![]() About the area: Hemmed in by majestic mountains forged from ancient volcanoes on one side, and the Pacific Ocean on the other, the long but relatively narrow coastal strip between the port city of Newcastle north of Sydney and the Gold Coast in South East Queensland has rightly been called the Holiday Coast. For those who want to laze around and unwind under the summer sun. this is the perfect destination. The further north one travels, the more tropical everthing becomes.
The North Coast of NSW has a seemingly endless ribbon of beaches - some busy with holidaymakers, other without another soul in sight - offering surfing, whale-watching, frolicking dolphins and flocks of seabirds. In between the beaches are lakes and chains of ocean lagoons that are ideal for fishing and boating, and coastal hills and mountains with headlands offering panoramic views up and down the coast.
Up in the Great Dividing Range behind the coastal plains there are more than 50 national parks, from Mt. Warning in the north (where the sun first hits the Australian mainland each day) to wildlife-rich Barrington Tops in the south. Walking tracks lead through rainforests to mountain-top lookouts, and to waterfalls fed by crystal clear streams.
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| Cape Byron Lighthouse |
Nambucca Heads |
Mt Warning |
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National Parks
Natural Attractions
Waterfalls
- Bellingen: Newell Falls; Sherrard Falls
- Gloucester: Barrington Tops National Park; Woko National Park; Gloucester Falls
- Grafton: Gibraltar Range Nat. Park (Dandahra Falls; Barra Nula Cascades, the Atrichornis and Murrumbooee Cascades; Boundary Falls; Lyrebird Falls)
- Kyogle: Culmaran Creek Falls; Collins Creek Falls
- Taree: Waitui Falls
- Wingham: Ellenborough Falls (160 metre drop)
Historic Places
Misc. Places of Interest
- Ballina: The Big Prawn; Thursday Tea Tree Plantation; Lennox Head Aboriginal bora ring
- Buladelah: 'Grandis', a huge, 400-year-old flooded gum (Eucalyptus grandis) which, at a height of 76 metres, is said to be the tallest tree in NSW; Wootton Historical Railway Walk
- Casino: Casino Mini Railway; New Italy Museum; Dryaaba Aboriginal Rock Carvings; Edinburgh Castle (The Bulls Head) Aboriginal sacred site
- Coffs Harbour: The Big Banana; The North Coast Regional Botanic Garden; Pet Porpoise Pool; The Clog Barn (a miniature Dutch village); Coffs Harbour Zoo (14 km north)
- Crescent Head: Aboriginal fish trap (Barries Beach), said to be one of only three now left on the mid-north coast, shell middens, burial sites, open campsites, a large stone tool working site and a quarry for stone tool production.
- Forster/Tuncurry: Curtis Collection of Vintage Cars
- Gladstone: Old Lodge Pottery
- Gloucester: Mountain Maid Goldmine (operated 1876 to 1979, underground tours, restored equipment, rainforest walks etc.)
- Grafton: Seelands area Aboriginal habitation sites (hunting, fishing, occupation) with deposits and rock engravings; Copmanhurst Aboriginal rock shelter; Qwyariga area Aboriginal stone arrangements (possible initiation site)
- Kempsey: Akubra hat factory; Apex Park Historical Lookout (the site of Enoch Rudder's original homestead); Bellbrook Aboriginal initiation area (Thungutti tribe); Mt. Anderson Aboriginal site (Thungutti tribe); Stuart Point Aboriginal shell midden; Clybucca Creek Aboriginal midden
- Kyogle: Captain Cook Memorial Lookout; Pinnacle Lookout; Tweed Valley Lookout; McPherson Range); Kyogle Botanical Gardens; Toonumbar Dam (31 km west); Border Railway Loop; Dyraaba Station and outbuildings (c.1853)
- Lismore: miniature train; Cedar Log Memorial; Claude Riley Memorial Lookout; Nimbin Rocks Aboriginal sacred area (Bundjalung Aboriginal people); Aboriginal Bora Rings (Wyrallah and Tucki Tucki)
- Maclean: Bicentennial Scottish Cairn (Herb Stanford Memorial Park); village of Brooms Head (Lake Cakora); 13 significant Aboriginal sites in the area including Aboriginal middens; Bundjalung National Park.
- Murwillumbah: Pioneer Plantation (19 km south); Lion's Lookout; 'Lisnagar' homestead (1906) and Palmdale Stud; Condong Sugar Mill; Tree Tops Environment Centre; Madura Tea Estates; Tropical Fruit World; World Heritage Rainforest Centre, Budd Park; Cudgen Nature Reserve Aboriginal stone quarry.
- Myall Lakes: ferry to Hawks Nest; Broughton Island Aboriginal middens
- Nambucca Heads: Graffiti Gallery, Vee Wall; Gordon Park Boatshed; Nambucca Valley Model Railway; Mosaic Sculpture; Crafters' Cottage; Swiss Toymakers; Stuart Island Aboriginal burial site
- Port Macquarie: Sea Acres Rainforest Centre; Point Plomer Aboriginal stone fish traps
- Taree: The Big Oyster
- Tweed Heads: Point Danger Lighthouse; Captain Cook Memorial; Razorback Lookout; Fingal Head Lighthouse; The Minjungbal Aboriginal Cultural Centre; Tweed Maritime Museum; Tweed Heads South Aboriginal bora ground
- Wauchope: Timbertown Pioneer Village; The Big Bull; vineyards; Wauchope Historical Society
- Yamba: Story House Museum; Clarence River lighthouse (1880)
Drives
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