Photo Courtesy of Petra Bensted, Flickr
Searching for an affordable and carefree getaway that isn’t too complicated to organize? Caravanning and camping in the North Coast of New South Wales is easy especially if you choose to rent a caravan and aren’t too picky about your luxuries.
First of all, let’s get straight to why choosing to take a caravan and go camping has advantages over settling with staying in hotels or motels for accommodation. For starters, your home is moving with you and you’ll have everything you need. You won’t have to travel back to the centre of town to spend of the night and then make another trek to where you want to spend the day. With your home on-the-go, you can stay overnight either at or near the places you want to be. On top of that, you’ll be closer to nature and with that much more freedom.
Photo courtesy Tim J Keegan, Flickr
The New South Wales north coast is filled with pristine beaches and lots of fun pit stops both on and off the beaches. The coastline borders both rivers and rainforests, which can be enjoyed with a memorable drive — known as the Legendary Pacific Coast Drive. Motoring along this route takes you along pretty much all the best things to see and do on the North Coast. There are about 200 holiday parks for you to choose from, and these camping spots can be either by the seaside or have a bit of bushland. Holiday areas such as Port Stephens, Forster-Tuncurry, Coffs Harbour and the iconic Byron Bay will leave you spoiled for life!
Highly recommended must-do activities in the North Coast include:
- Following the Newcastle’s Bathers Way which is a 5km long scenic coastal walk which stretches from a lighthouse at Nobbys Headland to Glenrock Reserve.
- Visiting the Big Banana at Coffs Harbour (this pit stop is now a small fun park!), explore Dorrigo National Park along its many trails.
- Swimming with the dolphins at Coffs Harbour.
- Visiting the Cape Byron Lighthouse before relaxing at the beaches of Byron Bay.
Photo Courtesy Bernard Spragg, Flickr
There are lots of events in the North Coast to keep you occupied throughout your camping trip as you travel from town to town! Here is a list of NSW accommodations to explore.
Port Macquarie holds some great food festivals including the Tastings on Hastings. There are also plenty of farmers markets such as the Nimbin Farmers Market, Grafton Farmers Market and the Secret Farmers Market @ Rudi’s which all lend unique personality to the various beach town communities.
Spending your holiday in a caravan and camping out can be a little too much “roughing it” for some people. Luckily for them, ‘glamping’ is a concept growing in popularity amongst travelers in NSW. Imagine a tent that’s already been pitched for you and contains all the luxuries you’d probably get when staying at a hotel. It’s camping, but with lots of comfort. Kingscliff North Holiday Park is a good example of glamping — which provides a safari-like yet luxury camping experience on the beach.
We hope this advice and these activities have given you cause to consider caravanning or glamping in New South Wales — the north beach has so much to offer you’ll be wise to put this on your bucket list!
Olivia Bourke is a writer currently living in Sydney, Australia. When she’s not working online, she loves exploring New South Wales and the greater parts of Australia, taking photos and relaxing on the beach. Olivia occasionally contributes to http://greatlost.com/
