There is only one route. Get off ferry, then proceed to the general store on Tankerton Road. Then you have a choice - clockwise or anticlockwise around the island. There are spur roads to explore, but please don't mix them up with people's driveways (can be difficult). The general store has maps (or did when I was last there), but you really don't need them. Once upon a time, there were six settlements on the island, including the prison farm, and they were connected with a sort of ring road. So the roads mostly pass through these. Most of those settlements had names like Esperance or Perseverance and these survive as locations. Some roads were closed when the park was set up, so come to a stop at the fence. Others continue through the park. The distances are not great, and it's hard to get lost as the bay is almost always visible except where the melaleuca scrub or mangroves are thick. Have fun. Don't run over any koalas.
Second everything you said
My honest review:
The roads are unsealed and were a bit corrugated (this was 5+ years back) and the paths were mostly sand. It is definitely mountain bike territory, my missus and I walked for some of it.
There are almost no registered vehicles which I found highly amusing - There's no police and when they do try to come across on the ferry, people start calling their friends on the island to let them know to their pull cars off the road. It is very much 'the wild west' of Victoria.
There are snakes fucking everywhere i cant stress it enough. We were there for 2 days and saw perhaps 8 snakes. Brown, copper, and tiger - and there is no hospital so you would need an air lift. I didn't spot a copper head until it was about a meter or two away.
Visit the Bayview Chicory Kilns and say gday to Lois she runs a little museum. The general store is cool, buy a post card.
All in all it was a pleasant weekend until the koalas started mating (raping) each other. Their screams echo freshly in my mind to this very day.
7/10 only because of the road quality.
Visited a few years ago, definitely agree on the snakes. Very nearly stepped on a young copperhead in the sand dunes. Beautiful place though.
Thanks so much for these replies! If I’m organised I’ll try updating this post with photos and my experience
