Airlie Beach·QLD
Airlie Beach Lagoon
A free, stinger-free public swimming lagoon in the middle of town, patrolled and good with kids.
This weekend
Two days.
Where are you
pointing the car?
58 real things to do across 31 places in Australia. Tell the finder who is coming and what the sky is doing, and it cuts the list down to the ones that actually suit.
Hyams Beach · Visit Shoalhaven
The weekend finder
Every one is somewhere we have actually been.
- 58things to do
- 31places
- 8regions
Set a filter and the list cuts itself down.
58of 58 match
The shortlist
Picks that suit
Avoca Beach·NSW
Avoca Beach
A patrolled Central Coast surf beach with a lagoon at the north end for the kids who are not in the surf.
Avoca Beach·NSW
Avoca Beach Picture Theatre
An independent cinema running since 1948, a hundred metres from the sand. The wet weather answer.
Kangaroo Valley·NSW
Bendeela Recreation Area
A free riverside picnic and camping ground run by WaterNSW, and the most reliable place in Kangaroo Valley to see a wombat.
Berry·NSW
Berry main street
Queen Street: bakeries, pubs, homewares and the donut van everyone queues at.
Coffs Harbour·NSW
The Big Banana
A 1964 roadside banana with a waterpark, a toboggan run and an ice creamery attached.
Huskisson·NSW
Stay at Bluebell, Huskisson
A four bedroom holiday house a short walk from the beach, with a pool, a sauna and a cabana.
Jervis Bay·NSW
Booderee National Park
Bushwalks, quiet coves and Aboriginal-managed country on the southern headland of Jervis Bay.
Killcare·NSW
Bouddi Coastal Walk
Eight kilometres of clifftop and beach between Putty Beach and MacMasters, through Bouddi National Park.
Callala Beach·NSW
Callala Beach
The long, quiet beach on the northern shore of Jervis Bay, looking back across the water at Beecroft Peninsula. Off-leash dog area on the restricted hours.
Cambewarra·NSW
Cambewarra Estate
Cellar door and long lunch below the escarpment, looking back at the mountain.
Cambewarra·NSW
Cambewarra Mountain Lookout
The whole Shoalhaven floodplain laid out below you, with a cafe at the top.
Port Macquarie·NSW
Camel ride on Lighthouse Beach
Camels on a Mid North Coast surf beach, which makes no sense and works completely.
Byron Bay·NSW
Cape Byron Lighthouse Walk
A 3.7km loop past the most easterly point of mainland Australia. Dolphins below most mornings.
Coffs Harbour·NSW
Coffs Harbour Butterfly House
A walk-through tropical butterfly enclosure. Fully undercover, so it works in the rain.
Vincentia·NSW
Collingwood Beach cycleway
The shared path behind Collingwood Beach at Vincentia. The dog is welcome on a lead here, which the beach itself is not.
Darling Harbour·NSW
Darling Harbour Saturday fireworks
A free fireworks display over the water most Saturday nights. Schedules change, so check first.
Kangaroo Valley·NSW
Hampden Bridge, Kangaroo Valley
A sandstone-towered suspension bridge over the Kangaroo River, built in 1898 and still in use.
Hervey Bay·QLD
Hervey Bay whale watching
Humpbacks stop and rest in the sheltered bay rather than passing through, roughly July to October.
Nowra·NSW
The Hungry Monkey
Burgers and a bar in Nowra, and one of the reasons to stop rather than drive through.
Huskisson·NSW
Huskisson Beach
The town beach, facing into the bay rather than the ocean, so it is flat on the days the surf beaches are not.
Huskisson·NSW
Huskisson waterfront walk
A flat, sealed path along the bay from the town centre past Moona Moona Creek. Good with a pram.
Hyams Beach·NSW
Swim at Hyams Beach
The white sand beach Jervis Bay is famous for, with water shallow and clear enough for small kids.
Huskisson·NSW
Dolphin and whale cruise from Huskisson
Resident bottlenose dolphins year round, and humpbacks on migration between May and November.
Huskisson·NSW
Jervis Bay Maritime Museum
Huskisson's indoor option, built around a 1911 Sydney ferry that was made a few hundred metres up the creek. Open every day.
Kangaroo Valley·NSW
Kayak the Kangaroo River
Flat water, sandstone walls and wombats on the bank at dusk. Hire is available in the village.
Kangaroo Valley·NSW
Kangaroo Valley Pioneer Village Museum
A whole village of late 1800s buildings beside Hampden Bridge: a dairy, a forge, a schoolhouse and a settler's cottage.
Kiama·NSW
Kiama Blowhole
A sea cave that fires a plume of water over the walkway when the south-easterly swell is running.
Kiama·NSW
Kiama Coast Walk
Around 20km of headland and beach track. Do the Kiama to Minnamurra leg if you only want a morning.
Lismore·NSW
Lismore Regional Gallery
A serious regional gallery in a town most people drive past on the way to the coast.
Berrara·NSW
Mermaid Pools, Berrara
Clear rock pools on the coastal shelf, reached on foot along the beach. Tide and swell dependent.
Huskisson·NSW
Moona Moona Creek
A shallow tidal creek mouth at the southern end of Huskisson Beach. The calmest water in town for small children.
Vincentia·NSW
Nelsons Beach
The beach below Plantation Point at Vincentia, and one of only four around Jervis Bay where dogs are allowed off the lead.
Hamilton Island·QLD
One Tree Hill sunset, Hamilton Island
The island lookout everyone drives a buggy up for sunset, with a bar at the top.
Ulladulla·NSW
Pigeon House Mountain (Didthul)
A steep climb with ladders near the top and one of the best views in Morton National Park.
Tweed Heads·NSW
Point Danger, Tweed Heads
The headland on the state border, with the Captain Cook Memorial and a view both ways up the coast.
Port Macquarie·NSW
Port Macquarie Coastal Walk
Nine kilometres of headland, beach and rock platform from Town Beach to Tacking Point Lighthouse.
Port Stephens·NSW
Swim with wild dolphins, Port Stephens
Around 100 bottlenose dolphins live in the bay year round, and some operators let you get in with them.
Hamilton Island·QLD
Qualia
The adults-only resort on the northern tip of Hamilton Island, and the reason some people come.
Shoalhaven Heads·NSW
Seven Mile Beach
A long flat beach between Gerroa and Shoalhaven Heads, with a national park behind it.
Nowra·NSW
Shoalhaven Zoo
A hands-on zoo on the banks of the Shoalhaven River, with animal encounters and a good amount of shade.
Nowra·NSW
South Coast cellar doors
The Shoalhaven wine trail: small producers, short drives between them, and no Hunter Valley crowds.
Port Stephens·NSW
Stockton Sand Dunes
The largest moving coastal dunes in the southern hemisphere, and you can sandboard down them.
Sydney·NSW
Ride a Sydney Harbour ferry
The cheapest harbour cruise in the city, because it is public transport. Manly is the long one.
Sydney·NSW
Sydney whale watching
Humpbacks pass the heads between May and November, close enough to see from a boat out of the harbour.
Mosman·NSW
Taronga Zoo
A zoo built into a harbour hillside, so half the enclosures have a view of the Opera House.
Kangaroo Valley·NSW
The Friendly Inn, Kangaroo Valley
The valley's pub, on the main street, with a bistro and a beer garden looking straight up at the escarpment.
Nowra·NSW
The Growers
Fresh Shoalhaven produce, a farm shop and a kitchen using what is grown around it.
Culburra Beach·NSW
The Little Snapper, Culburra Beach
Cocktails and a short menu in a surf town that does not have many of either.
Terrigal·NSW
The Skillion, Terrigal
A short steep walk up a grass headland for the best view on the Central Coast.
Port Stephens·NSW
Tomaree Head Summit Walk
A steep 30 minute climb to a WWII gun emplacement, with the whole bay and the islands below.
Pokolbin·NSW
Tyrrell's Wines
A sixth-generation Hunter Valley cellar door, and the place to understand what Semillon does here.
Hervey Bay·QLD
Urangan Pier
An 868 metre timber pier out into the bay, built for the sugar trade and now for fishing and sunrises.
Huskisson·NSW
Voyager Memorial Park
A waterfront park in the middle of Huskisson, and the memorial to the 82 men lost when HMAS Voyager sank off Jervis Bay in 1964.
Hyams Beach·NSW
White Sands Walk
An easy coastal track between Greenfield Beach and Hyams Beach, through bush and out onto the sand.
Airlie Beach·QLD
Whitehaven Beach
Seven kilometres of pure silica sand on Whitsunday Island, reached by boat or seaplane.
Airlie Beach·QLD
Sail the Whitsundays
Bareboat or skippered charter through 74 islands. Two nights is the minimum that makes sense.
Nothing matches all of that. Try dropping one filter, or browse by destination instead.
Start with a region
Where the weekends are
Each region page has the towns worth basing yourself in, and the drive it really takes.
NSW·15 placesSouth Coast NSWWhite sand, national parks and the best two hour drive out of Sydney.
NSW·3 placesSydneyA whole weekend without leaving the city, if you know where to look.
NSW·3 placesCentral CoastAn hour north of Sydney, and quieter than it has any right to be.
NSW·2 placesHunter RegionWine in the valley, dolphins on the bay.
NSW·2 placesMid North CoastCamels, butterflies and a very large banana.
NSW·3 placesNorthern RiversByron, the hinterland, and the towns everyone drives past.
QLD·1 placeFraser CoastThe whale watching capital, and the world's largest sand island.
QLD·2 placesWhitsundaysSeventy-four islands and the reef on your doorstep.See them allAll destinationsEvery region, every town, every drive time.Read first
Guides from people who went
Dog friendly beaches in Jervis BayAug 2026
Kangaroo Valley in winter: what is actually openAug 2026
Whale and Dolphin Cruises with Jervis Bay WildAug 2026
Bluebell in Huskisson: A Holiday Rental With a Pool and SaunaJuly 2026
The Best Way to See Sydney Harbour Is From the WaterJune 2026
Why you can relax
Like a tip from a mate who has actually been.
A weekend is too short to waste on a closed cafe or a walk that was never worth the drive. So when a page here says the track is steep, or the parking is hopeless in January, it is because we found out.
Been, not googled
Every recommendation starts with someone going, not with a press release.
Checked, not stale
The date we last looked is on every page.
No dead listings
When a place closes, its page comes down. You will not drive to a shut door.
Prices you can plan on
Where we are not sure, you get a band, not a guess.
Vincentia · Visit Shoalhaven