Road trip: Sydney to Port Stephens

Fans of The Boathouse Group’s brand of beautiful beachside dining (the company operates highly Instagrammable venues at Manly’s Shelly Beach, Balmoral and Palm Beach) will be eager to inspect the Norfolk pines shaded Patonga Beach Hotel – a major drawcard in this pretty fishing settlement of just 200 residents. A small renovation and rebrand is scheduled for autumn 2018, but the owners say the hotel’s main themes – cafe, beer garden and beachside takeaway – will remain in place.

Zip through Brisbane Water National Park’s bushland along the road to Pearl Beach, a National Trust listed village that fronts the sparkling waters of Broken Bay. Despite its diminutive size (there are just 600 dwellings), the village boasts several attractive dining options.

The Pearl Beach Café and General Store has jumped on the bowl bandwagon, offering two types of healthy lunch bowls piled with beans, quinoa, roasted pumpkin, fetta and more. Ask for a coveted verandah table at Pearls on the Beach and order up KFC (Kentucky fried cauliflower), quail with roast fennel, purple yam custard or lemon posset.

At Ettalong Beach, paddle in the shallows or explore the playgrounds and pathways of the foreshore, which underwent a $5 million redevelopment in 2014. There’s also an excellent eatery – The Box on the Water offers lunch, dinner, weekend breakfasts and sunset sips while its Outside the Box beach kiosk dispatches prawns and oysters with lemon, as well as takeaway boxes packed with cheese, crackers, nuts and fig paste. The Box includes views to Box Head (which inspired the name) – home to an epic left hand surfing point break that can produce rides of up to 1.5km long.

Elsewhere in Ettalong Beach, Lords of Pour brews excellent coffee and supplements its everyday menu on weekends with nifty dishes such as mac and kimcheese – the classic spiked with kimchi. Movie buffs can catch a new release movie in the old school surrounds of Cinema Paradiso, which boasts six themed screens, including one outdoors.

Trace The Scenic Road through Bouddi National Park and wind your way around to another atmospheric Central Coast cinema. Avoca Beach Picture Theatre began in the Hunter family’s front garden in 1948. Four generations have run what’s billed as “the friendliest little theatre around”. After the credits roll, venture to the beach, which is bookended by imposing headlands. Check the surf (Avoca is renowned for consistent waves) or go for a paddle in the shallow rock pool.

The Scenic Highway leads you to The Skillion, a grassed, unusually narrow headland that gently rises as though it’s a giant ski jump. Stroll to the end for panoramic coastal views. What you can’t see is that just 1.4km offshore is HMAS Adelaide, deliberately scuttled in 2011 to create a dive site. Pro Dive Central Coast runs daily dive trips departing from Terrigal.

Leaving behind the Central Coast, head to Lake Macquarie, Australia’s largest coastal saltwater lake. At Swansea, pick up fresh prawns and other seafood from the Commercial Fishermen’s Co operative (open Tuesday to Saturday). At low tide, find the sea caves at Caves Beach or hit the coastal walking track that leads into Wallarah National Park, home to cabbage tree palms that soar 25m into the air. Pick up a kayak, stand up paddleboard, tinny, runabout or sports boat from Jet Buzz Water Sports at Cams Wharf, or get wet with a high speed jet boat ride.

Need a reason to venture to the lake’s western shore? Paddle across to Wangi Wangi or drive to Dobell House where the Archibald Prize winning artist, Sir William Dobell, lived and worked (open weekends and public holidays).