A beachside holiday park close to Sydney

Two hours drive from Sydney and half an hour’s drive from the Newcastle CBD in NSW, NRMA Stockton Beach Holiday Park is a pristine beachfront holiday park located in the peaceful seaside suburb of Stockton. The only Newcastle suburb situated on the north side of the Hunter River, Stockton is just a ten-minute ferry ride away from the Newcastle city centre.

We spent ten fun-filled days staying at this beautiful seaside holiday park and found it wasn’t nearly enough time to soak up all the fun, excitement and adventure on offer at such a great location!

Stockton Beach Holiday Park Accommodation Options

NRMA Stockton Beach Holiday Park has several different types of accommodation options. There are various villas and cabins, plus an abundance of caravan and camping sites to choose from – and dog-friendly sites!

Both powered and unpowered sites are available, including luxurious ensuite sites, concrete slab, mesh and grass site options.

Watch the video – take a look around our ensuite site

Stockton Beach

One of the biggest advantages of staying at NRMA Stockton Beach is its direct access to the gorgeous Stockton Beach itself, a stunning white sandy beach which stretches for miles up to the famous Stockton Sand Dunes.

Stockton Beach is a surf and swimming beach, and has patrolled swimming flag areas in the Summer months. It’s also perfect for leisurely seafront walks, shell hunting and exploring.

We found that we spent a lot of our stay at NRMA Stockton Beach either at the beach, or taking walks along the fantastic Stockton Breakwall.

The Stockton Beach Breakwall

Accessing the beautiful Stockton Beach Breakwall is as simple as walking out of the holiday park and onto it! The Stockton Break wall serves as one side of the shipping entrance to Newcastle Harbour Port, and is located opposite the famous Nobbys Lighthouse and Breakwall. This makes it the perfect viewpoint to ship-watch the massive cargo ships and their attendant tug boats cruising back and forth into the Hunter River.

The Stockton Shipwreck Walk

The Breakwall was constructed incorporating historic shipwrecks into its stonework, and plays host to the exciting Shipwreck Walk – a fascinating trail taking in the locations, names and histories of the many shipwrecks used. You can even view an actual protruding shipwreck!

Many recreational fishermen and women can be found situated along its walls too, as can a few cute cat residents who appear to live there quite happily!

No time to read? Watch our NRMA Stockton Beach Holiday Park Youtube video

NRMA Stockton Beach playgrounds & places to play

NRMA Stockton Beach features a large on-site recreation room featuring a pool table, arcade games and a TV lounge area.

There are two on-site playgrounds for the little ones with climbing frames, swings and slide.

Paved, 10kmph speed-limited roads mean kids can ride their bikes and scooters to their heart’s content.

Griffith Park adventure playground & café

For even more fun there’s a huge adventure playground and skate park.

The riverfront Griffith Park is a few minutes walk from the NRMA Stockton Beach Holiday Park and features a nautically themed playground with giant ropes, big slides, a zip line, and the Whispers On The Wharf café.

NRMA Stockton Beach Caravan Park amenities & facilities

Friendly staff, landscaped gardens and high quality maintenance are a big focus of this beautiful holiday park.

Toilets and showers are kept spotlessly clean, as are the separate parent rooms and guest laundries. All have key-coded entry for security.

A huge indoor camp kitchen

A large stainless steel indoor camp kitchen is fitted out with everything needed for all your camp meal preparation needs. Appliances in the camp kitchen include large refrigerators and freezers, stoves and microwaves.

Ample cafe-style seating inside and out is available in and around the camp kitchen and games room building.

A holiday park kiosk

Park Reception also doubles as a convenient kiosk where guests can pick up the essentials, including fishing bait.

Convenient rubbish facilities & dump points

The park also offers multiple rubbish stations, and toilet cassette and porta potti dump points.

A dog friendly caravan park

Dogs are welcome at NRMA Stockton Beach Holiday Park outside of peak holiday periods, so there’s no need to leave your pet at home! The caravan park offers pet-friendly caravanning and camping sites.

Dogs can be walked within the holiday park on a leash, along the Breakwall and are also welcome at Lexie’s On The Beach cafe next door.

A lovely dog-friendly beach can be found at the Breakwall end of the holiday park, and the surrounding area offers even more dog beaches.

There are some pet exclusion times during peak booking periods at Stockton Beach Caravan Park such as school holidays, so you’ll need to book your stay directly with the holiday park by phone.

Things to see in the Stockton Beach area

Stockton Beach makes an excellent Sydney family holiday destination. Although Stockton Beach offers all the charms of a seaside village, it’s just a short hop away from the bustling city of Newcastle. So as well having a wonderful family beachside holiday, there are also lots of fun activities and outings to explore in the local area!

A quick drive or leisurely walk down the road will bring you to the Stockton Ferry Wharf. Here you can hop on one of the frequent commuter ferries for a picturesque ten minute ride over to the feature-packed city of Newcastle.

Home to a huge range of tourist attractions including the historic Fort Scratchley, Newcastle features Nobby’s Lighthouse, surf beaches and swimming baths, the Newcastle Museum, city shops, shopping malls, restaurants and cafes.

Other nearby tourist attractions include various 4WD sand dune companies, Fighterworld Aviation MuseumFighterworld Aviation Museum where you can watch the latest airforce jets flying on weekdays (15 minutes drive) and Irukandji Shark and Ray Encounters where you can feed and snorkel with stingrays and sharks (30 minutes drive).

Stockton services

The suburb of Stockton has a local clubs, pubs and a stret shopping centre with small shops, takeaways and an IGL supermarket. There are sports grounds and a public swimming pool.

Lexie’s On The Beach café

Lexie’s On The Beach café adjoins the holiday park and is open 7 days a week, making it the perfect spot to grab a morning coffee or delicious lunch with a lovely beachfront view. The café offers both indoor and outdoor dining and a great menu. There’s a kid’s menu, colouring books and the family dog is welcome too – all with that famous Stockton Beach view!

How to book your NRMA holiday parks holiday

NRMA Stockton Beach Holiday Park has all you need for the perfect family vacation to enjoy together – it’s family holidays made easy!

Find out more or book your accommodation for NRMA Stockton Beach Holiday Park at the official website here.

For more mid-north NSW coast NRMA holiday park reviews, check our NRMA Holiday Parks list

How to get to NRMA Stockton Beach Caravan Park

All information is correct as at June 2021 – please check the above website link for relevant, up to date information and accommodation prices.

The Let’s go Mum family are partnering with NRMA Holiday Parks and other activity providers in this blog, however all opinions remain firmly our own.

Like this blog? Pinterest pin it!

Have you ever visited Stockton Beach? Share your favourite activities in the comments section below!

The post NRMA Stockton Beach Holiday & Caravan Park review appeared first on Let's go Mum.

NRMA Port Macquarie Breakwall Holiday Park is a stunning waterfront park perfectly located in Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia. We spent ten fun-packed days enjoying all the delights this beautiful park has to offer.

When you choose to stay at NRMA Port Macquarie Holiday Park, you’ll find yourself holidaying in the midst of a pristine park, beautifully run by its friendly staff – a warm welcome from Dawn the park manager is waiting for you at reception!

You simply can’t beat the Port Macquarie location of this holiday park. Bordering the park is the Port Macquarie Breakwall – a tourist attraction in its own right. At one end of the Breakwall you’ll find the beautiful Port Macquarie Town Beach. At the other end, the Port Macquarie town centre for shopping and restaurants. This park truly enjoys the best of both worlds!

The Port Macquarie Breakwall

The Port Macquarie Breakwall is situated alongside the picturesque Hastings River, a hub of fun water activities and beautiful wildlife.

Fish jump, sting rays fly and dolphins play in the river alongside the Breakwall. There are all sorts of sea birds to see. The fruit bats flying en-masse across the sunset skies in an astonishing sight.

Tourist boats cruise about, taking in the views. A sea plane taking off and coming in to land is a common sight on weekends. Jet-skiers occasionally race alongside the Breakwall too.

The Breakwall is probably most famous for its decoratively painted rocks – it’s a lot of fun to wander along the Port Macquarie Breakwall and read them all!

You’ll find people walking, fishing and sightseeing. This is a popular place to be for good reason – it’s an absolutely stunning location – and it’s all only steps away from your caravan, cabin or tent!

A beautiful surf beach next door

Follow the Breakwall walk to the Port Macquarie Town Beach, a beautiful sandy beach fringed with even more places to stroll, a cafe, skate park and an exciting new adventure playground under construction.

Stroll to the Port Macquarie shops and restaurants

Walk out of the holiday park on the town side and you’ll find yourself passing the on-site Little Shack cafe – the perfect spot to take in the waterfront views anytime.

Continue on and you’ll find yourself walking (or scooting, or skate boarding) on a wide, modern concrete boardwalk alongside the Hastings River. This will lead you to the Port Macquarie town centre, with its elegant shopping centres, shops and a plethora of fabulous cafes and restaurants.

There are just so many lovely ways to pass your holiday days at NRMA Port Macquarie Holiday Park!

Activities and school holidays entertainment

From a sparkling blue swimming pool, to a school holidays activity program and fun children’s playground, NRMA Port Macquarie Breakwall will keep both kids and their parents happy with its great range of family fun!

A beautiful swimming pool

A beautiful blue swimming pool and its smaller mini-pool is an entertaining park feature, magically blue-lit at night. The pool is surrounded with umbrellas and comfortable lounges.

It’s perfectly set up for guests to settle down, socialise with friends, take a swim or read a book. This is a great place to spend some relaxing holiday time.

Playgrounds & places to play

There no shortage of fun for the kids at Port Macquarie Breakwall!

Along the Breakwall and also within the holiday park, paved roads mean kids (wearing the appropriate helmets of course) can ride their skateboards, scooters and bicycles to their heart’s content. The park’s tarred roads have a reassuringly low speed limit and, as always, parental supervision is required.

As mentioned, down the Breakwall path, at the other end of the caravan park at the beach you’ll find a brand new Council adventure playground under construction, and also a large skate park.

There’s a fun children’s playground located in the centre of the holiday park with swings and dual slippery dips. There’s also a cute little tarred matchbox car track!

A school holidays kids club

Located next to the camp kitchen and park swimming pool you’ll find the kid’s activities room. The kid’s activities room operates during school holidays with fun to keep the children entertained.

No time to read? Watch our NRMA Port Macquarie Holiday Park Youtube video

A pet friendly caravan park

Dogs are welcome at NRMA Port Maquarie Park outside of peak holiday periods, so there’s no need to leave your pets at home! The park offers pet-friendly cabins, tent sites and caravan sites. We saw a couple of Great Danes at one waterfront cabin!

Dogs can be walked within the holiday park on a leash, along the Breakwall and at several dog-friendly beaches in the area. Many local cafes with outdoor dining are dog-friendly too, such as the on-site Little Shack cafe.

Our favourite Port Maquarie dog beach (and there are several!) was Nobbys Beach, a beautiful sandy beach with rocky outcrops along it, just five minute drive along the coast road from the caravan park.

There are some pet exclusion times during peak booking periods at Port Maquarie Breakwall, such as school holidays, so you’ll need to book your stay directly with the holiday park by phone directly.

The Little Shack waterfront café

The Little Shack is a waterfront outdoor café restaurant and bar located at the NRMA Port Macquarie caravan park. In the mornings this is the place to get your much-needed barista coffee, and in the evenings on the weekend it’s the home of delicious meals eaten al-fresco style at the outdoor tables.

We loved watching the fabulous orange sunsets and the amazing spectacle of thousands of flying fruit bats leaving their sanctuary in the twilight whilst we enjoyed our meal.

You can even take your dog with you to the café, as it’s dog-friendly!

There are many more excellent restaurants and cafes all just a short stroll down the waterfront boardwalk from NRMA Port Macquarie.

Other Accommodation Options

NRMA Port Macquarie Breakwall Holiday Park has many accommodation choices, including hillside elevated cabins and water front cabins, in addition to an abundance of caravanning and camping site options.

Powered and unpowered sites, concrete slab and grass sites are all available for your caravan, motorhome or tent for you to book your next holiday.

NRMA Port Macquarie amenities & facilities

This holiday park prides itself on perfection – attentive staff, landscaped gardens and faultless maintenance.

This theme carries over to the toilets and showers which are kept spotlessly clean, as are the separate parent rooms and holiday park laundries. All have key-coded entry for security.

A large indoor camp kitchen

There are several barbeques within the park, and an elegant indoor camp kitchen fitted out for all your camp meal preparation needs. Appliances in the camp kitchen include a large refrigerator, cooker and microwave.

Ample seating both inside and out is available in and around the camp kitchen area.

Convenient rubbish facilities & dump points

The park also offers multiple rubbish stations, and convenient toilet cassette and porta potty dump points.

The perfect Port Macquarie base

Located on NSW Mid North Coast, NRMA Port Macquarie Holiday Resort makes an excellent Brisbane and Sydney family holiday destination.

Things to see in the Port Maquarie area

The town of Port Maquarie is famous for its natural beauty, and offers miles of beautiful scenic drives featuring secluded cove beaches, quaint small towns and picturesque coastal walks. Fishing and watersports are popular pursuits along the Hastings River and surrounding waterways.

Nearby tourist attractions include local parks, surf beaches and a light house.

Town services

The town of Port Macquarie is modern and clean, with a large marina and paved riverfront areas. It is a major regional service centre, with numerous shopping malls, major supermarkets, medical services, petrol stations, takeaway food, chain fast food outlets and all classes of restaurants. There are large commercial outlets including hardware. caravan and camping stores, auto parts stores and mechanics.

How to book your NRMA holiday parks holiday

NRMA Port Macquarie Breakwall Holiday Park has all you need for the perfect family vacation to enjoy together – it’s family holidays made easy!

Find out more or book your accommodation for NRMA Port Macquarie Breakwall Holiday Park at the official website here.

For more mid-north NSW coast NRMA holiday park reviews, check our NRMA Holiday Parks list

How to get to Port Macquarie Breakwall Holiday & Caravan Park

All information is correct as at May 2021 – please check the above website link for relevant, up to date information and accommodation prices.

The Let’s go Mum family are partnering with NRMA Holiday Parks, however all opinions remain firmly our own.

Like this blog? Pinterest pin it!

Have you ever visited Port Macquarie? Share your favourite things to do in the comments section below!

The post NRMA Port Macquarie Breakwall Holiday & Caravan Park review appeared first on Let's go Mum.

NRMA South West Rocks Holiday Resort is a family-friendly holiday park with its own spectacular pirate ship waterpark located in South West Rocks, NSW, Australia. We spent ten fun-packed days at this holiday park enjoying all the family activities it had to offer.

When you choose to stay at NRMA South West Rocks Holiday Resort, you’ll find yourself holidaying in the midst of a beautiful, natural bush park land setting bursting with local wildlife.

Situated alongside a natural lagoon and Hat Head National Park, don’t be too surprised if you wake up to a kangaroo or two lazing outside of your door in the mornings! By the end of our stay we had become regular observers of our neighbourhood kangaroos, kookaburras and a pair of goannas!

A beautiful surf beach across the road

As if the amazing wildlife isn’t enough, you get a beach holiday too! Just across the road from NRMA South West Rocks you’ll find the beautiful, dog-friendly Trial Bay Beach which stretches from Trial Bay Gaol all the way around to the sleepy coastal township of South West Rocks. Swimming at the beach is a lot of fun, but one of the most exciting swimming options in the area is within the South West Rocks Holiday Resort itself – the pirate ship pool and waterpark, Shipwreck Island!

Resort fun activities and entertainment

From an amazing water play area, to a kids club, bouncing pillow and games arcade, NRMA South West Rocks will keep both kids and their parents happy with it’s great range of family fun!

Shipwreck Island Waterpark

Ahoy, me hearties! This fantastic resort swimming pool and waterpark is one of the main features of the holiday park. As far as holiday swimming pool areas go, this one is awfully hard to beat – because it has a full-sized pirate ship presiding over it!

Climb up to the skull waterfall cave, zoom down one of the three exciting water slides branching off of the ship’s full-size deck, swim in the large, waterfall surrounded resort swimming pool or dodge the massive dunking bucket downpour from it’s crows nest vantage point at the top of the pirate ship mast – your kids are never, ever going to want to leave Shipwreck Island!

There’s rigging to climb up the side of the boat if you don’t feel like walking up to the main deck, then choose your slide! A covered blue slide hurtles you down super-fast. Take the green slide for a more leisurely trip down, or you’ll need to be daring enough to walk the plank to ride the twisting sea-serpent slide down!

There’s fun for even the littlest first-mates on this pirate island, with a tiny slide for the little ones in its own pool area, in addition to the bigger ship slides. The fun is quite simply non-stop on Shipwreck Island!

No time to read? Watch our NRMA South West Rocks Holiday Resort Youtube video

The swimming pool and waterpark area is incredible, but there’s even more to do at this fun holiday park.

There’s a big jumping pillow and a children’s playground, both fully covered for the ultimate sunny or rainy day fun.

Next door you’ll find a mini golf course which you enter through a giant steel shark’s jaws!

A fun kid’s club operates on holidays and other allocated days with lots of fun organised activities.

Another popular activity in the park is the games arcade with several arcade games, a ping pong table, pool table, movie theatre and air hockey.

The roof-top half-court tennis court is another fun sport to play at NRMA South West Rocks – plus you get a great view of the park while you have a match! There’s also a volley ball net.

Don’t forget to take a turn around the park in a fun go cart! You can hire them from reception.

Oh, and don’t miss the gorgeous fairy garden that will have any little girl or boy swooning with delight, and makes for the cutest photos!

A dog friendly caravan park

Dogs are welcome at NRMA South West Rocks, so there’s no need to leave your best friend behind! There are pet-friendly cabins, tent sites, caravan sites and also dog-friendly ensuite sites! Dogs can be walked in the holiday park on a leash, and most of the beaches in the area – outside of the National Park – are dog-friendly, so you and your pooch will have a wonderful time together!

There are some pet exclusion times during peak booking periods such as school holidays, so you’ll need to book your stay directly with the holiday park by phone, rather than online.

A Holiday Park restaurant

The Full Circle eatery is an on site restaurant offering home cooked meals. It offers fare including some of the best fish and chips – plus burgers – in town! You’ll also find coffee, pastries and cake at this handy holiday park cafe – what more do you need on your next family holiday? The best part is no cooking – or washing up!

South West Rocks Caravan Park & Other Accommodation Options

With so many different accommodation options, your biggest problem may be choosing how to stay at NRMA South West Rocks Holiday Park!

All kinds of private villas, glamping safari tents, powered and unpowered sites for your caravan, motorhome or tent are all available for you to book for your holiday. Plus there are numerous ensuite sites available too.

NRMA South West Rocks Holiday Park facilities

This holiday park is serious about your entertainment and comfort no matter where you are in the park – even the ladies amenities plays relaxing music to you! The toilets and showers in the two main amenities blocks are spotlessly clean, as are the laundries.

There are several camp kitchens for all your camp meal preparation needs.

The park also offers multiple rubbish stations and a dump point to empty your porta pottie or toilet cassettes.

The perfect South West Rocks base

Located on NSW Mid North Coast, NRMA South West Rocks Holiday Resort makes both an excellent Brisbane and Sydney family holiday destination, at around five hours drive from both cities.

The town of South West Rocks is a charming coastal town with beach front walking paths, side creeks with bridges and town beaches. South West Rocks is well serviced with Coles and IGL supermarkets, a petrol station and local boutiques, takeaways and restaurants. The closest large service town is the inland town of Kempsey, 38kms away.

Things to see in the South West Rocks area

NRMA South West Rocks makes the perfect base to explore the many tourist attractions of the area. Local attractions include the historic Trial Bay Gaol which is located only five minutes up the road at Arakoon. There are several beautiful picnic areas dotted around the jail too, including little bay where you will find mobs of kangaroos just passing the time of day!

If you enjoy bushwalking, we hiked the beautiful Monument Walk loop which starts near the Trial Bay Gaol. Only 3 kms long, it does include some steep inclines and narrow, windy paths – but also takes in some incredible coastal views along the way plus some interesting historic features.

Ten minutes drive away is the remarkable Smoky Cape Lighthouse. This lighthouse is situated at the top of a hill with a steep walk up to it, however because of its commanding position it also offers some of the best views in the region. If you’re not able to make the climb there is still the spectacular Captain Cook lookout at its base to enjoy with its own picnic area.

Way down on the beaches below the lighthouse you’ll find the Smoky Cape Beach, a 4WD access beach that hosts sea bird and sea turtle rookeries.

The small town of Hat Head is a 25 minute drive away with more beautiful beaches and coastal walks.

How to book your NRMA holiday parks holiday

NRMA South West Rocks Holiday Resort has all you need for the perfect family vacation to enjoy together – it’s family holidays made easy!

For more of our NRMA holiday park reviews, check our NRMA Holiday Parks list

Find out more or book your accommodation for NRMA South West Rocks Holiday Resort at the official website here.

How to get there

All information is correct as at March 2021 – please check the above website link for relevant, up to date information and accommodation prices.

The Let’s go Mum family are partnering with NRMA Holiday Parks, however all opinions remain firmly our own.

Like this blog? Pinterest pin it!

Have you ever visited South West Rocks? Tell us your activity ideas for families in the comments section below!

The post NRMA South West Rocks Holiday Park review appeared first on Let's go Mum.

NRMA Darlington Beach Holiday Resort is a beautiful holiday park located half an hour from Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia.

We spent 10 wonderful days at Darlington Beach, a stunning eucalypt-studded holiday park bursting with wildlife, and fringed with a gorgeous sandy beach stretching for miles in either direction. Plus there’s more holiday fun, adventure and activities at this Coffs Harbour caravan park than you can poke a stick at!

A beautiful surf beach just down the path

The Arrawarra-Corindi Beach offers everything you could want from a coastal holiday. Swimming, surfing and fishing – even the family dog is allowed off-leash on the beach! In just a couple of minutes stroll you’re on the gorgeous white sandy beach and in holiday-relax mode whilst the children are shell-collecting and sand-castle building to their hearts content.

Kangaroos live at this holiday park

A big feature of Darling Beach holiday park is its local inhabitants – Kangaroos roam the park at will, peacefully co-existing with the park guests. It’s not unusual to wake up to a kangaroo gently nosing around under your caravan awning, or a mother with her joey still in the pouch grazing just outside. Kangaroos eat, sleep and play amongst the caravans and tents – watching them became our new favourite hobby! It’s like living in a wonderful wildlife documentary. (Check out our Let’s Go Mum Youtube Darlington Beach review video to see just how cute these new neighbours can be on your next family holiday!)

No time to read? Watch our NRMA Darlington Beach Holiday Resort Youtube video

NRMA Darlington Beach features and activities

Resort fun activities and entertainment

There are all kinds of holiday entertainments, activities and attractions to keep the family happy at Darlington Beach Holiday Park. From the most energetic kids and adults, to parents who may just prefer to relax and laze the days away – there’s something to keep everyone happy at Darlington Beach!

The central hub of Darlington Beach is a complex of food, fun and entertainment.

Two resort swimming pools

The swimming pools and water park at Darlington Beach are located next to each other, however a pool fence separates the two. This means parents can know that whilst watching their little ones playing in the water park, they aren’t going to suddenly run off towards the swimming pool area!

The best thing about having two large water play and swim areas in close proximity is that the big kids can play all day between the two areas and never get bored!

The two stunning resort swimming pools are separated by a bridge crossing, and feature twin waterslides in one large pool and a warm baby pool branching off the other. There is also a separate hot spa close by.

An exciting new waterpark

Darlington Beach already has so much for families to do together, but now