Forster, Week 1 – Beaches, Fishing and some Junk

Shelley Beach in Pacific Palms

A quick four hour drive from Sydney had us in Forster, the third stop on our East Coast road trip. We managed to book a timeshare bonus week at the Seashells Diamond Beach Resort which is about 20 minutes North of Forster and close to the small beach towns of Blackhead and Red Head. We had spent the previous week in a surprisingly sunny and warm Sydney, where we able to catch-up with friends and spend some quality time at the beach.

Pamelas' latest painting titled "Maldives Bliss"

The Seashells Resort is an older style property with some nice amenities including two spas (one adult only), game room, sauna and gym. The property is on the beautiful and un-crowded Diamond Beach with just a small sand dune separating the resort from the sand. A two minute walk from our room had us on the beach where we could fish, unsuccessfully I might add, admire the surf or search for shells on a seemingly endless stretch of sand. Unfortunately the many days of rain hampered our enjoyment of the beach just a few steps away from our door. One of the hot tubs at the resort was an enclosed “adults only” tub on a reservation system which had you sign-in on a white board when you wanted to use it.  It was funny to walk by the adult hot tub while it was reserved, day or night, and listen to the sounds coming from the room. As it was enclosed there were just screens for windows so all sounds came through. I’m glad we don’t have kids just so we didn’t have to explain all the different noises coming out of that room.

Morning stroll on Blackhead Beach near Forster.

Sunday morning we headed to Pacific Palms, one of our favourite places in Australia. Pacific Palms is a small beachside community about 25 minutes south of Forster near the Booti Booti National Park. Home to fabulous beaches including Elizabeth, Shelley, Boomerang and Blueys and bordering the beautiful Wallis Lake, there is seemingly endless waterways for swimming, surfing, boating, fishing or whatever else floats your boat. Fishing and beach gear in hand we parked and took a bush trail 500 meters to the beautiful and private Shelley Beach. On the way we spotted some awesome butterflies and a very large monitor lizard. Once at the beach we spotted something even more surprising, naked people, lots of naked people, lots of large naked people, lots of large naked people letting it all hang out. Unknowingly we visited a nude beach, a large nude beach for that matter.  No matter to us, we were there to enjoy the beach and fish. Casting into the water I was just careful not to catch any “junk” so to speak. Even without catching any fish, or unexpected sunburns, we had a great day at the beach.

Our car imitating a male kangaroo. There's actually squid bait in the bag.

The area around Forster is full of amazing beaches and scenery.

On subsequent days we visited other beaches in the area including Blueys, Cellitto, Blackhead and Red Head. We also attempted a bush walk in Red Head but were soon covered in leeches, so much so that we decided turning around was our best bet. After searching for some decent fishing we finally found it on the Forster jetty leading out to the ocean. Using squid we managed to catch and release three fish while getting many-many more bites. So far this has been our best fishing experience of the road trip. We’ll definitely be visiting this jetty again during week number two in Forster. Our first week in Forster was great. When the weather was half-good we visited beautiful beaches and national parks. When the weather was bad we cooked some good food, watched some good TV and Pamela painted an amazing scene from our time in the Maldives.

We're back in Forster for another week so stay tuned for another post from this beautiful part of New South Wales. Here's more of our pics if you're interested: https://picasaweb.google.com/117257906652666550268/ForsterNewSouthWales?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Cheers for Now –

Pamela and Dave