Discover New South Wales' Mid-North Coast
New South Wales has a lot to offer! I had been dying to visit the norther part of the state ever since I moved to Australia, mainly because the weather is much warmer and tropical up there. While most tourists would usually go straight to Byron Bay (which, believe it or not, I still haven’t visited when typing these lines), I chose to explore the coast from Yamba to Crescent Head. In this article, I’ve separated this part of the coast into 5 main destinations: Yamba, Red Cliff, Dorrigo, Nambucca Heads & Crescent Head. You’ll see that there is plenty to see there, and that most of the time you’ll have these places to yourself! It’s the perfect type of road trip for those of you who like to surf and being in nature.
Northern NSW
The Highlights: From Yamba to Crescent Head
Here is an interactive map of all the beautiful locations I included in this blog post to help you plan your travel itinerary:
Yamba
Yamba is a small town located at the mouth of Clarence River. It is a really popular destination amongst surfers, for instance, Angourie Surf Reserve is a really nice spot to go catch some waves. However, surf is not what made me want to visit Yamba. It is the food! This town is well known for its high quality restaurants, and let me tell you that the one we tried did not disappoint. Karrikin Restaurant is located in the heart of Yamba on Coldstream street, and the food was simply phenomenal. The concept there is a 5-course menu, which changes constantly. They can cater for various diet restrictions as long as you let them know ahead of time. Here’s what we got:
Macadamia & rice snacks with chili lime
Zucchinis & shallot in a jalapeños & sour cream sauce
Crispy skin duck with a smokey tomato sauce & potatoes
Pumpkin salad with caramelised onions
Pineapple, macadamia & white chocolate
The main beach and the ocean pool are also really nice to spend some time on a sunny day!
Red Cliff to Wolli
Next stop on our list was Red Cliff, and it was by far the main highlight of my trip! I’m not sure why, but I think it’s because it reminded me so much of where my mom is from: the Magdalen Islands… except for the kangaroos. There’s definitely no kangaroos in the Magdalen Islands, and there were heaps everywhere around us in Red Cliff. Some even had baby joeys in their pouch, so cute! It is worth spending a bit of time in Red Cliff, both to explore the beach, but also to climb to the top of the cliff and admire the view from above. If you’re into camping, there’s a campground right behind the beach, which I would highly recommend staying at!
If you make your way down the coast, the next town you’ll reach is Brooms Head, and it is also very beautiful there! The main reason why I wanted to stop there was to fly my drone over the tree of life, a natural water formation in the shape of a tree! Truly unique!
If you continue south of Brooms Head, you’ll reach other beach destinations such as Minnie Water and Wolli, both absolutely stunning. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t very collaborative that day, otherwise my friend Sasha and I would have definitely stopped to enjoy the sun and gone for a dip!
Dorrigo & Bellingen
I had seen photos of Crystal Showers before, and I was very curious to see this place in real life! What I didn’t realise is that this waterfall is located in the middle of a beautiful national park and that there are a lot of other things to do in the area!
If you want to visit the national park, I’d recommend staying in a beautiful little town of Bellingen! We stayed at the Belfry Guesthouse, which was awesome! The whole time has some really cool hippie vibes and there are a lot of nice shops and cafés everywhere. I’d recommend checking out Hyde, they make really good coffee! Bellingen is the perfect base to visit Dorrigo; it’s only a 30-min drive from the national park!
The three main places to see when visiting Dorrigo are Dangar Falls, Crystal Shower Falls and Skywalk Lookout. Both Dangar Falls & the Skywalk Lookout can be accessed very easily from a viewpoint that’s next to the parking lot. However, Crystal Showers will require a bit of effort. The long loop, which is called Wonga Walk, takes about 2 hours return, and also includes a stop at Tristania Falls. When we visited, a part of the walk was closed so we only did half, which took us about an hour, and we didn’t get to see Tristania Falls. We did however see some magnificent trees during the morning fog, and we got to go behind Crystal Shower Falls, which was awesome!
The last location that we visited in the area is actually not located in the national park, but slightly closer for Coffs Harbour in a national park called Sherwood Nature Reserve. Once you get there, you need to park around here just after the bridge, and then walk to the river and slowly make your way up to the waterfall by following the water stream (on the right-hand side). If you go early/late enough, I promise an incredible experience, and if you’re lucky you might have the place to yourself like we did!
Important: beware of leeches!
Valla Beach & Nambucca Heads
If like me, you’re a big fan of turquoise water, you will LOVE Valla & Nambucca beaches. The Deep Creek at Valla Beach gives it if a beautiful bright blue colour and the water is really shallow. It is really nice to go there for a dip, I just couldn’t believe how beautiful the place was! Obviously, that all depends on whether or not the sun is out, but we got lucky! If you’re hungry, I’d suggest having brunch/lunch at the Beach House Providore, located just a few minutes from the beach.
Nambucca Heads is located 10 minutes south and despite the fact that it is a much bigger town with lots of apartment buildings and houses, it offers a similar backdrop with more vantage points to admire the view! Definitely go for a stroll along the V Wall, and then slowly make your way up to Captain Cook Lookout!
Hat Head to Crescent Head
Before heading back to Sydney, or wherever your next destination is, I’d highly recommend a stop in Hat Head National Park. This park is quite big so don’t underestimate the time it takes to get from one end to another. In the northern part, you’ll find Trial Bay Gaol, where there’s an old prison that you can visit. Right behind the prison is one of the most pristine beaches I have seen in NSW and the kangaroos were everywhere!
Next is Smoky Cape Lighthouse, also full of kangaroos, and the views from Captain Cook Lookout (yes, another lookout named after Captain Cook!) on North Smoky Beach are stunning!
Then if you go further south, you’ll end up in Hat Head, where you can go on the Korogoro Track for more beach views. Personally, we chose to just hang out at Connors Beach and take advantage of the low tide to cross to the other side of the little inlet!
If you’re looking for a unique place to spend the night, I’d recommend driving to Crescent Head and staying at The Med. This whole place reminded me a bit of Palm Springs in California. They have a stunning pink pool and a ton of cacti around the property.
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