Located about 200 km from Sydney, Nelson Bay is a very popular coastal town, and also the largest, in Port Stephens. Long stretches of beautiful shoreline, whale and dolphin tours, lovely hiking trails, sunset spots, sandboarding, and camel riding tours – Nelson Bay is an excellent destination to spend a long weekend.
We spent 3 nights in Nelson Bay over the Easter holidays. Among other activities, sandboarding was something I was really looking forward to do with my family. But since we were traveling with our toddler, I kept wondering how this whole trip would go.
We drove to Birubi beach late in the morning to do bookings on the site. Since it was Easter break, the whole place was buzzing with tourists. The camel ride tour had a waiting time of 3 hours. We decided to go for Sand Dune Safari . We queued for 20 minutes to get the tickets and then waited another 10 more minutes for the vehicles to take us to the sand dunes. It was a very windy day so sand was getting in everywhere.
I would recommend wearing sunglasses, mask and hat all the time.
The 4WD vehicles drove us through vast expanse of Worimi Conservation Lands, largest moving coastal dunes in the Southern Hemisphere. The landscape looked surreal. After a few minutes of the drive, I could see a strip of greenery rising from the horizon.
We got our sandboards from the shed and after a few instructions we were on our own, ready to slide down the dunes.
Sand Boarding, Port Stephens
The sand dunes looked steep, and I was initially scared that I would roll down instead of sliding. But then I realised it was just sand. It is not going to hurt even if I fell. It was really fun. The sand was so soft and cool to touch.
I have to say, sliding down is fun, but climbing up – not so much fun. 😀 I got a good workout done just climbing up after every slide.
As it was a windy day, we had to stop many times as the sand kept getting in our eyes. My little one also did sandboarding with my husband a couple of times. He was more interested in driving his monster truck in the sand and playing in a spot where the sand didn’t get in his eyes.
We stayed there for about 45 minutes and then took one of the 4WD vehicles to go back to the car park.
Price
Adults: $35
Seniors/Students/Concession: $30
Child: 4-17 $30
Infant: 0-3 FREE
Facilities:
Car Park and Toilets available Birubi Beach.
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