About
The beach directly out the front of Hat Head Holiday Park, South Smokey Beach (or as the locals call it Hat Head Beach) is a great spot for recreational or beginner surfers. The waves are generally soft and there’s usually a long fun right break beside the headland.
South Smoky Beach stretches north 15km to Smoky Cape Lighthouse and has 4-Wheel Drive access for those with a beach-driving permit.
Killick Beach, also accessible by 4-Wheel Drive, is a secluded beach that gets most of the southern ground swells and no crowds. Killick Beach is known to sometimes reach wave heights of more than 12 feet (3.65m).
Fishing
As Australia’s closest point to the continental shelf, offshore fishing is the hero experience for enthusiastic anglers, although there are lots of places onshore to catch a feed.
Korogoro Creek near Hat Head Holiday Park is an excellent place to start for whiting, bream, flathead, bass and mud crabs.
If you’re after a bit of land-based game fishing, head to The Island, Bird Rock and Spinning Ledge to hook a Spanish mackerel, cobia, marlin, tuna, kingfish and more.
Off the beach, expect to catch bream, mulloway, whiting and tailor.
Bushwalking
There’s lots of bushwalking tracks of different grades in Hat Head National Park, but the Smokey Cape Walking Track in the northern part of the National Park lets you experience one of the last remnants of unique littorial rainforest on the NSW coast. It’s a moderately challenging walk that starts at Captain Cook’s lookout and goes along ridges and gullies behind North Smoky Beach through dense rainforest. Keep an eye out for swallow-tailed butterflies, swamp wallabies and red-necked wallabies. There are spots to stop for a picnic along the way.
Sightseeing
A must-do is a visit to Smokey Cape Lighthouse. It’s one of the oldest and tallest lighthouses in Australia and is the ideal spot for whale watching between May and November.
Watersports
Other than the spectacular National Park, a key focal point of Hat Head is the crystal clear Korogoro Creek that opens on to a stunning beach. The creek and the beaches offer up the perfect place to swim, snorkel, surf, paddleboard or kayak. You can even try your hand at kayaking fishing!
Drive
There are some great scenic drives around Hat Head that include spectacular ocean views, access to walking trails with great bird and whale watching, as well as the National Park which features one of the largest live sand-dune systems in New South Wales.
Visit Macleay Valley Coast for more things to do.