Sapphire Beach

 21 - 23 September 2025

Leaving Lennox Head we stopped at one of the lookouts and saw humpback whales on their southern migration, off in the distance. We continued on through Ballina and on to the motorway southbound. We still weren't sure where we would stay but thought somewhere near Coffs Harbour would be nice. We decided to go in to Red Rock for lunch and to make up our minds.

There is a lovely and very well used parkland on the banks of the Corindi River so we stopped there for a picnic. There were so many people enjoying the sunshine, having picnics and paddling in the shallow water we wondered what it would be like closer to Coffs. We decided not to stay at Red Rock but to continue on south. We rang a couple of caravan parks and found that they were full. We hadn't realised the impact that Queensland school holidays would have on this part of the New South Wales north coast. 

Fortunately the caravan park at Sapphire Beach had room for us - and plenty more - so we headed in there and scored a good spot right near the beach. There was some bush behind us and a walking track to the sand. It's always nice to be able to hear the waves nearby. 

No crowds at Sapphire Beach

We went for a long walk on the beach and  then drove into Coffs Harbour to do some errands. Mick also carried out a small repair on the camper trailer while I did some washing. Sapphire Beach turned out to be a terrific spot to spend a few nights - close enough to town, but far enough away to be peaceful.

Our next stop would be Port Macquarie, which we were looking forward to very much as an opportunity to catch up with friends and for Mick to get out on a pelagic birding trip. We had a bit of a false start when Mick left his phone at the caravan park and we had to backtrack. Luckily we had only travelled about 1/2 hour down the road before we received a call to say it had been found - he hadn't even realised he didn't have it. So, back we went and started all over again. It was a good thing that we didn't have a long way to go that day.