Halifax Holiday Village - Port Stephens
Central Coast - NSW

As part of our four day sojourn around Port Stephens, we decided to try out three different parks in the area. The first was Halifax Holiday Park, one of four run by the Port Stephens Council. Before leaving Sydney, we rang and enquired about vacancies, and were told no problem, as you would expect to be the case during a non-holiday period. Due to bush fires on the F3 north of Doyalson, the freeway was shut and all traffic diverted through the old Pacific Highway towards Newcastle. It took five and a half hours to get from Sydney - normally a trip of about three or so hours. Hence, we arrived just after 6 PM to find the office shut with a notice advising that we could park in one of the bays opposite the office, the security patrol would take our particulars and we could pay in the morning. If we wanted to leave before office hours, then payment was to be put in the letterbox. It would have been handy if this had been advised on our enquiry and we would have made a credit card booking, which would have enabled us to get a punch key for the boom gate. We could still use the amenities and we did have power available, but because of this our initial reaction to this park was not too good. The beautiful surroundings next day did mellow us enormously! We decided to visit because of the website. The pictures up there showed waterfront scenes and we thought it would be quite picturesque. However, there had been some artistic licence taken. There were cabins all along the front fence, but you could see the water some 100 metres or so away through the gaps between them looking towards Little Beach. We had received the impression that the park was waterfront and so naturally were a tad disappointed. The beach though is very close and most of the photos below were taken very early morning and are all on the perimeter of the park. The beach is a very gentle swimming beach and the launching ramp is immediately in front of the park.

On the other side of the cottages/cabins are caravan sites, where you can walk through the dunes to reach Shoal Beach. Doggies are not permitted on this beach. You can walk for about a hundred metres on the far side of Little Beach jetty as long as it is on a lead. We probably haven’t seen such a regulated area, sign wise, for a long time. There are no dogs, no camping, no caravans, no horses, no bikes, no almost anything on the park signs everywhere. The only doggie allowed beach is Bagnalls Beach, but this is not nearby - definitely too far to walk! Retirees with a dog and no transport could have a wee problem with this.

Following our early morning walk the next day, we booked in for another night and found Michelle at reception exceptionally friendly, noting from their computer we had not been there before, she handed two booklets put out by the Port Stephens Council which covered most tourist requirements. We found these to be really helpful with the exception of trying to find Island Caravan Park. We had to resort to ringing the owner for exact directions. There was a complete mini market on the Little Beach boundary. Papers available from 7 am, comprehensive grocery supplies, plus a good range of hot food and ice creams, which can be eaten on an undercover patio overlooking the beach - a delightful setting.

There is Telstra phone boxes outside and inside the park. The amenities are large, modern and clean. The extensive laundry equipment is open from 5.30 am to 10 PM and operated by $2.50 tokens available from the office. We liked this idea as it completely eliminated damage to the machines. A very nice glass walled camp kitchen is near the laundry. There was no vandalism within the park at all, usually an indicator of good management, and regulars we spoke to, said they had no knowledge of theft occurring within the park environs. However, there was a sign in the amenities warning that not everyone is as honest as you are, so secure your valuables within your camp and whilst in the showers. We must mention that the showers are something else and they use a system we have never come across before. There are actually two sets housed in one long building. When cleaning one set they simple pull down the shutter between the two. Brilliant stuff Halifax! They also actually scrub out the showers with brushes - not the generally accepted way of high pressure hosing which really does nothing. You simply could not fault the cleanliness and attention to detail in these amenities. The park is very well maintained, new gardens are being established, but lack of rain is obviously a problem. Watering is undertaken in strategic areas.

Halifax Holiday Park would be an excellent base to see more of the Port Stephens area. You can explore the area thoroughly and trips out to Fingal Bay, Anna Bay and Shoal Bay are good spots to visit. Lots of reasonably priced boat trips out of Nelsons Bay. The most ambitious is the one going up the river to Myall Lakes. On park fees, the high season applies from mid September to end of April, with Christmas and Easter being the peak period. So the winter season sees the rate drop from $25 for high or $35 for peak to a more reasonable $19. There are powered sites only. Additional people are $8 per night. Day visitors are $6 per head. The headland or water view villas have a range of packages, but we can’t see too many of our readers requiring this facility. As a matter of interest we checked out Xmas availability - zero vacancies!

We found there was an Internet facility at the local library at Salamander Bay, surfing the net was free, email access was $2.75 per half hour. Library hours were 10 am to 6 PM Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 10 am to 8 PM Tuesday and Thursday, 9 am to 2.30 PM on Saturdays. The library is set at the rear of the huge Salamanda Bay Shopping complex. So here is an Around Oz money saving tip! Rock up to the library and say you would like to surf the net - this is free! Now to check your email simply type in www.mail2web.com. On the log-in page just type your email address and next the password you use on your home computer to operate your account with your home ISP. After about 30 seconds (it feels like nothing is happening) up comes all your latest mail. You can easily delete unwanted messages or answer from within these same pages. You can create a new message - best to tick the box "send a copy to yourself" as that way you get to remember just what you said. This system is FAR BETTER than messing about with Yahoo and Hotmail addresses, as you only need to check in the one place and there is nothing new or complicated to learn. The other advantage is your friends and family need only remember your normal address.

We found many top smoko spots in this area, so please check out these in the Best-in-Oz section. Unfortunately many of our Halifax photos were taken on an overcast day, but since the next day resulted in good afternoon thunderstorms and showers, we won’t complain. The need for rain is extreme and we only hope that follow-up rains come to ease the drought in all areas in NSW as we had trouble filling up with water in many areas as tap heads were removed. Overall it is very serious.

Shopping is pretty good and it's an easy walk up into Nelsons Bay itself, although this is not a major centre. For Woolies etc. you need to drive to Salamander Bay. There is a bakery in Nelsons Bay, but like good little Angels we didn't get tempted for once! The nearest Fish and Chips is the park kiosk which we didn't have time to try! You don't get a lot of free time being a motorhomer!

We met four other CMCA members, Keith and Judy, and Norm and Deanna, all of whom had some very unique and very interesting Innovations which are elsewhere on this site. Needless to say, our early getaway was about two hours later - this is what happens when you meet up with kindred spirits, you sort of just start talking and then before you know it, it’s an hour or two later.

The Port Stephens Council quartet of parks is all well run and very clean. Each site at Halifax has a double sized cement slab that takes a motorhome and annex or a caravan with tow vehicle. There are no overhanging trees to grab at motorhome roofs; the park is generally flat and easy to maneuver throughout. Town water tastes OK, TV reception using the "Dome" from Solar Panel Xpress worked perfectly and CDMA and GSM with Telstra came in full strength. Walking and bike riding opportunities abound and you are actually spoilt for choices.

Doggies are most welcome in the caravan park, but NOT on any nearby beaches or parks. Halifax have a website shared with other council parks. You can also contact them on Freecall 1800 600 201. Just look for the signs on the main road in - very clearly marked.

Their email address is halifax@portstephens.nsw.gov.au. You could spend quite a few easy days at Halifax, enjoying the local fishing, but watch out for all those regulatory signs, which will dictate what you can do where. We can only live in hope that the council will see sense and relax some of these as at present it is definitely not a welcoming area. We’ll let our photographs do the talking to show you the beauty of this magic yet still growing area of New South Wales. Absolutely recommended!

Chrissy Eustace

Hema 23 E11