highway to the stars

From the Gold Coast south to Byron Bay, Hunter Valley and Newcastle, it’s just one glorious beach, town or vineyard after another

I never knew that Chris De Burgh whispers “I love you” over and over again at the end of Lady In Red, that there’s a shop called Grandma’s Emporium in Coffs Harbour, or that the Australian rock band the Angels are still touring the country. I do now. I found this out on a road trip with a good mate, down the east coast of New South Wales (NSW), when I forgot to bring CDs. While four days of regional radio might sound like a nightmare to some, on the contrary, it ended up almost the perfect soundtrack to this gorgeous, unassuming piece of coastline. You might not know much about the towns on this strip of east coast, except Byron Bay of course, but that’s its charm – you can’t help feeling a little like Captain Cook when you discover quaint oases called Grassy Head and Moonee Beach.

We flew Jetstar into the Gold Coast to pick up our car (hire cars from Avis available at www.jetstar.com, tel: +61 136 333) and made an immediate exit south. These days the trip south is a breeze - within 50 minutes you’re taking the turn-off to Byron Bay. I grew up in this area and remember the old road, a twisting serpent of a thing, complete with rickety old railway bridges. Before Byron, we stopped off at the sleepy little seaside hamlet of Brunswick Heads, my former home; it’s like Byron Bay before the developers came. Turn left off the highway and drive just 300m to the gorgeous boat harbour, where you can load up on freshly cooked tiger prawns.

I couldn’t leave town without visiting the Brunswick Hotel (Mullumbi St., Brunswick Heads, tel: +61 (2) 6685 1236), directly opposite the slow-flowing river that divides the town. This grand old lady is like my third grandmother, such are the warm memories.

Byron Bay is fun personified. Although it’s almost unrecognisable now from 20 years ago, it still beats with the same heart as that old hippie village of my youth. We chanced upon perfect metre-high surf under the lighthouse at Tallows Beach, before taking time out to visit the famed Beach Hotel (Bay St., Byron Bay, tel: + 61 (2) 6685 6402). Try the cuisine at Fins Restaurant (The Beach Hotel, Bay St., Byron Bay, tel: +61
(2) 6685 5029, www.fins.com.au), arguably the best seafood restaurant in Australia, or try a soy dandelion latte on the beach at Fishheads (Jonson St., Byron Bay, tel: +61 (2) 6680 7632, www.fishheadsbyron.com.au). Walk down the street and people-watch or busy yourself in the stack of surf shops and alternative fashion shops. Hearing the road call us, we high-tailed out of there and set our sights further south.

It’s funny, no matter how old you get, road trips are always about the same things: food on the run, singing along with the radio as loud as you can, feeling the closest thing to freedom you’ve felt in a long time. We rode the highway south, the winding Clarence River keeping us company, as impossibly green sugar cane plantations surrounded us and towns like Broadwater with its smoking Sunshine Sugar Mill tried to distract us with slogans like “A Sweet Place to Stop”. We resisted, but as the signs to Yamba approach, our sweet tooth for something else overcame us and we took the 14km journey east.

Yamba is the epitome of a NSW coastal town, with its sleepy boat harbour and flawless beaches. It seems to operate at half-speed and people are friendly but shy in that cute, country way.

We stopped for waves at the legendary break of Angourie, just south of Yamba, and discovered why so many surfers call it home. The water’s clear, the waves are head high and surfing feels like magic.

From there it was back to the highway, past Grafton and on to Coffs Harbour. We stayed for the night at the Novotel Pacific Bay Resort (Pacific Highway, Coffs Harbour, tel: +61 1300 363 360, www.jetstar.com). From the balcony of our apartment the view is more Hawaii than NSW, with its beaches and banana plantations in the distant hills. Coffs Harbour is quite the surprise. It’s become the new Byron, with lots of locals moving here when Byron got too big for them. Now, it’s an emerging cultural hotspot, home to great galleries such as the John Gordon Gallery (360 Harbour Dr., Coffs Harbour, tel: +61 (2) 6651 4499, www.johngordongallery.com) and Lake Russell Gallery (Smiths Road, Lake Russell, tel: +61 (2) 6656 1092, www.lakerussellgallery.com.au). The other Russell (the actor with the surname Crowe) lives near here, at a place called Nana Glen, in the beautiful hinterland.

We arrived at The d’Albora Marina (tel: +61
(2) 4984 1333) was abuzz with activity and felt like good old-fashioned fun. All along this coast, funfairs and carnivals travel – I hadn’t seen them in years – but here they were: the bucking bulls, the dodgems and the Ferris wheels of my youth. There were young couples on hot dates, kids pretending to be adults, adults pretending to be kids, toddlers pleading to get closer to their parents and awkward teenagers keeping two paces behind theirs. We gorged ourselves on fresh seafood at Café Blu (d’Albora Marina, Nelson Bay, tel: +61 (2) 4984 9999) and toasted the day with a Belgian beer.

There are so many things to do in Port Stephens, or you can do nothing at all but find one of the area’s beaches and wedge yourself into the sand. We took the kilometre-long walk to Tomaree Headland, five kilometres east of Nelson Bay, with its stunning views of nearby Shoal Bay, Zenith, Wreck and Bar beaches and offshore islands. We then went dolphin watching with Imagine Cruises (123 Stockton St., Nelson Bay, tel: +61
(2) 4984 9000) sailing the entire way across the harbour, which is two and a half times bigger than Sydney’s. We had lunch beside the water at Peppers, then ventured on to the Hunter Valley, an hour and a half south-west (it’s easy to find, just head south to Newcastle, but take the turn right after Newcastle Airport to Sydney, then follow the signs to Cessnock).

The Hunter Valley is Australia’s most popular wine area, a haven for wine connoisseurs the world over. Preferring to leave the car behind so we could take our jobs seriously, we took a horse and cart tour (tel: +61 2 4991 3655) and sampled the best the area had to offer. Personally, I can’t go past Audrey Wilkinson (DeBeyers Rd., Pokolbin, tel: +61 (2) 4998 7411, www.audreywilkinson.com.au), Calais Estate (Palmer’s Lane, Pokolbin, tel: +61 (2) 4998 7654, www.calaiswines.com.au) and Tyrrell’s (Broke Rd., Pokolbin, tel: +61 (2) 4993 7000, www.tyrrells.com.au) without stopping. We also found the Hunter Valley Cheese Company (McDonald’s Rd., Pokolbin, tel: +61 (2) 4998 7744, www.huntervalleycheese.com.au) and at twilight walked it all off around the Hunter Valley Gardens (Broke Rd., Pokolbin, tel: +61 (2) 4998 7600, www.hvg.com.au). This is normally not my sort of thing, especially with a mate, but what they’d done on this 25ha block of land had me wishing I’d watered my potted plant just once this year. There are 12 feature gardens on display, while the rest of the complex has an Irish pub, Roche Wines and a village with boutique shopping.

Tallawanta Lodge (Broke Rd., Pokolbin, tel: +61 (2) 4998 4000) is also part of the complex and although we enjoyed the gorgeous Tuscan setting, we loved the signature seared duck breast at its boutique restaurant, Lazzarini’s (tel: +61 (2) 4998 4000). Little wonder the restaurant won the Best New Restaurant of NSW Award in 2004.

We pushed off in the morning for Newcastle, our final destination, an easy hour’s journey (just head north to the New England Highway, then turn right to Newcastle). Truth be told, we didn’t know what to expect in this steel city. All we knew was its history is based on a lot of coal. But in the years since coal stopped running the city, Newcastle has transformed, kind of like a butterfly, although I imagine you’d still run foul of the locals for suggesting this analogy. But on a crisp, clear day the beaches that line the city looked better than any other city beach in the country. We took the

five kilometre Bather’s Way walk past Nobby’s Beach, Susan Gilmour Beach, Bar Beach and the city’s finest surfing beach, Merewether. The beaches weren’t crowded, and the bathers were predominantly young, fit and attractive. We ate bacon and eggs on the foreshore at Estabar (61 Shortland Esplanade, Newcastle, tel: +61 (2) 4927 1222) and generally fell in love with someone every five minutes.

Newcastle reminds me of a smaller Sydney in many ways. Its newly created Honeysuckle Precincts (tel: +61 (2) 4904 2750, www..honeysuckle.net) on the Hunter River is a smaller Darling Harbour, with trendy cafés, restaurants, boutique stores and bars. Darby Street, just off the city centre, looks a little like Surrey Hills, with its art galleries, cool cafés and restaurants, while the city’s Regional Art Gallery (Laman St., Newcastle, tel: +61 (2) 4974 5100) boasts over 3,000 works of art. And when it’s time for action, mainland Australia’s biggest 4WD playground awaits: 2,500ha of sand dunes on Stockton Beach, just north of the city.

With our road trip over, we found paradise does exist in this country, even in the places your travel agent doesn’t gush over. Just take a turn-off anywhere and you’re likely to find a little slice of heaven – it’s up to you to choose your own adventure story.

WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY CRAIG TANSLEY