Jervis Bay, NSW

Palm Beach Caravan Park

Two nights at Sanctuary Point at the end of the September 2018 school holidays, four bungalows taken by four families at once. Four places over two days: the park, the basin at its doorstep, the Jervis Bay beaches, and Shoalhaven Zoo inland at North Nowra.

Where: Sanctuary Point, St Georges Basin, NSW
Stayed: 29 September – 1 October 2018
In: Bungalows, as a group
Basin: A few minutes’ walk
Trips: One

The record

29 September – 1 October 2018

Two nights at the end of the September school holidays, four bungalows taken by four families at once. Still the stay that best explains why you would base yourself at Sanctuary Point rather than in Jervis Bay itself.

Four two-bedroom bungalows, booked as one group. The park is on Palm Beach Road, a few minutes’ walk from the shore of St Georges Basin — which is the point of it. The white sand everybody drives down for is fifteen minutes away on the other side of the peninsula, and the water at your own end is flat, shallow and quiet.

What follows is the record of four places over two days: the park, the basin at its doorstep, the Jervis Bay beaches, a wildlife park inland, and the lookout we stopped at on the way down.

Eight years on, this one is put back together from the photographs. Enough of it has gone that we would rather say so than write it as though we remembered every hour. What survives is the shape of the weekend, and the shape turns out to be the whole point of it.

Four families, and that was the reason for going rather than a way of splitting the cost. Ours, my sister’s, and two more who came through her — one of them travelling with their parents, who turned out to be the best card players in the group by a distance. Our eight-year-old and his cousin are a few months apart, and there was a girl a few years older than the two of them. Sanctuary Point got picked because four bungalows came free in one place at the end of the school holidays, not because anybody had an opinion about St Georges Basin.

The bungalows were self-contained and cheerfully coloured, each with its own kitchenette, which is the thing that makes a group this size work at all: everybody cooks in their own place and then spills outside. There is a small playground with swings, and it did more work over the weekend than anything we actually planned.

The days went inland and to the beach. Three hours of one at Shoalhaven Zoo, where our eight-year-old sat still on a rock for twenty minutes and had five animals handed to him in turn — a python, a young crocodile, a wombat, a bearded dragon and a blue-tongue lizard — and was unbothered by every one of them. Those are the photographs that got kept. Then straight from there to the white sand at Jervis Bay, playing cricket, in time for the light.

The evenings were the trip. Once the children were down the adults sat up with whisky and played Flush, three cards each, and it ran later than anyone intended. Ask any of us what we did at Jervis Bay in 2018 and that is the answer you get — not the beaches, which are the reason everybody else drives down.

Would we do it again the same way? We have, several times since, and this is the stay that started it. What we would do differently we honestly cannot tell you. That part has not survived eight years, and inventing a regret to round the page off would be worse than admitting the gap. If it comes back to us it goes in here.

One

Palm Beach Caravan Park, Sanctuary Point

Rows of small painted cabins under palms and figs, on a quiet loop road a few minutes back from the water.

A row of small holiday cabins painted red, purple and yellow, set among palms and gum trees along a narrow sealed road — The cabins from the road *— 29 September 2018, 15:47*

An orange cabin and a yellow cabin with a small covered porch, palms growing between them and a blue cabin further along the road — The other end of the row *— 15:47*

The same cabins seen from behind, red in the foreground with purple and yellow beyond, under large fig trees on mown grass — From behind, late afternoon *— 17:44*

A card game in progress on a dining table inside a cabin, chips stacked around the table and hands reaching in, shot in black and white — Cards, after the children went down *— 29 September, 20:42*

They are small, single-room-plus-bedroom cabins rather than the large modern units most holiday parks lead with now, and they are painted in flat blocks of colour — red, purple, yellow, blue, orange. Whether that reads as cheerful or dated is a matter of taste. The trees are the real asset: mature figs and palms across the whole park, so there is genuine shade in the middle of the day.

The other thing four cabins in a row gets you is somewhere to sit afterwards. That is most of the argument for a park like this over a hotel: the children are asleep forty feet away and the adults are still up.

Two

St Georges Basin, at the end of the road

The reason to stay at Sanctuary Point. A large, shallow, almost enclosed waterway with a sand edge and picnic tables under the casuarinas, and no surf at all.

A picnic table on sand at the edge of a wide calm waterway, casuarinas leaning over the water and a low wooded shore in the distance — Picnic table at the water’s edge *— 29 September, 16:40*

Sun setting low over St Georges Basin, a path of light across flat water and a casuarina silhouetted on the right — Sunset over the basin *— 17:26*

Low sun through eucalypts above a gravel car park at the foreshore reserve, long shadows across the ground — The foreshore reserve at the same moment *— 17:27*

A group playing backyard cricket on the mown grass of the foreshore reserve in low evening sun, long shadows across the ground and gum trees behind — Cricket on the reserve, three minutes later *— 17:30*

St Georges Basin faces west, which is the small piece of local knowledge worth having: the sun goes down over the water from this side, and it does not from the ocean beaches fifteen minutes away. The foreshore reserve has open grass, tables and room for a game of cricket, and it is the sort of place a group of families ends up at every evening without anyone planning it.

Three

The Jervis Bay beaches, about fifteen minutes away

The white sand and the turquoise water. Busy on a fine day at the end of the school holidays, and worth understanding before you drive over.

A curve of very white sand with clear pale-green water and a dark rock shelf running out from the headland, bush coming down to the beach — White sand and the rock shelf *— 30 September 2018, 16:14*

Clear shallow water over white sand shading from pale green to deep blue, tall gums standing right at the top of the beach — The water at the shallow end *— 16:26*

A wide view along the beach in late afternoon, people small in the distance on the sand and the rock platform, bush headland behind — Late afternoon, looking along the bay *— 16:40*

Looking along the white beach from sand level, people standing near the water and a wooded headland running out to the right — From the sand, looking along *— 16:16*

The same beach with long shadows from the treeline falling across the white sand, families sitting near the trees — Shadows off the treeline *— 16:41*

A ring of small sand towers moulded with a bucket, built around a hollow in very fine white sand — What the sand is actually like *— 17:01*

A gravel path behind the beach with a rip current warning sign on a pole, the white sand and clear water beyond and casuarinas along the path — The path down, and the sign on it *— 16:13*

The parking, which is the whole problem.

Hyams Beach village has very little of it, and on a fine weekend it fills.

There is no booking system and no permit for Hyams — that myth gets repeated a lot.

What there is, is a shortage of spaces and, in past summers, traffic controllers turning cars away once the village was full.

Both the New South Wales Government and Shoalhaven’s own tourism body give the same advice: park at Greenfield Beach and walk.

Greenfield Beach picnic area, at the end of Elizabeth Drive in Vincentia, has flush toilets, cold showers, free gas and electric barbecues, tables and drinking water, and no rubbish bins — carry it out.

From there the White Sands Walk is a 2.5 kilometre loop linking Greenfield, Chinamans and Hyams, signed at thirty minutes to an hour and a half.

It is graded 3 and the Scribbly Gum section has steps, so it is not a pram walk despite how it is usually photographed.

Chinamans has no car park of its own, which is exactly why it stays quiet.

None of these beaches is patrolled. Not Hyams, not Greenfield, not Chinamans, and none of the beaches inside Booderee either. Huskisson Beach, fifteen minutes the other way, is the calm town beach with a car park, toilets and a picnic reserve behind it.

One correction we would make to our own record. We did not note which of these beaches we were on. The photographs are from the Greenfield to Hyams stretch on the afternoon of 30 September; we have not published a beach name against them because we cannot be certain which one, and a wrong name is worse than none.

Four

Shoalhaven Zoo, North Nowra

Three hours inland, in bushland above the Shoalhaven River — sandstone outcrops, hand-feeding pens, an old windmill, and twenty minutes at the end with a python, a crocodile, a wombat and two lizards.

A large weathered sandstone outcrop with ferns growing from its ledges, wire enclosures built against the base of it — Enclosures built into the sandstone *— 30 September 2018, 12:15*

A black swan and a white goose standing on bare sand inside a fenced yard, timber rails in the foreground — Black swan and goose *— 12:34*

A meerkat standing upright on sand in front of a corrugated iron wall, alert and looking to one side — Meerkat, standing up *— 13:22*

A tall steel farm windmill against a clear blue sky, standing above sheds and bushland at the edge of the animal enclosures — The windmill over the pens *— 13:46*

A boy in a blue shirt holding out feed through a wire fence to a large white goat leaning over the rail towards him, more goats behind — Feeding the goats over the rail *— 13:28*

This is the wet-morning answer, and it is the part of the trip the children remembered. The pens are set among sandstone and bush rather than laid out on flat ground, and a lot of it is hand-feeding rather than looking through glass.

The last twenty minutes of it are the reason the zoo is on this page at all. At about ten to three a keeper came out through the crowd with a python across his shoulders, and a few minutes later our eight-year-old was sitting on a sandstone slab having animals brought to him one after another. First the python, heavy enough to lie over both shoulders and still trail its tail on the ground beside him. Then a young crocodile, carried flat across two open hands, snout in one and tail in the other. Then a wombat, which he held upright against his chest with both arms, and which shut its eyes and stayed there. Last, a bearded dragon set on one shoulder while a blue-tongue lizard sat across his lap, both at once. He did not move much and he did not flinch at any of it, which is not what we had expected when we joined the queue. It is 14:54 to 15:13 in the photographs, and there is more of it on file than of any other twenty minutes of the weekend.

If you are going for that, the arrangement has changed since 2018.

The holding now sits inside a fixed show timetable rather than a general session you wander into.

On weekends and in NSW school holidays it runs Furry Friends at 11am, marmoset feeding at midday, the Reptile Show at 1pm, lion feeding at 2pm and the koala show at 3pm.

On weekdays it is a mixed animal show at 11.30am and again at 2.30pm, with marmoset feeding at 1pm.

The reptile show is the one that offers touching and holding under a keeper, and the koala show is the one built around a photograph; souvenir photos start at $10.

Anything closer than that is a separate bookable encounter now, from $100, and the nearest thing to our afternoon is Ultimate Aussie — koala, bettong, lizard and crocodile, from $160.

There is no wombat anywhere on the current list, so the one thing our eight-year-old still talks about is the one thing you cannot book.

Times and prices above are from the zoo’s own schedule and experiences pages, read in September 2026. Show timetables at a zoo this size move with staffing and with which animals are well enough to work, so treat them as the shape of the day rather than a promise, and ring ahead if you are driving down for one particular show.

And on the way down

The lookout above Werri Beach, Gerringong

Two hours out of Sydney, an hour short of Sanctuary Point, and the best reason to come off the highway on the drive down.

A high view over a long curved surf beach with a lagoon behind it, a small coastal town and green dairy farmland running down to the sea — Werri Beach and the lagoon from the hill *— 29 September 2018, 14:30*

A wider view from the same hill, dairy paddocks running down to the coast with the town, the highway and distant hills beyond — The wider view, forty seconds later *— 14:30*

Dairy country running straight down to a surf beach, with the lagoon behind it and the headland at the far end. It costs about twenty minutes off the drive and it is the moment the trip starts.

Getting there

How far it is, and how to get there without a car

One map, and one question: how far south, north or inland is this actually? Then, if you are not driving, what runs — and what does not.

195 km by road · about 2 hr 45 driving — the line is straight-line distance, not the route

Train, then local bus

South Coast Line from Sydney Central to Kiama on the electric train, change to the diesel shuttle for Bomaderry — about three hours. Then Nowra Coaches route 102X, which runs from Bomaderry station through Sanctuary Point. Roughly four hours all up.

Coach

Premier Motor Service, Sydney Central to Nowra, about three hours, then the same 102X.

The last leg. You can do this one without a car.

Route 102X terminates at Bomaderry station and runs through Sanctuary Point, so the train connects to a real bus.

From the Sanctuary Point shops the park is under a kilometre — fine with light bags.

Evening and weekend bus coverage is the weak point, so check the day you are travelling.

St Georges Basin and Jervis Bay Taxis are on Kerry Street if it falls over.

Checked September 2026 Check before you book.

Every service above was checked against the operator’s own timetable rather than a travel site, but timetables change and some operators publish no frequency at all — where that is so, we have said so instead of guessing.

Confirm on transportnsw.info or with the operator before you rely on a connection.

If something here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it.

Worth the drive

What there is to do

Sanctuary Point sits on the western side of the peninsula, so the white-sand beaches are a drive rather than a walk — about fifteen minutes.

Everything below is within an hour except Fitzroy Falls, which is a day of its own.

Prices and hours were checked in September 2026; the beaches are free and the two that cost money are Booderee and the pool.

Greenfield Beach picnic area — park hereEnd of Elizabeth Drive, Vincentia — about fifteen minutes.Flush toilets, cold showers, free gas and electric barbecues, tables and drinking water, and no rubbish bins, so carry it out.Parking is on Elizabeth Drive and the National Parks and Wildlife Service says plainly that it can be limited at weekends.Free
White Sands Walk — Greenfield to Chinamans to HyamsA 2.5 kilometre loop from the Greenfield Beach picnic area, signed at thirty minutes to an hour and a half, linking the three beaches.Graded 3, and the Scribbly Gum section has steps — it is not a pram walk, whatever the photographs suggest.This is the way to see Hyams without fighting for a park.Free
Hyams Beach — and the parking mythCyrus Street, Hyams Beach — about fifteen minutes.There is no booking system and no permit for Hyams. That story gets repeated constantly and it is wrong.What is true is that the village has very little parking and fills on fine days, and that in past summers cars were turned away once it was full.Both the New South Wales Government and Shoalhaven’s own tourism body tell you to park at Greenfield and walk. Unpatrolled.Council was investigating paid street parking here as at June 2026, with a report due that August — we have not been able to confirm whether it went ahead.Free
Chinamans BeachBetween Greenfield and Hyams, inside Jervis Bay National Park.It has no car park of its own and is reached on foot from Greenfield — which is precisely why it is the quiet one.Unpatrolled, and the parks service publishes no facilities for it, so take what you need.Free
Huskisson BeachBeach Street, Huskisson — about fifteen minutes.The calm town beach rather than a national-park one: car park, public toilets and a picnic reserve behind it, and the Huskisson shops a short walk away.Good for kayaking and paddleboarding.Free
Getting in — and why to book aheadJervis Bay Road — the entry station is about twenty-five minutes.$20 per vehicle per day, $10 concession, $80 for a year; walkers and cyclists go in free.You can buy a pass at the entry station, but Parks Australia strongly encourages booking online because the park hits capacity and a variable message sign on Pacific Hill turns people away when it does.Print the pass and show the QR code on the dashboard.If you are camping inside the park, entry is included in the camping fee.$20 per vehicle per day
Booderee Botanic GardensThe only Aboriginal-owned botanic gardens in Australia, and included in the park entry fee.Open from 8 am daily; closing 4 pm on weekdays and 5 pm at weekends from May to September, an hour later either side from October to April.Electric barbecues and a sheltered picnic area at Scribbly Lawn, and many of the trails are wheelchair and pram accessible — the best part of the park for small children.Included in park entry
Green Patch and Murrays BeachGreen Patch has fresh water, toilets, hot showers, sheltered barbecues and a large day-use area, with kangaroos on the grass.Murrays Beach, further in, looks across to Bowen Island and its little penguin colony, and has a big car park with a short bush track down.None of Booderee’s beaches is patrolled.Patrol seasons and hours change — Surf Life Saving Australia’s Beachsafe has the current position for every Australian beach.Included in park entry
Cape St George lighthouse ruinsThe 1860 sandstone ruins, with a weatherboard cottage, kitchen and latrine block alongside — the most significant European site in the park, and reckoned the best place in it to watch the whale migration.You walk in: the nearest vehicle access is Murrays Beach, over four kilometres away.Not a stop, an afternoon.Included in park entry
Bay & Basin Leisure Centre, Vincentia — the closest thing to a rainy-day planThe Wool Road, Vincentia — about seven minutes, the nearest listing on this page.A 25 metre lap pool, a toddler pool, a leisure pool with beach entry, a spa and an indoor waterslide.Monday to Thursday 6 am to 8 pm, Friday to 7, Saturday 8 to 4, Sunday 10 to 2. (02) 4406 2022.Adult $8.30 · child 3–16 $6.30 · family $29
Jervis Bay Maritime Museum, HuskissonWoollamia Road at Dent Street — about fifteen minutes.Open daily 10 to 4, closed Christmas Day.Children under 16 are free with an adult, which makes it the cheap indoor option, and it is ten minutes’ walk from the cruise wharf. (02) 4441 5675.Adult $12.50 · concession $10 · under 16 free
Dolphin and whale cruises, HuskissonJervis Bay Wild and Dolphin Watch Cruises both operate from 15 Field Street, Huskisson, and appear to be the same operation under two names, so do not spend long comparing them.Dolphins year round; whales May to November.Dolphin cruises run about ninety minutes, whale cruises two to three hours.Neither publishes prices on its own site — ring (02) 4441 7002 rather than trusting a booking site.Not published — ring
Shoalhaven Zoo, North Nowra23 Rock Hill Road, North Nowra — about 35 minutes inland, in bushland above the Shoalhaven River.Open 9am to 5pm every day except Christmas Day.The pens are set among sandstone outcrops rather than laid out flat, and a lot of it is hand-feeding rather than looking through glass, which is why it is the one our children remembered.It traded for years as Nowra Animal Park, so older signs and directions use that name.They do not publish admission prices — ring (02) 4421 3949 rather than trust a directory figure.Not published — phone first
Hanging Rock Lookout, NowraScenic Drive, Nowra — about half an hour, and worth five minutes if you are going to the zoo anyway.A platform forty-six metres above the Shoalhaven River, with a car park and toilets, and the start of the Ben’s Walk circuit below it.Free
Fitzroy Falls — a day, not a side trip1301 Nowra Road, Fitzroy Falls — about an hour and a half inland, so treat it as its own day or as the long way home.Visitor centre 9 to 4 daily, closed Christmas Day.The most accessible thing on this page: step-free from the car park, accessible toilets with a change facility, a wheelchair available on request, and a duckboard path with bench seats out to the main lookout.$4 per vehicle per day

Checked September 2026 Check before you go.

Fees, opening hours and seasonal closures change, and we have not been to all of these.

Distances are approximate — put the name in your maps app rather than trusting our figure.

If something here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it.

Local, for us

Groceries, mandirs and where to eat

Better served than most of this coast, and for one reason: there is an Indian restaurant in Sanctuary Point itself, three minutes from the park.

Groceries are another matter — there is one Indian shop in the whole Shoalhaven, at Nowra, half an hour away. Bring atta, dal and whole spices from home.

There is a gurudwara at Nowra with Sunday langar, and no Hindu mandir anywhere in the Shoalhaven at all.

Indian grocery

EK Stores, Nowra — the only one on this coast84A Kinghorne Street, Nowra — about half an hour.As far as we can find, the only Indian shop between Wollongong and the Victorian border.Small, and genuinely trading: its own social media was posting this week, with pooja items, deity dresses and Indian snacks on the shelves.What we have not confirmed is whether it carries atta, dal and whole spices in useful quantities.Do not trust the hours you will find online — the only directory carrying them rates its own reliability at zero. Ring 0470 394 226 first.
India At Home — delivery, not a shopAdvertises itself against “Nowra–Bomaderry” and is easy to mistake for a local grocer. It is an online delivery service run from Victoria, with no premises here. Useful for stocking up before you drive down; not somewhere you can call in.
Otherwise, nothingWe checked Nowra, Bomaderry, South Nowra, Vincentia, Huskisson and Ulladulla. Nothing else. The nearest real choice is Wollongong, an hour and a half back up the highway, which makes it a stop on the drive rather than a trip.

Gurudwaras and mandirs

Guru Nanak Darbar South Coast, Nowra13 Westbrook Road, Nowra — about half an hour.Darbar Sahib open every day, 5 am to 7 pm.On Sundays, Sukhmani Sahib Paath from 10, kirtan late morning, and langar from about 1 to 3 pm.Their own pages give slightly different Sunday morning times, so treat the langar window as the reliable part and confirm before travelling.It describes itself as a new association still fundraising for its buildings, so expect modest facilities. admin@nanakdarbarsouthcoast.org.
No mandir in the ShoalhavenNot at Nowra, not at Jervis Bay, not at Ulladulla or Kiama.We checked town by town and against the Australian Council of Hindu Clergy’s own temple register.The nearest is Sri Venkateswara Temple at Helensburgh, 1 Temple Road — about two hours north, so it is a day or a stop on the way home rather than a side trip.Weekdays 8 to 12 and 4 to 7; weekends and public holidays 8 to 7 straight through, with a vegetarian canteen usually running the middle of the day.

Pure vegetarian

Pilgrims, HuskissonThe one fully vegetarian kitchen in the region — Shoalhaven’s own tourism board names it as the only venue on its vegetarian trail with a 100 per cent vegetarian menu, as opposed to the several that merely have options.We could not reach their own website to confirm the Huskisson street address or hours, so ring or look it up on the day rather than driving on our word.
Veg-friendly, but not meat-freeBunya Wholefoods at Vincentia and Leaf at Nowra both appear on the regional vegetarian trail, and both serve meat. Worth knowing the difference if a shared grill matters to you.

Indian restaurants — vegetarian and non-vegetarian

Holy Cow Indian Cuisine, Sanctuary Point — three minutes awayShop 1, 16 Paradise Beach Road, Sanctuary Point — walkable from the park, and the reason this stretch is better served than the rest of the coast. Dinner from 5.Bring your own alcohol: their own site says bring your own (BYO) and two sources list it as unlicensed, so do not turn up expecting to buy a drink.No beef on the menu — the curries run vegetable, chicken, lamb, goat and seafood — and there is a dedicated vegetarian and vegan section plus a children’s menu.Two different phone numbers circulate; the one on their own site is (02) 4401 2357.Delivery exists through Uber Eats and Menulog rather than from the restaurant itself, and one listing suggests it closes Tuesdays, which is worth a call.
Taj Indian Restaurant, Huskisson2/47 Owen Street, Huskisson — about fifteen minutes.Wednesday to Sunday from 5 pm; closed Monday and Tuesday, which is their own statement rather than a directory’s.Dine-in and takeaway, with Uber Eats as well. Fully licensed and BYO, again from their own site.North Indian. We have not been able to see the full menu, so we cannot tell you whether they serve beef. (02) 4441 7775.
Kohli’s, Nowra — and the Huskisson food truck116 Kinghorne Street, Nowra — about half an hour.Dinner from 5 daily, with lunch Tuesday to Friday. Dine-in, takeaway and delivery through the usual apps.They also run a food truck at 13b Currambene Street, Huskisson, which is fifteen minutes away rather than thirty — we could not establish its hours.Their own site says nothing about a liquor licence, so assume nothing. (02) 4421 0300.
The Bay Leaf, Ulladulla16 Wason Street, Ulladulla — about forty minutes south, so a trip rather than a dinner run.Dinner 4 to 8:30 seven days; lunch 11 to 2:30 on weekdays, with their own site ambiguous about Tuesdays and weekend lunch.Fully licensed and BYO, at $4 a head corkage.They deliver, but only from Milton to Burrill Lake — Sanctuary Point is well outside it. (02) 4454 5208.

Checked September 2026 Please check before you drive.

These were verified online, not by us in person, and small businesses close, move and change names without updating their listings.

Distances and times are rough — put the address in your maps app rather than trusting our figure.

If something here is wrong or has closed, tell us and we will fix it.

Where next

Other places in the record

Distances are straight-line from this park to that one, which is enough to tell you whether two trips could be one.

25 kmThe Leaning OakShoalhaven, NSWnear enough to do both on one trip 35 kmDiscovery Burrill LakeShoalhaven, NSWnear enough to do both on one trip 120 kmBonnie ValeRoyal National Park, NSWa couple of hours down the road 150 kmCockatoo IslandSydney Harbour, NSWa couple of hours down the road

Something on this page wrong, or out of date? We would rather be told than be wrong — tell us about this page. And if there is something you wish this site covered and it does not, tell us that too.

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