The Tweed Coast Information

The Tweed Coast

IT IS just south of Kingscliff, over the wooden bridge that spans Cudgen Creek and past scrappy patches of coastal scrub you might remember from another time, that you will find the investment of a lifetime.

Kingscliff is near the northern end of what tourism promoters call the Tweed Coast – a 37km stretch of fading memories that runs from Fingal Head, just beyond Tweed Heads South, down to Pottsville and Wooyung.
Cudgen, Casuarina, Cabarita, Hastings Point – such names on this stretch of the northern NSW coast are etched like a frame around the holiday routines of countless southern Queensland families.

Years ago, if you had time as a transient visitor to explore these places, you would cut across to the coast from the Pacific Highway, marvel at how undeveloped it all seemed after Byron Bay or the Gold Coast, and wonder what brought people there year after year.
So much scrub, so little tourism activity beyond the family caravan parks, surf and bowls clubs, bait shops and takeaways. It was another world – so close to Coolangatta and the busiest beach playground in Australia, too.
But the Tweed Coast is changing rapidly, and within a few years much of it may be unrecognisable.
The sea-changers have done it, baby boomers and others looking for beachfront bliss, and the coast is developing to accommodate them.
Nowhere else is this more spectacularly demonstrated than beyond the bridge at Cudgen Creek, where remnant coastal scrub gives way to a new, landscaped road, bright "Investment of a Lifetime" signs and a new village by the sea called Salt.
This is a colossal development, along 1.2km of beachfront on land previously given over to sand mining, that on completion will have five-star resorts, a hotel, health and fitness centres, cafes, restaurants, shops, up to 600 designer homes as well as luxury apartments and villas, a village centre, bikeways and walking paths and a population of perhaps 2000, not including holidaymakers. By itself it will transform the northern Tweed Coast, but there is more.
Just down the road, an even bigger master-planned beachfront community, Casuarina, has been taking shape since late 2000. An eclectic mix of architectural styles its developers call "quintessential Australian beach house", it ultimately will have a population of 5000 along with supporting commercial and tourism-related infrastructure.
These construction projects between them are valued at about $1.4 billion – a lot of money for a once-sleepy coastal strip – and there are others worth many hundreds of millions more in Kingscliff, Pottsville and Cabarita.
What is this doing to the coast? To get an idea, it is worthwhile driving the length of it between Fingal Head and Wooyung, and comparing its less developed sections, especially south of Pottsville Beach, with some of the changes that already are evident.
Has this gone as a traditional family holiday destination?
You might find one answer to that at Kingscliff, a community lucky enough to have a quiet foreshore esplanade, a degree of charm not spoilt by high-rise development, a couple of caravan/holiday parks and a growing level of tourism sophistication.
The short commercial stretch of Marine Parade has reinvented itself with a few up-market restaurants.
But it is not all expensive. On the cheaper side, just up the Parade by the beachfront, the Kingscliff Bowls Club offers meal specials.
If you want a place to stay anywhere on the Tweed Coast that doesn't have a road between your children and the ocean, you could do worse than the centrally located Kingscliff Beach Holiday Park.
The park has on-site vans for $51 a night for a one or two-night stay (off-peak), cabins for $83 and two spacious beachfront villas for $104, as well as powered van sites for $25. All these rates come down with longer stays but increase in peak times.
The park has a fabulous location beside a beautiful beach and is just across the road from the restaurants and shops. To my mind, this makes it perfect for a family holiday.
There are similar holiday parks, all located on crown land elsewhere on the Tweed Coast, at places such as Fingal Beach, Hastings Point and Pottsville Beach – a comfortable link with the past.
Visitor numbers on the Tweed Coast are increasing substantially, according to marketing body Tweed and Coolangatta Tourism, and accommodation houses this year have had their best forward bookings since the late 1990s.
There are countless accommodation options in the major centres of Kingscliff, Bogangar (Cabarita Beach), Hastings Point and Pottsville, ranging from caravan parks and guesthouses to apartments and boutique resorts.
Is it still a family destination? Well, yes. The beaches are wonderful, the fishing can be superb and the surfing at spots like Cabarita is renowned.
THINGS TO DO ON THE TWEED COAST
Stay at Kingscliff and use it as a base for short trips.
In Kingscliff, try breakfast on Marine Parade at Cafe Sbiza, lunch at Neil and Deborah Sallaway's Cafe Moorish, sundowner drinks at the surf club and a good-value dinner at the bowls club. Visit Fingal Head lighthouse for some history and great views of Cook Island and the northern coastline.
Take the children swimming in a safe and picturesque environment at Cudgen Creek.
Buy a fishing licence ($5 for three days or $10 for a month) and find out what draws thousands of anglers to this coast.
Get down to Cabarita and discover why it is one of the best surfing spots on the east coast.
Buy the freshest and best-value roadside produce you'll find anywhere at Mate & Crows, between Kingscliff and Cudgen.
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GETTING THERE
John Wright explored the Tweed Coast with the help of Tweed and Coolangatta Tourism (Tel: 1800 674 414, www.tweedcoolangatta.com.au).
To get to the Tweed Coast from Queensland, take the Pacific Highway into NSW and after Tweed Heads South turn off left and follow the signs to the Tweed Coast Tourist Drive.
Kingscliff Beach Holiday Park can be contacted on (02) 6674 1311 or, with other Tweed Coast holiday parks, through www.tchp.com.au

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