Airlie Beach·QLD
Airlie Beach Lagoon
A free, stinger-free public swimming lagoon in the middle of town, patrolled and good with kids.
42 ideas
Things to do with kids
The days out that work with children in tow, rather than the ones you endure.
Every one of them
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Terrigal·NSW
The Skillion, Terrigal
A short steep walk up a grass headland for the best view on the Central Coast.
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.
Read up
With the kids guides
Whale and Dolphin Cruises with Jervis Bay Wild
Spectacular Saturday Nights: Darling Harbour Fireworks in Sydney
A Wild Weekend Escape: Taronga Zoo and Beyond
5 Reasons Why We Love Taronga Zoo
Family Friendly Guide to Hervey Bay
Discover Your Wild Side at the Shoalhaven Zoo
Coffs Harbour Butterfly House
Family Fun at The Big Banana
Ride a Camel on the Beach in Port Macquarie
