Rocky Cape Circuit

Hard

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10 km, roughly 2.5-hour circuit past the park's most significant coastal features, with a side track to Tinkers Lookout, per parks.tas.gov.au.

☰ Trail details

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Distance

7.47 km

Est. time

2 hr 32 min

Elevation gain

370 m

Route type

Loop

Steepest stretch: +57m over ~300m (around the 2.3km mark)

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In an emergency

Call 000 for police, fire or ambulance — Australia's emergency number works even with a weak signal, and without a SIM if any carrier has coverage.

You're in Rocky Cape National Park, North-West Coast, TAS. Mobile reception in this area is not guaranteed — this is exactly why the offline map and GPS position on this page work without signal.

Tell someone your plan and expected return time before you set off. A PLB is the most reliable backup where there's no reception at all.

Tracks & plans

+ Add to tracks / plans

Species to look for on this trail

Ancient trees and rare flora confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Bent GoodeniaDocumented on this trail

Goodenia geniculata

Endangered — TAS: Endangered▾

Endangered — TAS: Endangered

Goodenia geniculata, commonly known as bent goodenia or native primrose, is a species of flowering plant in the family Goodeniaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a low-lying to ascending herb with linear to lance-shaped, often toothed leaves at the base of the plant and racemes of yellow flowers with hairy backs.

How to spot it

Goodenia geniculata is a low-lying to ascending, hairy herb with stems up to 25 cm (9.8 in) and often forming stolons. The leaves at the base of the plant are linear to lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 30–100 mm (1.2–3.9 in) long and 3–10 mm (0.12–0.39 in) wide and often have toothed edges. The flowers are arranged in racemes up to 50 mm (2.0 in) long on a peduncle 15–50 mm (0.59–1.97 in) long with leaf-like bracts on the base or solitary in leaf axils. Each flower is on a pe

Family Goodeniaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Goodenia geniculata

Mauve-Tufted Sun-OrchidDocumented on this trail

Thelymitra malvina

Endangered — VIC: Endangered, TAS: Endangered, SA: Endangered▾

Endangered — VIC: Endangered, TAS: Endangered, SA: Endangered

Thelymitra malvina, commonly known as mauve-tufted sun orchid, is a species of orchid, native to eastern Australia and New Zealand. It has a single large, fleshy leaf and up to twenty-five blue to mauve flowers with pink or mauve tufts on top of the anther.

How to spot it

Thelymitra malvina is a tuberous, perennial herb with a single leathery, fleshy, channelled, dark green, linear to lance-shaped leaf 100–350 mm (4–10 in) long and 5–20 mm (0.2–0.8 in) wide with a purplish base. Between three and twenty-five blue to mauve flowers 18–32 mm (0.7–1 in) wide are arranged on a flowering stem 250–750 mm (10–30 in) tall. There are usually three bracts along the flowering stem. The sepals and petals are 8–20 mm (0.3–0.8 in) long and 3–7 mm (0.1–0.3 in) wide. The column i

Family Orchidaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Thelymitra malvina

Pink-BellsDocumented on this trail

Tetratheca ciliata

Near Threatened — TAS: Near Threatened▾

Near Threatened — TAS: Near Threatened

Tetratheca ciliata, commonly known as pink bells, is a small shrub in the family Elaeocarpaceae. It is endemic to southern Australia.

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near Rocky Cape National Park (Atlas of Living Australia, 1838) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Elaeocarpaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Tetratheca ciliata

Dusty MillerDocumented on this trail

Spyridium parvifolium

Near Threatened — ACT: Restricted Trade Species, TAS: Near Threatened▾

Near Threatened — ACT: Restricted Trade Species, TAS: Near Threatened

Spyridium parvifolium, commonly known dusty miller, is a flowering plant in the family Rhamnaceae. It has dark green leaves and clusters of small, whitish flowers at the end of branches. It is widespread in eastern states of Australia.

How to spot it

Spyridium parvifolium is a low, spreading shrub to about 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) high with smaller branches thickly covered in soft, long, rusty coloured hairs. The dull green leaves are obovate, elliptic or orb shaped, 4–18 mm (0.16–0.71 in) long, 3–13 mm (0.12–0.51 in) wide, and the apex rounded or notched. The upper surface usually veined, densely covered with long, erect, rigid hairs to densely covered with short, soft, upright hairs. The lower surface thickly covered with whitish star-shaped hai

Family Rhamnaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Spyridium parvifolium

Slender Velvet-BushDocumented on this trail

Lasiopetalum baueri

Near Threatened — TAS: Near Threatened▾

Near Threatened — TAS: Near Threatened

Lasiopetalum baueri, commonly known as slender velvet bush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a small, greyish shrub with more or less linear to narrowly oblong or narrowly elliptic leaves and groups of white or pink flowers.

How to spot it

Lasiopetalum baueri is a greyish, densely foliaged, spreading shrub 0.3–1.5 m (12–59 in) high and 1–2.5 m (3.3–8.2 ft) wide, its new growth prominently covered with red-brown hair. The leaves are linear to narrowly oblong or narrowly elliptic, 15–80 mm (0.59–3.15 in) long and 2–12 mm (0.079–0.472 in) wide on a petiole 2–4 mm (0.079–0.157 in) long, the margins flat or turned downwards. Hairy below, they become smooth above over time. The flowers are arranged in sometimes crowded groups of two to

Family Malvaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Lasiopetalum baueri

Old Man Banksia

Banksia serrata

One of Joseph Banks' original four Banksia species▾

One of Joseph Banks' original four Banksia species

One of the four original Banksia species collected by Sir Joseph Banks in 1770, and named among the open-forest shrubs of Royal National Park's valley sides.

How to spot it

Wrinkled grey bark, often blackened by fire. Shiny dark green serrated leaves 7-20cm long, and large yellow or greyish-yellow flower spikes over summer, followed by gnarled grey woody seed pods.

Family Proteaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Royal National Park