Thorsborne Trail: How Hinchinbrook's booking system works

The Thorsborne Trail on Hinchinbrook Island is a 32 km coastal walk through rainforest, mangroves, and beaches on Hinchinbrook Island, one of Australia's largest island national parks. Only 12 hikers can start each day. Permits for the entire season are released at once, and QPWS warns that peak-season permits will sell out within an hour. The 2027 season releases on 15 December 2026 at 10am Queensland time.

For how Queensland's permit system compares to other states, see our state-by-state guide to Australian camping bookings.

How the permit system works

QPWS manages Thorsborne Trail permits through book.parks.qld.gov.au. Unlike most Queensland campgrounds (which use rolling availability up to 12 months ahead), the Thorsborne Trail releases all permits for the entire hiking season in a single drop. You book one Thorsborne Trail Pass for your group of up to 6, not the individual camping areas.

For the 2026 season, permits were released on 16 December 2025 at 10am QLD time. Every start date from March through December went live at once. For 2027, QPWS warns that permits for the peak hiking season (May to September) will sell out within an hour of the release. Expect a virtual waiting room before the booking system.

The 2027 season releases on 15 December 2026 at 10am QLD time, for start dates from 1 March to 31 December 2027. QPWS announced it in a park alert on 9 September 2026.

The daily limit is 12 new starters per day. QPWS is trialling this in place of the old rule of 40 people on the trail at any one time. The cap is on starts, not on total hikers: no more than 12 people begin each day.

The hiking season runs 1 March to 31 December, with a mandatory closure during January and February (wet season).

Permit fee: QPWS made unguided hiking permits free for the 2026 season. It hasn't said whether 2027 permits will be free. The standard QPWS camping fee, since 1 July 2026, is $7.75 per person per night or $31 per family.

The trail at a glance

You can walk the trail in either direction. QPWS marks it with orange markers north to south and yellow markers south to north, and describes it north to south. I'd walk it north to south, which saves Zoe Bay and Mulligan Falls for the second half. Ferry operators drop you at Ramsay Bay at the northern trailhead or George Point at the southern end, and only at those two points.

The 7 campsites

Seven designated camping areas are spaced along the trail, listed here north to south:

1. Nina Bay: First camping area from Ramsay Bay, about 4 km in. Composting toilets, pack rack, creek water upstream.
2. Little Ramsay Bay: Beside the lagoon. Composting toilets, platforms, pack poles, creek water.
3. Banksia Bay: Small beach camp 300 m off the main trail. No facilities. Water from Banksia Creek, 100 m upstream.
4. Zoe Bay: At the southern end of the bay, a few minutes' walk from Zoe Falls, the trail's highlight. Composting toilets, platforms, pack poles. Water from Zoe Creek, 600 m upstream.
5. Sunken Reef Bay: Exposed beach camp down a very steep 950 m side track. No facilities. Water from a small creek at the northern end of the beach, or Diamantina Creek in the dry season.
6. Mulligan Falls: Rainforest campsite at the base of the falls. Composting toilets, platforms, pack poles. Camping is limited to 1 night. Fill up here, because water isn't reliable further south.
7. George Point: Southern end of Mulligan Bay, at the pickup point. No fresh water.

QPWS's 2023-2025 enhancement project added four new toilets and redesigned the Little Ramsay Bay, Zoe Bay and Mulligan Falls camping areas, and a second stage runs from 2026 to 2028. No campfires. No generators. Most camping areas have creek water nearby, but creeks dry up in the dry season, and QPWS says to treat all water before using it.

Note: George Point's toilet and signage were removed because of coastal erosion, and the alert runs until 30 June 2027. QPWS points hikers to a bush camping space about 2.6 km south of the Mulligan Creek crossing, with no toilet or pack rack, and the pickup point is 250 m southwest of it.

Getting to the island

Hinchinbrook Island is off the coast of North Queensland, between Townsville and Cairns.

Cardwell and Lucinda are the two departure points QPWS names for boats to the trail. Both have fuel and basic supplies.

QPWS lists two commercial ferries for the trail. Hinchinbrook Island Cruises runs transfers from both Lucinda and Cardwell. Absolute North Charters runs from Lucinda and picks up from Cardwell with conditions.

Both operators run transfers to Ramsay Bay (north trailhead) and George Point (south trailhead). Book transport straight after securing your permit, as QPWS advises.

What to do if it's booked out

The refund rules change for 2027. From the 2027 season, you must cancel a Thorsborne permit more than 14 days before your start date to get a refund. Before that it was 2 days, the standard QPWS rule. Inside the cutoff, QPWS only refunds for extenuating circumstances under its refund policy.

In its 2027 release alert, QPWS asks hikers to cancel permits they won't use. It also warns that penalties may apply to unused "ghost bookings." Its hiking-seasons page adds two things. QPWS emails permit holders every few months asking them to cancel if they're no longer going. And checking regularly after the release "will often show availabilities" as groups cancel. Free 2026 permits cost nothing to hold. From 2027, I'd expect speculative holders to let go before the 14-day refund cutoff, so I'd check most often in the weeks before 14 days out from your start date. I'd also expect a trickle through the season as plans change.

QPWS doesn't run a waitlist for any camping booking. A cancelled permit goes straight back on book.parks.qld.gov.au for whoever happens to be checking, and QPWS's advice is to keep checking closer to your dates.

Schnerp doesn't watch the Thorsborne Trail Pass yet. Our Queensland scanner covers QPWS camping areas that are booked site by site, and the trail pass is a separate product, so a Schnerp request can't catch a Thorsborne cancellation today. Until it can, check the pass page yourself, most often in the run-up to the 14-day cutoff for the dates you want.

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