We decided to take a 12 day, 11 night trip up the coast from Sydney and visit the mid north coast of NSW. Our first stop was back at one of our favourite and most picturesque spots - Moonee Beach - just north of Coffs Harbour.
We set up under the shade of some trees and only 100m from the water. It was a nice spot with plenty of room. We spent 5 nights here and made use of the couple of days of good weather to visit the beach before the rain set in.
We managed to catch up with one of our friends at Woolgoolga Pub for dinner one evening and it was great to see him.
On one of the rainy days, we headed inland for a drive to have lunch at a popular watering hole called The Pub With No Beer which is located at Taylors Arm.
The food was good, and the pub was quirky - as a result, it was most popular!
At the back of the pub was a chappel that was donated many years ago to the pub. It is now a historic tourist site and walking through it we discovered that the inside of the chappel is decorated with empty beer cans from all over Australia and the world.
Our drive continued after lunch that day on through the countryside on gravel roads and through Eungai Rail and stopping in Eungai Creek for a coffee before heading back.
We have driven past the Eungai Rail turnoff many times before and never turned in to have a look... we did this time and found a historic store and petrol station.
As you can see, our wet summer has made the countryside very green!
While at Moonee Beach, we has another friend call in to visit us at the van park, another great little catch-up with friends.
We decided to head to Moonee Tavern for dinner on the last night. Roast of the day for $19 was a bargain and a great feed.
The following morning we headed off with the van to South West Rocks. We got to the van park which was located next to the Horseshoe Bay Beach and right on the headland. It was the perfect location - unless the winds are blowing from the Northeast!
The site had plenty of room, and the ammenities were great - and close by!
South West Rocks is located right between Coffs and Port Mac. It is about 30km off the Pacific Motorway and hence does not get passing traffic. As such, it appears to be busy mainly during school holidays, otherwise it is just locals - nice!
SWR is situated at Horseshoe Bay - a pretty little beach that seems well protected.
The town has a good little shopping area with cafes, restaurants, pub,grocery store etc.
SWR is separated from a Village called Arakoon by Trial Bay - a beautiful bay that is protected and calm. Arakoon is the site of the old Trail Bay Gaol and a lighthouse that is worth visiting.
The area is loaded with grey kangaroos, which seem to be friendly and mind their own business - unless they think they can get a feed from you!
We took a drive to Arakoon and explored around the area.
Arriving at the lighthouse, which is located on a hill, we took in the view and decided to walk up to the top. This was rather challenging for me and I needed to stop half a dozen times on the way up to catch my breath, whereas Stephanie could have done it in one hit!
Admittedly, we thought the views from the bottom of the lighthouse walk were better than the views from the top, mainly because the views up and down the coast at the top were somewhat hindered by the surrounding vegetation.
The walk is still worth doing, as the views are still good but mainly for the challenge of actually doing it!
Exploring the surrounding area about 5km north of the lighthouse, we discovered Little Bay, a small picturesque ocean beach with awesome picnic grounds and facilities.
We went back to this place a few days later with the drone to practice flying it and also take some footage from above.
While we were at SWR, we caught up with an old Variety Bash friend. Laverne now lives in SWR with her husband and we caught up for dinner, breakfast the following day and then later in the week, dinner at their place, it was great to catch-up!
We were also visited by two friends, Steve and Sally, who were on their way to QLD. They stopped at SWR and camped a couple of nights at Smoky Cape Campground. We had dinner with them at our van, then a BBQ dinner at the lighthouse picnic grounds overlooking the coastal views.
The views from Little Bay picnic grounds ......
We spent a few days swimming at Arakoon Beach. The days were sunny and hot and the water was a very pleasant - so much so that we spent over 2 hours in the water!
Arakoon Beach is in Hat Head National Park and there is a National Parks campground right on the beach with with some sites having both power and water! There are full amenities available, so next time we plan to spend a few days there for sure.
This is also where the Trial Bay Gaol is located. You can tour the site for a small fee.
In the photo directly below, you can see some tall pine trees across the bay in the distance, that is SWR and where our van sits. The small white dot at the bottom of the trees is the SWR Surf Club.
The photo below was taken from SWR Surf Club back along Trial Bay and you can see Arakoon Beach in the background at the base of the hill on the point.
The time at SWR flew past due to our time spent catching-up with different friends.
Admittedly, we did get a couple of days of rain and wind, but we made the most of that time by taking a drive to explore other areas as well as catching up with our friends.
So far, our favourtite spots on the NSW coast are definitely SWR and Yamba.
I'm quite sure that we will be back to stay at SWR. It really does have everything one needs for a good holiday.
The above sunset view was taken from in front of our van looking to the west.
Though we did not get a spot right on the edge overlooking the water, we did get a spot that was close to the ammenities with a view and also protected from the NE winds that blew for a couple of days.
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