So, as some of you may know, provided I’m not lost at sea, I’ll be in Sydney around New Years. I don’t have a flight home booked as yet & am toying with the idea of taking advantage of that & going on a little side trip somewhere for a day or two…
so where’s good & relatively easy to get to?
I am willing to hire a car if necessary.
I won’t have a bike.
I may have camping gear, though that’s not definite as I don’t know if it’ll fit in the boat.
Have also thought about driving back to Melb, so if there’s any awesome camping spots along the way let me know.
We tend to head up the north coast, around the Port Macquarie area. But seeing as you’ll be coming from Coffs, think about the south coast. It gets really good once you get past Wollongong, there are heaps of really nice small towns etc all the way down the coast. I haven’t camped down there or anything so can’t recommend anything along those lines, but I’m sure someone else will chime in with tips and tricks.
And to answer the question in the thread title: anywhere but Sydney.
Alice and I just spent the weekend in Huskisson and it was superb, which can be said for most of Jervis Bay. It’s about a 2 hour drive from Sydney. There’s plenty of stuff north too. I’ll talk to ya when I’m back in Melbourne
Actually, valid point about camping sites. Anything within about 4 hours drive of Sydney tends to be booked out around xmas years in advance. Yes, YEARS.
Firstly, what size bike do you need? Can maybe hook you up in Sydney.
I normally head inland (as I grew up near beaches/spend time at beaches in Sydney) in towards Canberra - mostly along the snowy river (Tumut is my pick).
However along the southern coast there’s some good options, though christmas will be a bit unbearable in prime camping/family holiday season.
The drive back to Melbourne would be awesome, many-a camping spots along the south coast near Tathra/Middle Beach/Eden.
You could also head up to wisemans ferry/hawkesbury area, some nice historic towns and pubs up there.
Alternatively you could pretend to be an upper class retiree and visit the Kangaroo Valley/Bowral area.
The South Coast is going to be a good way to go - BUT it is going to be so busy, half of Canberra moves down to the south coast along with people from Sydney and Victoria so be prepared for delays driving anywhere and dealing with bogan families.
You can pretty much drive down the coast highway through to Melbourne and you will pass through some really nice towns.
I did this one year with the wife and it was pretty good - but I would much rather do it during a quieter period.
i’ve driven down the coast from syd-melb before, we stayed in bawley point and eden on the drive down. was awesome.
thought that it might be chaos with school/xmas holidays etc, but also thought it might be a bit quieter for those unfortunate enough to be back at work on the 2nd. wishful thinking perhaps…
looks like there’s a fair few national parks just inland of sydney, are these any good? just as likely to be rammed?
not sure if i’m interested in having a bike (thanks though drozzy!), i’m probably gonna be wrecked after the coffs trip, so a train/car is just fine with me.
will have a look at the options above, jervis bay etc looks pretty sweet, anyone know someone with a holiday house?!?! haha
There’s plenty of small towns pottered around the coast between Sydney and Wollongong - Bundeena in the national park and the others around there, could be worth a sneaky few days camping (and you can get the ferry there from Australias Cultural Mecca - Cronulla).
If you want to camp over nye/Xmas I would free camp in state forests. Everywhere else would be booked out. Jervis Bay is rad but the prices get bumped up so much that it hardly seems worth it for a solo trip. There is nice camping west of the mountains that might be less busy - Around the Turon River.
reckon it’d be easy enough to get a spot though? not too keen on rocking up to discover it’s also packed. i know this may be a somewhat impossible to answer question…
Try this place - I have been here and there is so much room + they don’t take bookings. Just give them a call or email to check how busy it is likely to be: Mobile Site Preview
The capertee pub is not far away so you grab food and beers there then head back to the campsite and relax by the river!
spent a fair few christmas/easter trips as a kid up near the entrance/terrigal, so central coast way. Havnt been there in a while, but worth a look, more seaside then mountains though
I grew up on the coast so my views on it are slightly jaded.
It will be packed with families, tourists and the resident white trash.
I may be up there following Christmas to explore some of the more rural roads on the roadie, so if you choose that direction I can show some of the lesser known spots on the coast.
yeah i saw that one actually, looks pretty decent and there’s stuff to do within a close proximity. might shoot them an email to see if they’re able to give me a general availability for that time of year.
Well named then, amirite?
Last couple of years we’ve stayed at Dunbogan, and I do a nice ride that goes up into the hinterland, skirting Crowdy Bay to the north, and back to Dunbogan along the shitty corrugated road past Diamond Head. Will probs skip that road this time, was horrible last year…
We don’t go til after school holiday peak, so it’s beautiful and uncrowded.
Stewart’s River Road and Lorne Road are well worth riding. Mixed gravel/bitumen and some sweet climbs.