August 13, 2020December 23, 2020

New South Wales Road Trip – Wine, Whales, & Stand-up Paddleboarding

Long story short, we were planning to be in Lady Elliot in August. A week before we were due to depart, Covid cases in New South Wales skyrocketed (to 10 new cases per day), and Queensland closed their border. So in true 2020 spirit, we had to scrap everything and plan something new in our home state with little notice.

The Hunter

We’d lived in Sydney for over three years and had not yet been to the Hunter Valley, a wine region about two hour north of Sydney. There weren’t a lot of options for accommodations, given most of Sydney had the same idea that we did. We ended up booking a two bedroom cottage at Cam Way Estate and it turned out to be great! It was walking distance to Polkolbin Village and the property was hopping with kangaroos.

As with the accommodations, we struggled to find restaurants with availability, because all were operating at reduced capacity, and half of Sydney was in town. We were able to get a booking at Blaxland Inn (very good), and Baume (also very good, and does takeaway).

We did a full-day wine tour with Two Fat Blokes, and visited Worthingtons, Tinklers, Saddler’s Creek, Glandore, and Ironbark Hill. The great thing about this tour was that several of the stops included pairings (cheese and chocolate), and there was also a nice lunch.

We also spent one day exploring by E-bikes. This area is fairly spread out, and hilly in parts, so e-bikes were absolutely key (as are bookings at cellar doors).

After a few days, we decided to head North and wound up in Coffs Harbour.

Coffs Harbour

Coffs Harbour is about four hours north of the Hunter Valley. We chose to stop here because August is prime whale watching season.

We stayed at the Big 4 Holiday Park, because it was the only place we could find with such short notice. The location was great, with a shortcut to the beach and quick walk to the jetty foreshore. Our “ocean villa” was clean and brand new (photo from Big 4 website).

We went on a whale watching trip with Whale Watch Experience, and found whales within 15 minutes of leaving the harbour. The whales were so curious and stayed right at the boat until it was time for us to head back. They were actually too close to the boat for Andy’s 200mm lens.

After a few days, we decided to head as far north as we could go.

Brunswick Heads

Brunswick Heads is about two and a half hours north of Coff’s Harbour, and is about 20 mins north of Byron Bay. We’d originally hoped to go to Byron, however the entire town was booked out with people fleeing Sydney and what seemed like half of the Hollywood film industry. We stayed in an adorable cottage that we found on AirBNB. It was walking distance to shops and cafes, and had a secure yard where we could store our paddleboards. There was also a somewhat friendly kookaburra who visited in the afternoons.

We went whale watching twice while in Brunswick Heads, once with Blue Bay, and once with Out of the Blue, which is located in nearby Ballina. As with the trip in Coff’s Harbour, the whales were super curious and often so close that our long lenses were useless.