Love Travelling Blog

Port Stephens is located an easy two and a half hour drive north of Sydney covering an area that’s even larger than Sydney Harbour. It’s surrounded by natural beauty, wildlife reserves, pristine beaches and the largest moving sand dunes in the Southern Hemisphere. For visitors preferring to use public transport, there are regular trains between Sydney and Newcastle with bus connections from there.

Nelson Bay

Nelson Bay is the main resort town of Port Stephens and makes for an ideal base for exploring the wider area. Boasting boutique shopping, an attractive marina and excellent dining options it’s impossible not to fall in love with the small town.

Attractions and Activities

Go Dolphin Watching

We took a Dolphin Discovery Cruise with Moonshadow RQC Cruises. Standard tickets AUD $44.29 (£22.00) for a 90 minute cruise. Boats depart from the marina which is just a few minutes walk from the town centre.

We sat out at the front of the boat and spotted dolphins even before we had left the quay. The morning was sunny with a gentle breeze making it perfect for a trip around the bay. There was an excellent live commentary throughout the cruise from which we learnt lots of interesting facts about the bay and its whales and dolphins. The whale season extends from May to October when thousands of humpback and southern right whales migrate along the east coast of Australia.  As we were visiting in November, it was a little too late to spot any but our disappointment didn’t last long with so many dolphin sightings in the harbour.

Between 90 and 120 bottlenose dolphins permanently call Port Stephens their home which means that visitors year round are almost guaranteed to see dolphins on one of the boat cruises around the bay. Moonshadow even offer a free return sail if you don’t actually observe any dolphins but hopefully you’ll see them first time around like us. We spotted many dolphins, some pods leaping through the air whilst others swam close up to the boat. The boat trip also offers the experience of riding through the water in the boom net at the rear of the boat which seemed popular with the children on board.

View koalas at the Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary

It’s just a ten minute drive to the Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary and a visit there should be on everyone’s itinerary. Standard admission AUD$28 (£14). The koala sanctuary is not a zoo but actually a hospital offering first class care to sick, injured and orphaned koalas. When recuperated, koalas are then released back into the wild as near as possible to where they were found. Those koalas who are thought unable to fend for themselves in the wild are kept at the sanctuary and cared for there. A visit offers a unique opportunity to see these beautiful creatures in their natural habitat.

We started our visit by following the Sanctuary Story Walk pathway which stretches for 250 metres telling the story of a koala and its habitat through artistic sculptural representations.

We then walked along the Sanctuary Skyway elevated viewing platform which offers a unique ‘tree top’ perspective into the koala’s natural habitat. Information boards introduce the koalas living in each section and the reason for them being moved to the sanctuary.

The state of the art on-site Koala Hospital includes intensive care units, a treatment clinic and rehabilitation yards, providing crucial care for sick and injured wild koalas from the greater Port Stephens area. Visitors are able to take a look through the large koala viewing window into the clinical services area allowing observation of non-invasive treatment of koalas in the sanctuary’s care. No treatments were taking place during our visit but it was still interesting to view the high-tech resources available for treating sick koalas.

It’s also possible to stay overnight at the sanctuary both in either glamping pods or luxurious studios and lodges tucked away in the trees.

Guests then have the bonus of being able to observe morning feeding before the gates open to the public. This is something that we would love to do on a return visit to Port Stephens. Facilities also include a gift shop and cafe adjacent to the entrance desk.

Go sand boarding at Anna Bay with Sand Dune Safaris

The Worimi National Park is home to the largest moving sand dunes in the entire Southern Hemisphere, known as Stockton Sand Dunes. The dunes cover an area of approximately 32 square kilometres and are another must-see on any trip to Port Stephens. We left our hire car in a pay and display car park at Anna Bay, which is home to Birubi Beach at the northern end of the sand dunes.

Here we met Anna and Andrew from Sand Dune Safaris who took us out in their 4 wheel drive vehicle to a sand boarding area right in the heart of the dunes. Riding over the dunes was a little bumpy but great fun and it sort of felt as if we had been transported to the Sahara desert.

Anna demonstrated how to sandboard which is actually very similar to sledging except for a thinner board and sand instead of snow. Next it was time for us both to have a go. As it had been raining the sand was hard enabling the boards to run faster.

The bowl-shaped dune features both gentle slopes and one very steep slope. Needless to say we opted for the smaller ones. Depending on confidence and ability, it’s also possible to stand on the boards as well as sitting and sliding as we did.

After we’d enjoyed several runs down the slope, not to mention climbing back up again, we popped back in the car to enjoy a drive around the dunes to the beautiful Stockton Beach. It proved to be a good morning for birdwatching as we spotted two sea-eagles and several oystercatchers before returning to the car park. What a fun time we’d had, feeling the wind in our hair sliding down the sand dunes. A new experience for both of us.

We rounded off our visit with cappuccinos in the Crest Cafe which overlooks Birubi Beach and is just a short walk from the car park. It’s clearly a popular place for locals as the large cafe was ever so busy when we were there.

Learn about Aboriginal culture at the Murrock Cultural Centre

Another interesting place to visit whilst based in Port Stephens is the Murrook Cultural Centre located on Nelson Bay Road, close to Newcastle Airport. Entrance to the centre is free of charge.

The aim of the centre is to gather, sustain, protect and inform about Aboriginal culture with an emphasis on Worimi culture being the land and people of the Port Stephens area.

Visitors can take a self guided tour of the centre which comprises several galleries containing art work, photographs and stunning interactive displays. There’s also a gift shop, cafe and opportunities to book activities that include quad biking along the beach.

Walking Trails

With scenic headlands, picturesque coves and sandy beaches enjoy the sea breeze along these stunning trails:

Gan Gan Lookout

Enjoy the spectacular views of beautiful Port Stephens and beyond from Gan Gan Hill Lookout located on Lily Hill Road which is one of the highest points in the area and just off the main road down into Nelson Bay.

The short walk to the lookout is along a flat concrete path and then up to a viewing platform which takes in the colourful and scenic views over the bays of Port Stephens. Unfortunately it began raining just as we arrived but the views were still reasonably good.

Tomaree Coastal Walk

Take the invigorating short walk to the summit of Tomaree Head, 161 metres above the Port Stephens entrance.

The 2.2km return trail offers the iconic Port Stephens view over Fingal Spit, and  Shoal Bay. Mount Tomaree rises incredibly out of the ocean, separating Shoal Bay from the open waters of the Tasman Sea forming a natural entrance to the Port Stephens Harbour.

Stay, Wine and Dine:

Port Stephens benefits from a good selection of accommodation, restaurants and cafes to suit all tastes and budgets. Below are my suggestions:

Stay:

We opted to stay at the Hotel Nelson which is conveniently located just a three minute walk from the marina.

This boutique hotel features attractively styled suites with balconies and kitchenettes. Facilities include an outdoor pool, large car park and the ‘Little Nel’ restaurant.

Dining:

Magnolia by the Bay

An attractive cafe with a large outdoor terrace overlooking the bay open for breakfast and lunch. The cafe is just steps away from the Moonshadow quay and is where we enjoyed a light lunch of garlic prawns on sourdough and a chicken salad after our morning dolphin cruise. Magnolia by the Bay.

Mavericks on the Bay

As the name suggests, this popular restaurant overlooks Nelson Bay and is the ideal spot for an evening drink. Mavericks specialises in locally caught fish and our pan fried barramundi fillets tasted very fresh and flavoursome. It was also impossible to resist the home baked cheesecake with salted caramel ice cream which was the perfect way to end our meal. Mavericks on the Bay.

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Our visit to Port Stephens was supported by the Port Stephens Tourist Board and as always, all views and opinions are entirely my own.