Weekend in Jervis Bay

I recently went to Jervis Bay for my friend Peter’s birthday weekend celebration. I had never been to the coastal town, which is almost 3 hours south of Sydney. It is a popular tourist destination and known for its white sand beaches and beautiful clear waters. It has been some time since I went on a road trip, and initially I was a bit on the fence about committing, but I thought about it then decided to come along.

We spent two nights in a two-storey house booked off Airbnb. It had a steep dirt path leading down to Hyams Beach, and included a comfortable living space, a patio out back with a small garden, and a loft bedroom which I was happy to share with my friend Cam. As a kid, I always liked the idea of a loft bedroom and its unusual space in the roof of a house, and the sun shining through a skylight or angled windows.

I drove down on the Friday afternoon after eating my lunch at home. I have to say, this was the longest drive I had done completely on my own, without a friend or a partner. It was about 2 hours and 40 minutes. I had been used to driving probably around 1.5 hours on my own, but coming up to 3 hours was out of my comfort zone. I had the option to carpool, but I opted for the flexibility of bringing my own car and not having to rely on anyone else both time and transport wise. I have a history of upsetting experiences with driving and cars that I am slowly but surely healing from. I probably drove for almost two hours before stopping over to use the restroom by the motorway, then continued with the remaining hour. I was grateful for the recent daylight savings time change, because now it means that going into the warmer months, we have more daylight for longer. I arrived at almost 4:30pm and most of the rest of the group had already arrived at the Airbnb.

We spent maybe an hour or so walking down to Hyams Beach, across neighbouring beaches, and exploring the general area. It was nice to get all those steps in after driving for a few hours. The weather was pretty good that whole weekend, which was a blessing because we were expecting rain and to spend a lot of time indoors.

For dinner we went to the Flaming Galah, a well known brewery in the area. They happened to have a small stage set up for karaoke that night. Food options came from a food truck serving sliders, pizza, and Mexican-inspired tapas. The karaoke was amusing because it started as family-friendly with some children singing songs like Let It Go and Pink Pony Club but mostly only being able to sing the choruses, then as adults took over, a few people selected RnB songs with more explicit and suggestive lyrics. There was one person in particular who had an incredible voice, and people were definitely too shy to sing after him.

The next day, we planned to go for a hike since the weather was good and the sun was out. We didn’t decide on the hike until the morning, having a look at the AllTrails app and trying to select something that wasn’t inside the bounds of Jervis Bay Territory, because that would incur an additional cost per vehicle for park access in a different state/territory. Collectively, we chose to go to the town of Currarong, which had a couple of beaches and easy coastal trails. It was about a 40 minute drive away via the nearby town of Huskisson.

We stopped in Huskisson for breakfast and coffee. There were eight of us in total, with two people having arrived the night before. Some of us found a cafe that was cleaning up a large table, and we decided to ask for it straight away, in case it was difficult to find a place that could seat all eight of us at the same table.

After feeding ourselves with giant breakfasts—some of us having already had something small to eat beforehand—we were not quite ready to go on a hike, so we explored the shops in town before getting back in our cars and driving. It just so happened that the woman serving us at the cafe was very familiar with the Currarong area, and approved of the Wreck Walk trail we were planning to do. She also mentioned an attraction called Gosangs Tunnel, which required a bit of crawling and moving through a narrow space. She did say we all looked like experienced hikers and wouldn’t have an issue with it, though.

The hike down Wreck Walk took us to Wilson’s Beach, a beach with lots of large rocks and a beautiful view. We walked back down Wreck Walk which connected to a trail called Coomie’s Walk, and that then led us to Gosangs Tunnel and Mermaids Inlet. We originally weren’t going to go that way until someone in the group looked it up. It was all very worth the longer detour.

We saw signage for Gosangs Tunnel that essentially said to approach at your own risk. Upon seeing the natural narrow space in the rock face, some of us were worried we would be too uncomfortable to crawl through, but with enough effort, it wasn’t too bad. As a short person, I had no issues, even with my backpack on my back.

The view on the other side was terrific. We were met with a huge cliff face and an unobstructed view of the ocean. There was more than enough space for a couple of groups of people to take photos and enjoy the view even though there was no safety railing. Using my Apple Watch as a remote, I set up my phone to take a photo of the group, including an action shot. It turned out great.

Since the Mermaids Inlet was a short walk from there, we decided to take a look at it too. It was an inlet with beautifully coloured blue water that we stared at for a brief time, just mesmerised and enjoying being close to nature.

For some of us, the rest of the afternoon was spent back at the Airbnb crafting and relaxing, while others went and spent some time on the beach. I chose to relax and stay in the Airbnb. It was through working on my needlepoint cushion (that I have been working on for the past three months) that I realised that this weekend was a much needed getaway to be in a different place, with people I had not spent much time with or had met for the first time, and let my mind enjoy my surroundings. I found myself working on my needlepoint cushion for an hour or so straight, when back at home I would get distracted and struggle to stay at it for a while, or I would need to listen to a podcast to help me stay focused.

We got some takeaway pizza and pasta for dinner, although not everyone was hungry depending on what they ate for lunch. Some more board games were played that night, and Cam and I had a bit of an early night because we wanted to get up to watch the sunrise the next day.

The following morning we woke at 5:15am and headed down to the beach. It had rained overnight and the sky was cloudy, but there was still a beautiful sunrise to see. We had to be careful not to slip down the steep path, but otherwise it was OK. We spotted a wallaby on the way.

Sunrise was at about 6:12am. There were other people there with the same idea, also watching the sunrise. We were there for almost an hour before heading back to the Airbnb.

Cam and I decided to start the drive back to Sydney (in our separate cars) early, since we had no other plans to stay in town. The others in the group had plans to do activities closer to Jervis Bay. But we needed coffee and breakfast, so we both drove to the more inland country town of Berry, a place I’d heard about but never been.

It was about a 40 minute drive to Berry and we arrived around 8:30am, really feeling like we had made the most of the morning. We spent a while enjoying our breakfast and coffee, energised, and then visited all the cute shops on the main street once they opened at 10:00am.

There was a store dedicated entirely to candles and it was tempting to purchase so many of them… they smelled so good. I controlled myself and actually didn’t buy anything in that store, but I bought two other candles from other stores. One was cheaply priced, and the other one was discounted. I decided that it was fine to treat myself to a couple of candles, given that most of the ones I currently have at home were gifted to me, and I didn’t have a lot of fresh or citrus scented candles on hand. I do like to have a small variety of options!

Cam and I went our separate ways. I decided to try and drive straight home without another stop, since the remainder of the drive home was just under two hours. I was pleased to arrive home by 1:30pm in time for lunch. There was a bit of traffic on the drive back to Sydney, and lots of cars moving a tad too slowly on the motorway, but otherwise, I was proud of myself for doing that drive on my own. It had also been the first time I’d used cruise control in my car in quite some time—it sort of helped me stay focused on the road and not too much on my speed. 😅

All in all, it was a nice weekend away, and I’m grateful the rain kept away. I’m not a big beach person, but anyone who likes beaches will certainly enjoy Jervis Bay. It was good to have a chance to finally visit.