Northern Rivers

New South Wales, Autumn 2016

By Hilton Luke

April 12^th, 2016

northern rivers

Located 120 kilometres south-east of my hometown, Brisbane, Northern Rivers is the unofficial name to the far northern reaches of the state of New South Wales.

Bordered by Queensland to the north, Pacific Ocean to the east and Great Dividing Range to the west, it’s the perfect location for a weekend getaway.

Entrance 36 from Tweed Coast Road to the beach.

entrance 36

Our accommodation is on Tweed Coast Road, nested conveniently between the beaches of Hastings Point and Cudgera Creek. Access to the pristine beaches is via maintained entrance paths through bushland and sand dunes which line the coast and give locals and visitors easy access.

We took Entrance 36, just south of Hasting Point Lookout.

View from entrance point 36, immediately south of Hastings Point Lookout.

Hastings point headland

The headland offers beautiful coastline vistas north to Tweed Heads and south to Cape Byron (the most eastern point of Australia). Surfers flock to the point to decide which beaches, north or south, have the best conditions.

The rock pools at the eastern edge of the headland provide for dramatic photography.

Rock pools on the eastern edge of Hastings Point.

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Hastings Point, looking south toward Cape Byron.

beer & ice cream at CABARita Beach

After a morning walk around Hastings Point and thrift shopping at Kingscliff it was time for lunch at Cabarita Beach.

The Cabarita Beach Hotel is positioned nicely behind the sand dunes, immediately off the beach. A family friendly bistro style eatery offering generously portioned meals and nice cold beers. I had the chicken schnitzel but food envy set in when Natalie’s ‘fish of the day’ (swordfish resting on slices of sweet potato) arrived.

Not content without having dessert, we stopped in at Coastal Visions Photography Cafe & Gallery for ice cream. The strawberries ‘n’ cream and chocolate double serve was lovely but the framed photography was particularly impressive. Seascapes, water sports and other imagery from the local area was really high quality. Pick up a piece of art while Paget Thomson (photographer and barista) makes your favourite style coffee.