Hastings Point Holiday Village - www.aroundoz.8m.com

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Hastings Point Far North Coast NSW

If you hate the glitz of the Gold Coast then you will absolutely love the almost sleepy area just south of the Queensland border known as the Tweed Coast it is truly glorious. Being based in Brisbane this area really appeals to us as it is only a bit over 100kms down easily the best eight lane motorway in Australia, the M1. The choice of caravan parks is practically endless with some in absolutely idyllic settings by river or sea, BUT if you have a dog it is extremely limited - we could find only three. The Hastings Point Holiday Village takes dogs and it has the most wonderful beach, and this is a pretty good reason to stay there. The park is on the main road a bit under a kilometer south of the village of Hastings Point on the coast road.

Looking up from the lake - lots of shade

The powered site area - great backdrop

So a bit about the park. Despite the very misleading name, the Holiday Village bit that is, it is basically a park for permanents and is quite old and in need of some TLC in some areas - a bit more on that later. Most of the waterfront sites have permanent's cottages on them - a shame as these would be much sought after tourist sites. There are nine van sites with annex pads and a further 12 sites on slightly sloping grass. None have any shade whatsoever, and the grass is a bit sparse on some sites. This will change soon though as lots of trees have been planted. All van sites have power, water and sullage. Be careful of the taps though as just about all need repair. Sites 8 to 12 are drive through and you can stay hitched, but watch out though as in busy holiday times they sometimes squeeze more in. Avoid sites 1 to 4 as these are very small. There are bright lights on sites 1 and 12 so avoid these if you like looking at the stars, BUT they do turn off around midnight. The hilly backdrop is most attractive and gives a lovely country feel.

Looking towards the lake - lots of shade

This guy brought his own "house"

The park is blissfully quiet at night and road noise is really minimal, as the park is set well back from the road. You can't see the ocean, but you can certainly hear it at night which is really lovely. The delightful very long beach is just a quick 5 minute stroll over the busy road. The rear of the park is on the shores of Cudgera Creek and you can plonk a tent on the waters edge, but water views overall are very limited. Grass cover in the tent area is very lush and there is very good shade. Sadly management wont allow caravans or camper vans in this area, as they point out that it is leased from council for tents only! However, this all seems to depend on who is on the front desk, as we have camped there in the van many times when the young guy is in charge as long as we park near a concrete pad! The rear of the park gives extensive lovely bush views, but is let down badly if you look in the direction of the beach, by piles of rubbish, unmown areas and very old caravans behind the motel on the same property. This is one of our pet hates! It would be ever so easy to plant a line of bamboo to hide this eyesore and it would be very cheap.

The powered area on a quiet Monday morning

Delightful lakeside tent sites

Management tend to be a little on the unfriendly side. At check in you are told nothing about the area, and quite frankly it appears to us at least that they couldn't care less whether you book in or not. The young chap is sometimes quite rude. We have visited many times and sadly service wise it is deteriorating further. The latest 2001 caper is the elimination of credit cards and EFTPOS due to "high bank fees". Wait there's more! The office now closes for lunch from 12 till 2PM! Yes folks the park is under management. Attention to basics is a trifle sad - campers have no hot water in the camp kitchen and the gas ring has now been completely removed so there is no way to boil water, if you are travelling light with no stove, as many overseas visitors do. There is no community fridge either. On most of our visits the 20 cents in the slot electric BBQ hasn't been working. The camp kitchen itself is brick, but has never been completely finished. With a tiny bit of work it could be turned into a first class facility. The park presents very badly from the street. For starters the garbage bins are all located right on the fence line. The pool fence is mostly unpainted fibro and looks awful. There are two very old vans for sale displayed right behind the front fence. Why do we mention all this? Hopefully the owner may realise the business he is missing out on and perhaps rev up the managers a wee bit. In our case we would visit monthly if a few simple problems were addressed that would make our stay more pleasurable. Sorry for all these negatives but they are all very real problems. On the plus side the office is very neat and clean and has lots of touristy information that is well displayed. They produce a nifty internal newsletter called "The Village Voice". This is aimed solely at the permanents - one just won $250,000.00 on a scratch it! Visitor parking is excellent, but if you have a van and decide not to check in you have to back out. The overall cleanliness of the grounds is good and bins are emptied daily.

This cottage backs onto the lake

Very neat permanents cottage

There is a nice bitumen tennis court. A good idea is the booking board outside the office. There is a small swimming pool in the adjacent motel. Natural shade is very light on, but there is a small shade sail and a small covered area with a few chairs. Landscaping is sadly totally non-existent. It would be so easy to fix this up as there is loads of space and the area is visible from the street. In our humble opinion too much money has been spent on the ineffective posh front fence instead of planting trees at less cost.

TV reception is absolutely outstanding with a good aerial aimed south, or you can just with rabbit ears get an acceptable picture. There is a fantastic ABC station called Coast FM. They call themselves Adult Music. Great to hear modern middle of the road music. Find them at 91.7 It works right up to Brisbane and west to Aratula, but not down to Brunswick Heads. Telstra CDMA is only marginal, but works on the beach and GMS works perfectly. There is a Gold payphone outside the office. The nearest Telstra phone is outside the post office at Hastings Point village. Water is good and we drink it with zero tummy troubles.

Looking north on the beach

A storm approaching from the south

There is an old boom gate operated by inserting a plastic key. Fairly useless really as it offers no security, as access can easily be gained simply by straddling small rocks in any high clearance vehicle or turning right at the front entry! Gents and Ladies amenities have separate keys. Deposit is $10 and the office opens at 8:00AM.

Reserve at Hastings Point - low tide!

The best fish and chips in the area!

The amenities are all full brick and tile, very well built, but only just adequate due to a lack of maintenance. All doors need attention and the showers have very few or no hooks, no foot stools or shelves and not all door locks work. The doors are just ordinary masonite internal house doors - totally unsuitable for showers. This is a shame as the elderly cleaning couple do a fantastically marvellous job of keeping the facilities very clean. There is almost zero mould at all in the showers and no cobwebs inside - great job guys. Ventilation is excellent and the brickwork is as good as the day it was laid. All partitions are top quality Terrazzo in very good condition. The doors just kill the place stone dead! No soap dispenser or hand dryer, but there is a cold shower just outside, but no foot bath - remember we are near the beach here, so sand in drains is a big problem. Hot water is great, but if you have children, take care as it is scaldingly hot. It is never crowded as most permanents are connected to the sewer. Avoid showering at night in summer as the mozzies are awful. Queenslanders visiting in summer should remember the daylight saving trap, as you can easily find the amenities closed for cleaning - 10AM to 11AM. There is a notice warning one of this. Us oldies easily get caught! There are other toilets near the swimming pool, but sadly no signs. When we checked these were padlocked. So you can "get caught" during cleaning times!

Looking south from the headland reserve

Looking out to sea from the headland

The laundry is open all hours and has good washing machines at a reasonable $2.00, but a large gas dryer that only goes for 3 minutes on a 20 cent coin, and yes you can only put one in at a time! An ancient ironing board, but no iron. There is however free power for ironing. There are four excellent deep stainless steel tubs with hot water. Apart from the dryer the laundry area is first class. Lines however are limited, but there are no rules on putting up your own. Be aware though - on one visit a young lass had all her towels stolen from the community lines.

The well built amenities building

The headland reserve at Hastings Point

The park specialises in group functions and there is a lot of cabins used for this purpose. The otherwise excellent cabin area is spoilt by an almost total lack of trees. On the other hand several long term permanents have done an absolutely fantastic job of beautifying their cabins showing just what can be done with a bit of effort Most permanents are well away from the tourist section which is great for we tourists. We found the permanents to be a wonderfully quiet bunch and quite friendly and helpful. Overall the park layout is quite good.

Remember you are adjacent to wetlands, so sandflies are a real problem on wind free days. Flies are average, but bad if you try an open air BBQ. Mossies are average and March flies seem to give the place a miss. The dog rules are few - on lead and clean up any mess. Most tourists have dogs and just about all are well behaved. We saw no doggy doo anywhere. In quiet times management don't seem to mind your dog being off lead if controlled - great stuff! During our last stay we found hundreds of dead Shearwaters - Mutton Birds - dead on the beach. This was rather sad. We checked with National Parks and Wildlife and were told that food was scarce in the north and many birds just didn't have enough strength to even drink on arrival in Australia after their journey from Japan.

An unlucky Shearwater

The headland with a storm approaching

Bike riding in this area is absolutely fantastic with the recent completion of an excellent wide concrete track which stretches from Pottsville South all the way up to Cabarita. Beach walking is wonderful with lovely hard sand from mid tide, and you can walk all day if you wish, way, way, way down the coast. Very few shells on any beach, but lots of rocks if you are into lapidary. A nice walk is to pop down to Pottsville and visit the Sunday Markets held on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month. Allow at least two hours. Walking north to Cabarita is also rather nice particularly the boardwalk on the headland.

Swimming on the surf beach is not a good idea as there are so many gutters. The nearest patrolled beach is at Cabarita and parking and picnic facilities are excellent, BUT if towing, don't attempt to go into the parking area of a weekend as there is no turning area. Less than half a kilometer north is excellent estuary swimming at Hastings Point bridge on Cudgera Creek. Dogs are only allowed on the sandy beach near the bridge. This is all clearly signposted. Going south three kilometers there is a beautiful sandy still water beach at Pottsville South. We absolutely adore this tranquil spot. The reserve there is also a great area to spend the day in your caravan/camper, with excellent shade, toilets, water and good shops just across the road. Dogs are allowed, but not on the estuary beach. Another good day spot is on the headland at Hastings Point. The views here are absolutely spectacular and the ferocity of the ocean is something to behold on windy days. Please don't attempt to put your A-frame camper up in extremely windy conditions as you can get into all sorts of trouble. Our Golden Rule is if you arrive at a windy spot and the fridge keeps blowing out, or you can feel the wind coming from under the fridge, move pronto!

Looking south at another storm!

The wonderful Pottsville Markets

Shopping wise you don't have to travel very far. There is a large Shell servo with a general store right next door with the added bonus that the fuel price is usually the same as Brisbane. A bit on the grotty side though for take away food - even the tables outside are pretty iffy. A better bet within easy walking distance is back in Hastings Point at the general store/Post Office. This is spotless and fruit is cheaper than Tweed Heads - a lovely family business. We absolutely recommend the fish and chips. Crossing the bridge brings up the Ampol servo with quite a nice shop with a small restaurant open for breakfast. This is part of the Five Star caravan park North Star Holiday Resort. We have stayed there in cabins and were VERY disappointed, but that's another story. Travelling another 2kms north gets you to Cabarita Beach with a choice of two hot bread bakeries and a good 727 and fruit shop. The bakery at Pottsville by the way is a "pretend" bakery and nothing is made on the premises. The fish and chips at Pottsville aren't too crash hot either. So, if you want good take-away - head north not south!

Looking south from the headland

Hastings Point Headland - sometimes windy

If you haven't got a dog the best park in the area is without doubt Pottsville South. One can throw a line in the estuary from the door of your van! No site is more than three sites from the beach - glorious park and one of our favourites. Looking for an excuse to visit? The wonderful markets are on the first and third Sunday of the month just across the road. A park review is in the pipeline!

Great day use spot - no overnight camping

The fantastic boardwalk at Cabarita Beach

The Hastings Point park is suitable for caravan club get togethers and has a spacious dining room albeit a little old. We couldn't find anything on the Internet about Hastings Point Holiday Village other than free listings which give you no more info than the phone book. It is mentioned in "Travelling with Pets" and gets a brief mention in "Camping in NSW" by Martin Bowerman. For more info contact the park direct on (02) 6676 1396 or write to Hastings Point Holiday Village, Coast Road, NSW. The park's own brochure does not do this beautiful area justice and is way out of date, so please go by our photos!

You can free camp in this area, but we don't want to stir up the local council, so ask you to send an email if you would like details. You can stay in "our" spot overnight then move to any of the headlands etc. for the day. Works great! We met a couple of grey nomads at Pottsville in a Coaster conversion, who put us onto this spot. They had been on the road two months and not stayed in one caravan park. Oh yes - they had only travelled 250 kms in all that time, so petrol costs were way down as well! They were even running a freezer off their solar.

Caravan park entrance

Great day spot at the foreshore park at Pottsville

Costs for a powered site in February 2001 was $18.50 and unpowered $16.50. Watch out though as the cost for an extra person is an horrific $10.00 REGARDLESS whether it is powered or not! Finding Hastings Point is not hard, BUT there are some traps when towing. From the south you don't want to get onto the Burringbar Range as this is the blackest spot in the area. This is currently being worked on with a huge diversion underway. Coming from Ballina turn right at the tiny turnoff to Wooyung. This is just over a crest and you immediately cross a one lane bridge. The turn off is coming up once you pass The Humble Pie Shop on your left. Just follow this road to the sea and you will eventually get to Hastings Point. The park is on the left just past the only Shell service station. Coming from Brisbane stay on the Pacific Highway until you reach the big bridge at Banora Point. Take the SECOND exit - marked TWEED COAST in BROWN. Just follow your nose to Hastings Point. The park is on the right 1 km past the village PO. The other routes into Hastings Point are NOT safe caravan roads. We used the RACQ Gold Coast, Northern Rivers map.

So Hastings Point Holiday Village does not get our 100% whole hearted recommendation, but is OK for overnight stops and dog owners certainly appreciate puppies being made welcome, and because of this we will return many times in the future. We tend to just sleep there and drag the van to a nearby coastal reserve such as the Hastings Point Headland, or Pottsville just 3 kms down the coast, or our favourite day use area, Rotary Park just south of Kingscliff. Watch for a story on this spot in a series coming up called what else but Best Smoko Spots in Australia.

Bob and Chrissy Eustace

Click on the compass for a map of the immediate area