NSW South Coast winter holiday ideas
As the hordes head in-land in search of snow, an ‘out of season’ visit to the NSW south coast could be the perfect alternative winter getaway. The region between Shellharbour and Merimbula is synonymous with beautiful beaches, sapphire waters and warm-weather getaways. In winter, the clear sunshine and sparkling seas remain and the south coast’s ‘blue-sky winters’ provide the perfect climate for outdoor activities and foodie pursuits.
Plus, there are plenty of My NRMA experiences and holiday parks to experience at members best prices.
1. Shellharbour
Once a retiree’s paradise, this seaside town 90 minutes south of Sydney is fast becoming a favourite among families thanks to fresh tourism ideas and the NRMA Shellharbour Beachside Holiday Park makes a perfect base from which to explore.
NRMA Shellharbour Beachside Holiday Park. Credit: Kris Ashton
A 5 minute drive inland from the holiday park, Shanx Mini Golf is not a ‘hit it under the windmill’ sort of putt-putt golf, but closer to the real thing, with nine holes of undulations, artificial grass and even artificial sand traps carved into the side of a hill. Also on site at Links Shell Cove is a café and The Tavern, which includes an enclosed verandah and vista of the main golf course.
Shanx Mini Golf Park. Credit: Kris Ashton
If you need to walk off your lunchtime indulgence, head to Reddall Parade Reserve, the starting point of a walkway around Lake Illawarra. Dotted along the path are sculptures that make up the Lake Illawarra Art Trail. The trail terminates near Windang Island, which is accessible at low tide. Just keep an eye on the water or you could be wading back.
The Shellharbour Club (or ‘Shelly’s’ as it’s trendily referred to these days) underwent a major overhaul a few years back. Perhaps the most striking addition is the Precinct, which brings a street food atmosphere indoors. The Block House is a huge kid’s play area that includes slides, a blackboard with oversized chalk, and a sort of ‘ball wall’ where kids can throw plastic balls and try to get them in a basketball hoop or make them roll down a Donkey Kong style chute.
In the old section of Shellharbour you’ll find Addison Street, which is the town’s equivalent of Melbourne’s Little Bourke Street. Eateries along the strip include fish and chips, modern Australian café food, Italian, Thai, Japanese and Indian cuisine, and the Ocean Beach Hotel, which provides a sensational view over the harbour that gives Shellharbour its name. Or head to the city centre for dining discounts on sushi, gelato or Indian food with your My NRMA membership.
Just across the highway from Shellharbour is the HARS Aviation Museum, which offers guided tours of decommissioned aircraft and in-depth information on the history of aviation.
2. Jervis Bay
About an hour south of Shellharbour, is the turn off to Jervis Bay and surrounds. Resist the temptation to go straight to “Husky” (as Huskisson is known colloquially) and explore the surrounds first.
Naval College Road leads to the tiny hamlet of Hyams Beach, whose sand ranks amongst the world’s whitest. It’s best to visit and take in the vista during the cooler months as the hamlet gets overrun with tourists when the weather warms up – and parking becomes hard to find.
Hyams Beach, Jervis Bay. Credit: Shoalhaven Council
If you’re looking for a future camping destination, it pays to scope out Green Patch in the Booderee National Park – ‘heaven on a stick’ for many campers. Nestled behind Jervis Bay, it is popular with repeat campers and notoriously difficult to book, but with a range of walking tracks and lookouts nearby it’s worth persevering to secure a site.
Between Hyams Beach and Green Patch is Wreck Bay Road, and the unassuming village of Wreck Bay. To the east is Summercloud Bay and the legendary surf break that’s known as Mini Pipeline or Aussie Pipe, our home-grown version of the legendary Hawaiian north shore break. If the ocean swell is pushing up from the south, Aussie Pipe can produce one of the hollowest waves on the coast and if the conditions are right, you might be lucky enough to see some of the world’s best surfers, who live nearby and hone their skills on the break – even in winter.
Huskisson is the perfect place for lunch, with a multitude of options all in one spot. Sit and eat by the water’s edge where Jervis Bay Wild operates dolphin watching tours all-year-round and whale watching tours from May through to October. Lasting about 90-120 minutes, they are a great way to see Jervis Bay and spot some marine life, which is abundant in the colder months.
Huskisson Ferry. Credit: Kris Ashton
3. Sussex Inlet
If you’re okay with sand a shade darker than that at Hyams Beach, head south another 20 minutes to Sussex Inlet for a more relaxed experience.
Once you turn off the highway onto Sussex Inlet Road, look out for the ‘fresh strawberries’ sign. It’s where a local farmer sells his produce (dependent on the season), so if the sign is out, grab a large punnet or two of fresh-picked strawberries. And if you have a sweet tooth, take home a bottle of homemade strawberry sauce and pour it over ice cream!.
The road through the centre of town literally ends up at the inlet that feeds into the St Georges Basin. Perfectly positioned here are an RSL club and the Sussex Inlet Marine and Boat Hire. The latter hires everything you need if you want to take to the water and catch some fish.
Sussex Inlet canal. Credit: Kris Ashton
Whether you want to buy surf gear or rug up against the cold, head back towards Sussex Inlet and drop into the Ocean & Earth headquarters and factory outlet. The business began in the 1970s when Sussex local Brian Cregan started making surfboards with the hippy-sounding name of Cool Curl Cruisers. The boards have long since gone and the business has expanded, producing a mind-boggling array of surfing accessories. The outlet is always buzzing and sifting through the seconds bin often unearths a bargain.
4. Batemans Bay
It’s hard to believe as recently as the 1980s Batemans Bay was a quiet fishing village without so much as a single traffic light. Today it is a bustling hub that connects the upper half of the south coast with the lower half. About a decade ago the old steel bridge over the Clyde River was replaced with the huge arching concrete structure that now funnels visitors in and out of town.
Once you’ve settled into your waterfront accommodation at NRMA Batemans Bay Holiday Resort, there’s no better way to get a sense of the town’s geography than ascending Rotary Drive to Holmes Lookout. On a fine morning the lookout’s vista takes in the whole area from the mouth of the Clyde River back to the bridge and beyond. If yours is a picnicking family, the lookout’s tree-shrouded picnic tables make an excellent spot for lunch.
If you’re interested in the town’s origins the Batemans Bay Heritage Museum is the place to go. It’s quite traditional, but also interactive in a way museums never used to be. Kids love using the old gavel to call for ‘order in the court’ and they can also grab a selfie in a hat from the 1930s, try to walk around with an authentic ball and chain attached to their ankle, or attempt to write in pen and ink (and develop a new appreciation for biros).
Batemans Bay Heritage Museum. Credit: Kris Ashton
The most substantial addition to Batemans Bay in recent years is the Bay Pavilions, a combined arts and aquatic centre. The aquatic centre doubles as a water park, but one with a difference: it’s primarily indoors, so even when it’s raining and the outside temperature is only in the teens, you can pull on your swimmers and make like it’s summer.
Bay Pavilions. Credit: Kris Ashton
If you’re looking for a meal, Batemans Bay has a multitude of options in walking distance of one another. Batemans Bay Soldiers Club has a light-filled dining area that offers views of the Clyde River and is a pleasant place to eat year-round. The menu is bistro-meets-steakhouse. Because it has a supervised kids club it tends to get very busy – bookings are recommended.
When heading south out of Batemans, call into the lovely village of Mogo to browse the shops, grab a coffee, or visit the ever-expanding Mogo Zoo with savings on admission for members.
The Mogo Lolly Shop (left) and Mogo Zoo (right). Credits: Kris Ashton
5. Tathra
The drive between Batemans Bay and Tathra is a rewarding one – scenic and with plenty to stop and see along the way, not least the Bodalla Dairy Shed, which sells cheese and unbelievably creamy ice cream in unique flavours inspired by bush tucker ingredients such as lemon myrtle, wattle seed, Lilli Pilli, muntrie berries, and even gumleaf smoke. Other highlights along this route include Narooma (the Mill Bay Boardwalk follows the mouth of Wagonga Inlet, which teems with marine life), Central Tilba (the quintessential small country town featuring a main street lined with inviting shops), and the world-famous Bega Cheese Heritage Centre.
The NRMA recently acquired a holiday park in Tathra (it previously belonged to Aussie entertainer Frankie J. Holden) and this compact town is a great place to put down roots for a few days. The area around Tathra Head is a photographer’s dream thanks to a couple of different lookouts, while the Tathra Wharf Museum (open Saturday and Sunday 10am-3pm) details the town’s former life as a cargo port and the efforts to save the historic pier on which the museum stands today.
On a sunny winter’s day the Tathra Hotel, with its sea views and family atmosphere, is the perfect place to warm up with a cold one, while across the road from the NRMA holiday park is the Wild Orchid Café. If you have a four-legged friend in tow there’s an off-leash beach a short stroll up Tathra-Bermagui Road and mountain bikers can get their thrills on the amusingly named Poo Ponds Mountain Bike Trailhead.
6. Merimbula
If Tathra sounds a bit sleepy for your tastes, Merimbula is an ideal alternative. The town is built on the shores of Merimbula Lake, which is famous for the quality of its oysters. So if you like seafood, a visit to the likes of Wheelers Seafood Restaurant and Oyster Bar should be on your must-do list.
Merimbula. Credit: Kris Ashton
Another Merimbula must-see is the Merimbula Aquarium and Wharf, located 5 give minutes south of the Merimbula Beach Holiday Resort, just beyond the point where the lake empties into the sea. There’s no better place to watch the sun set on a fine evening, and on site are a restaurant (which serves everything from coffee and cake to a three-course ala carte dinner) and its famed aquarium, which boasts 28 tanks filled with a variety of marine life. Merimbula Aquarium is open Wednesday to Sunday.
A couple of years back Merimbula added an elevated walking path, which stretches 1.3km from Rotary Park (corner of Main and Cliff Streets) to Bar Beach. It offers spectacular views over Merimbula Lake, the turquoise channel, and Main Beach. You can end this breezy amble with a coffee at Bar Beach Kiosk.
Merimbula sunset on the pier. Credit: Kris Ashton
While Merimbula itself has loads to keep visitors occupied in the cooler months, its proximity to nearby towns is another asset. A ten-minute drive takes you to Pambula and a wonderful rustic precinct in the town’s south-western corner called Oaklands Barn, which combines a stockfeed store, nursery, art gallery, café, and a working farm with horses, alpacas, donkeys and even an ostrich. Longstocking Brewery serves up beer, cider and oysters, while Oaklands Café provides hearty food in an appealing bucolic setting.
Between July and September, you can stand on the cliff tops around Merimbula and watch for migrating whales. A short drive away is Eden, the last major town before you hit Victoria. The museum at Eden used to document the town’s rather grisly history in the whaling trade, and while the Eden Killer Whale Museum still tells the story of Eden, it is now a discovery centre devoted to whales more than their slaughter.
Eden Killer Whale Museum. Credit: Eden Killer Whale Museum
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