Ranges. Stop at Shaheen Lookout for perfect views.
Hike to the Corrigan Suspension Bridge
Corrigan Suspension Bridge is probably the prettiest and most well-known spot in Tarra-Bulga National Park. It's a stunning canopy bridge suspended over a rainforest full of ferns so you can literally walk right over the top of the ferns and spot their crowns from above.
The bridge was originally constructed in 1938 purely as a tourist attraction and rebuilt in 1982.
The hike is very easy and should only take about half an hour roundtrip.
Spot Tarra Falls
This cool waterfall is located on the south side of Tarra-Bulga National Park and is super neat because it is basically a wall of water rushing down a rock face. You can walk down a set of steps alongside the falls for the best angles but it can be kind of hard to photograph!
See the highest single span waterfall in Victoria
Agnes Falls is located between Agnes and Hazel Park, about an hour southwest of Tarra-Bulga National Park and a perfect stop to include on your drive to or from Melbourne.
It's the highest single span waterfall in the state with a drop of 59 metres. The falls are just a 200-metre walk from the parking lot along the pretty Agnes River.
My parents walking back from Agnes Falls
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Hi! I’m Jana, a Dutch-German-British-Canadian with a dream of seeing every country in the world. I am a storyteller, photographer and adventurer passionate about documenting and sharing my travels.
