For many Sydneysiders the quintessential summer holiday is to pack up the caravan or load up the family car with tents and chairs and too much stuff, then head either down the coast or up the coast for a camping beach holiday on one of the many gorgeous beaches in the state.  If you can include a national park and maybe visit friends along the way it would be almost perfect.  And that’s exactly what we did.

Julie and I cleared about ten days in the middle of January, right in the middle of the busy summer school holidays, decided to risk the crowds and take in a few beaches up on the mid-north coast.  The plan was to relax amongst the sand, sun, surf and bushland of the area north and south of the regional town of Port Macquarie.  And of course we couldn’t go anywhere without our trusty truck/camper Wanda. 

From our rural land near Lithgow we headed north through the green Bylong Valley, weaved our way through the mining areas of Musselbrook and Singleton, through the beautiful Barrington Tops National Park, peaking out at over 1,500 metres (almost 5,000 feet) and dropped back down through Gloucester to our friends Geoff and Ros at their rural escape.  We had a wonderful night catching up with great old friends, swapping stories and having a laugh.  A great way to start our road trip.

Ah yes, what about the weather on this beach holiday?  Well, rain was forecast all week along those coastal stretches and we woke to a hard steady downpour.  Never mind, we headed towards the coast and camped for the night at the beach near Goolawah National Park.  The sun came out, the cossies went on and a couple of swims in the surf were just the tonic.  Our beach holiday had begun.

The next night we camped nearby at Point Plomer, a very popular spot full of families, sunshine and good cheer.  Yes, we were packed in a bit, not our normal thing, but this beautiful place made it worthwhile.  More sand, more sun and more swimming. 

We took the coastal track southward through Limeburners Creek National Park, a fun four-wheel drive track lined with shady melaleucas, Wanda revelling in the adventure, low range used frequently through the deep sand, lunch in the shade overlooking an endless beach.  Eventually we used a ferry to cross the huge Hastings River and re-joined civilisation in the thriving holiday town of Port Macquarie.

Port Macquarie may have been originally settled as a penal colony in the 1830’s and have a low-key history but these days it is a beautiful bopping town nestled in on the banks of the Hastings River and a string of wonderful ocean beaches.  The town is modern, flush with tourist dollars and from what we could tell, sparkles both day and night.  We gave it a huge thumbs up.

We camped at a commercial campground, packed in like sardines with other people seeking the region’s treasures, and spent two nights taking in the sand and sights of this major city.  Yes, it rained a fair bit and yes, we got tired of it, but we made the best of it and enjoyed our time there, including beach time, walking parts of the Coastal Track and a great night at a local popular hangout. 

As pleasant as Port Macquarie was, it was still a town of almost 50,000 people and we skedaddled as soon as possible, moving north along rural roads, avoiding the motorway, taking in the lush green farmland and extensive river system.  We made the small holiday hub of South West Rocks, the northern-most point of our trip, and revisited this cute little place surrounded by beaches, a place we hadn’t been to in 25 years.  On a Saturday in peak season the town remained in a deep relaxed slumber.

We also stopped at Trial Bay Gaol, a fascinating bit of colonial history perched on it’s headland.  The gaol opened in 1886 to house prisoners tasked with building a breakwater to make the bay safe for passing ships.  The project failed miserably and the gaol soon closed, only to be opened again in World War I as an internment camp for people of German descent.  Yes, really.

We made our way through the thick green rainforest, a heavy rain just passed with another threatening, and set up camp for the night at Smokey Cape campground in Hat Head National Park amongst the giant melaleucas, cabbage palms, vines and critters of this thick rainforest. 

As quick as possible we hoicked our way by foot over the sand dune and spent a lazy afternoon on the long deep beach that was guarded by the Smokey Cape Lighthouse on the protruding headland.  Almost no people, just the thick forest down to the endless long sand, absolute paradise.

Did I mention critters?  The tall melaleucas we were camped under gave home to a variety of locals, including the Wonga pigeons who came into camp and serenaded us with their insistent woo woo woo, a few large goannas just wandering by looking for tasty morsels, magpies feeding at our feet and best of all – the unmistakable growl of koalas in the trees above us.   Wonderful.

We became quite attached to our beach and spent another couple of hours there in the morning before pushing on southward, still in Hat Head National Park, to Hungry Gate Campground.  This home for the night was not on the beach but near enough for us to spend another afternoon on the sand and in the surf before setting up for a lazy afternoon and evening.  There’s no doubt that the area around South West Rocks, and especially Hat Head, is a very special place indeed.

The next morning was the start of our three day journey back home but we had a few diversions in mind before getting there.  First, of course, was one last swim in the beautiful beach with the massive Hat Head Sand Dunes at our back.  We reluctantly headed south to Kempsey before taking some backroads through the inland mountains, touching towns like Wauchope, Comboyne, Wingham and Gloucester. 

This was a beautiful drive, partly on winding one lane dirt roads, through steep mountainous rainforest with patches of open grazing land, before ending up at Woko National Park in a forgotten corner of this region.  We camped the night on the banks of the Manning River, the same Manning River that seems like a mile wide at it’s mouth but here is only about 20 metres, and in flood at that.  We had the whole place to ourselves and revelled in the perfect setting, cooking over the fire, enjoying the company only of pademelons and living the dream.

We woke in Woko and continued our exploration of this mountain region, following the single lane dirt track through the park and then up and down mountainous and remote grazing land.  For three hours we followed this track, never really sure where we would end up but loving the green scenery and the idea of being completely alone.  We finally hit the bitumen not far from the town of Scone and saw our first car for the day.  It was that kind of special.

We camped the night on the banks of the Goulburn River, almost dry despite it’s wide and deep gully, visited by a pair of emus, in Goulburn River National Park after a fabulous day of exploration and great surprises.  The next morning we drove southward out of the park and eventually back to our home in our valley.

This little ten day break was perfect for us – easy to pull off at short notice, a mixture of familiar and new places, beaches, mountains, beaut campsites and a great reminder that Australia has endless adventures waiting for us.