When we booked our flights to Australia, we had very little planned for our working holiday besides starting out in Brisbane and trying to find work and accommodation from there. In order to explain how and why we ended up in a small beach town in New South Wales for all of December, I have to give you some background information. Please bear with me, or if you prefer not to, I have included a TL;DR (too long, didn’t read) at the end of the next segment.

How We Ended Up in South West Rocks

To make a long story short, as I briefly touched on in my settling in Australia post, finding housing for rent in any major city in Australia right now is difficult. The vacancy rate is at its lowest it has been in a long time, similar to the situation in Vancouver. As new arrivals to Australia without confirmed, full-time work, we knew that we wouldn’t be at the top of any Australian landlord’s desirable tenants list. If you look at posts in any Facebook group concerning Working Holiday Makers (anyone with a Working Holiday Visa), it is quite scary, as you just see post after post about people struggling to find a place to live. As such, we decided to stick to short-term rentals.

We decided pretty soon after committing to our second place in Brisbane for two months that we were ready to move on to the next location at the end of our arrangement. We wanted to be closer to the beach, so we booked ourselves in for October and November on the Gold Coast.

Another situation that came up after settling into our Brisbane accommodation was that my hiring was processed by the Education Department, where I learned that my visa would only let me be employed with them until the end of December. This is due to a work restriction on the Working Holiday Visa, stating that you can only hold one employer for six months. I thought I’d be able to get around this working as a relief teacher as my employer is technically different every day, but I was given some grief when I brought this up to human resources. Instead of inquiring further, we decided to take it as a sign that we should move to a different state in the new year!

We decided quite easily that we wanted to spend the second half of our time in Australia across the country in Perth, and that we would drive ourselves there during the summer holidays in January. Our accommodation in Robina wasn’t available after the end of November, so we decided to try and find somewhere to stay during the month of December where we could take some time off work, prepare for our giant road trip, and enjoy the outdoors. After some searching and random clicks on a map of the east coast of Australia, we found our gem in the small town of South West Rocks, New South Wales.

TL;DR: After deciding to move to Perth in January to escape work visa headaches, we found a small beach town in New South Wales to live in for all of December.

South West Rocks – An Overview

South West Rocks (SWR) is a very small beach town located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales. It is halfway between Brisbane and Sydney (about a 5 hour drive from each), and also halfway between the smaller hubs of Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie (about 1 hour’s drive from each). The town is surrounded by farmland on one side and beaches on the other, with some beachfront restaurants and shops and a grocery store and a pharmacy on the edge of town.

When we booked our stay in SWR, we were exhausted from working and were excited to have some time off to enjoy some beautiful beaches and anything else that might be around. We have been completely blown away by the natural beauty of the area and the complete lack of crowds. This town has surpassed our expectations and is a hidden gem.

Beaches

SWR has some of the most stunning beaches we have seen in Australia so far. I would say that the beaches are the most similar to those of the Sunshine Coast, though there really is a beach for every season here. We have been trying to get out to a beach to swim, paddle board, or body board most days, depending on our mood and the conditions.

There is a main beach at the centre of town, with a small cove on one side (called Horseshoe Bay) and a more open expanse of beach on the other side. Our favourite beach to visit has been in Arakoon National Park, as it has really calm water due to an artificial reef and some beautiful sandbars when the tide is out.

There is another beach close to Arakoon called Little Bay, just outside of town, that we have had completely to ourselves. This beach is unique as it is surrounded by beautiful rock cliffs. We have also enjoyed the beach at Hat Head National Park as there is a beautiful creek leading into the water that has been perfect for paddleboarding.

Close to SWR is the Smoky Cape Lighthouse that has stunning views from the lighthouse area, as well as a beautiful beach that you can hike down to below. The effort required to hike down to this beach meant that we had it completely to ourselves.

One unique experience we have had with the beach here has been witnessing the bioluminescence at night produced by red algae. A couple of days ago, we noticed that there were these random pink patches floating around in the water about 100 metres out from shore. Upon further research and investigation, we learned that the patches were red algae and develop when the surface of the water is very warm, and it lights up upon movement at night. We went back to the beach that night to check it out and it was absolutely magical. While I have witnessed bioluminescence in Colombia, this light show in the water was much more blue and easier to see.

Hiking

There are many beautiful oceanside walking trails in SWR and the surrounding areas. We have enjoyed walking along the kilometres of coastline from Horseshoe Bay to Arakoon, along the trails up and around an area called Trial Bay Gaol, and an out-and-back trail through the jungle leading us to a place called Gap Beach. We also have done some beautiful coastline hiking in Hat Head and some nice waterfront walks in Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour. Though the hiking is much more tame than in Canada, it is a blessing during this time of year because of the hot weather and limited shade.

Kangaroos and Other Wildlife

We have seen kangaroos more frequently in SWR than anywhere else we have been in Australia so far. When I’ve gone running, there is a golf course nearby that almost always has kangaroos on it (usually snacking on grass in the shade). The best kangaroo spotting area has definitely been near Little Bay, where we have enjoyed going on what we call “DIY kangaroo safaris” where we drive a loop around the park to see how many we can find.

We haven’t seen too much other wildlife since we have been here, besides the usual birds and one owl that I almost accidentally stepped on during a hike. We have heard about local koalas and snakes but haven’t been too lucky.

One interesting animal encounter I had was when I sold our bike rack in preparation for our road trip. Upon meeting the woman I sold it to at her van, she told me to wait one second while she settled her pet. I assumed she had a pet dog in her van, but was surprised to discover that she had a pet dingo (!!!!). Apparently, she helps rescue dingoes and releases them into the wild, though the one she had in the van had bonded to her, so it was her pet. To be honest, I am not sure of the legality of it all, so I will leave it as an odd, interesting, and legally safe wildlife encounter.

Day Excursions

Given SWR’s proximity to some points of interest on the Mid North Coast, we took quite a few day trips to explore the surrounding areas.

Our first day trip took us to Coffs Harbour, where we enjoyed checking out a clog shop, the Big Banana, and a lovely drive through the banana plantations to a viewpoint. We also went for a walk along a beautiful beachfront boardwalk in town.

As discussed in my post about Melbourne, we also had some time to take a look around Port Macquarie before our flight to Melbourne. We didn’t get up to much but did have a nice walk along the waterfront. We didn’t feel drawn to any of the tourist attractions there, so we were just happy to enjoy nature (and the thrift shops).

We thought about doing some surfing during our time in SWR, but it never really worked out with the surf conditions and board rentals. We didn’t mind, as there were so many other things to do. On one of the days we were going to surf, we drove down to Crescent Head, a small beach town known for its very long waves that make for fantastic surfing. Unfortunately, the conditions weren’t ideal, so we decided to have a walk around town instead. It was very cute, and there were tons of hippie surfer vans in the beach parking lot. George and I think Crescent Head must emulate what Byron Bay felt like 40 years ago.

We also ventured up to Nambucca Heads, where we checked out the town and went for another nice beach stroll along the boardwalk. The town was lovely, too, though also quite small. The highlight of this particular day trip was the Eungai Buffalo Farm that we stopped at on the way home. The farm has a restaurant where you can have lunch during the week and lunch and dinner on the weekends, and we had a fantastic lunch there – I had a pulled buffalo sandwich while George had a works burger with a buffalo patty and buffalo mozzarella. It was great to sit outdoors on a patio overlooking the farm while we ate, too!

We also took quite a few trips to the nearest big town to SWR called Kempsey. This was where we did our big grocery shops and picked up anything else that we couldn’t get in SWR. On our way to and from Kempsey, we would stop in surrounding towns, or just at the side of the road to look at cute baby farm animals. Of note was the town of Gladstone that had a market with excellent macadamia nut ice cream and interesting colonial architecture.

Other Activities

Besides all the outdoor fun, we have been planning our road trip and just taking some time for ourselves before this next chapter of our adventure. It has been really nice to do so, since it feels like we have been going full throttle since we arrived in Australia. We have loved walking around the town centre, checking out other towns nearby, going to farmer’s markets, and just enjoying life!

I was also happy to discover that there is a local Park Run each Saturday that begins near the town centre, so I have been keeping with this new hobby that I picked up on the Gold Coast. We were also hosts to some of George’s friends, who were passing through the area on their own road trip to start their working holiday life in Sydney. It was fun to show them around and share in the experience and beauty of SWR.

Our Christmas holidays were very low-key, especially considering that there were thunderstorms for the majority of the day on actual Christmas. We did make it out for a beach swim in the small window where the weather was clear before retreating back home for video calls with our families. We definitely missed home but know that we’ll appreciate the season even more in future years when we are back home.

One very unique activity that attended at the local country club yesterday was an annual crab racing event. The event involved local businesses sponsoring one of 20 giant crabs (that had numbers written on their shells), people buying the crabs through an auction, and then everyone watching them ‘race’ from the centre of a circle to an outside edge on a lawn bowling green. People were paying hundreds of dollars to buy a crab, and the race took a lot longer than we originally expected. It was an interesting event to watch and experience but I don’t think that I will be watching another one in my future.

Onward!

The last month has been much needed to recharge, relax, and really enjoy the sunshine and natural beauty of this wonderful place. We are leaving tomorrow for our road trip to Perth, and will be on the road for 35 days total. My goal is to keep the blog updated as much as I can so that I am not super behind when we arrive in Perth. As always…. stay tuned!