Tired of holidaying at the same old places? These extraordinary NSW destinations could be the answer. Lee Atkinson and Steve Fraser report.
Find the average motel mundane? Bored with B&Bs and had it with hotel rooms that all look the same?
You need a room with a different view — perhaps a destination where the accommodation is the attraction. The destinations described here won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but you are guaranteed a holiday you won’t forget.
For more information about great places to stay, check out NRMA’s online accommodation guide.
Many of us seem to spend our lives on trains, commuting to and from the office each day. The Carriageway Resort, near Dungog in the Hunter Valley, takes the notion of sleeping on the train a little further.
Here you can stay in four converted railway carriages. Each historic carriage was once a Sydney commuter train, hauling workers and visitors to the city each day on the Bankstown/Strathfield line for more than 50 years.
Today, the ‘red rattlers’ are fully furnished and self contained with air conditioning, bathrooms, kitchen, barbecue area, family lounge room and two bedrooms with a queen-size bed in one and bunks for the kids in the other. Inside, the carriages are surprisingly spacious and each has great views of the valley.
True trainspotters don’t come here just to sleep in a train. Just 80 metres away is the north coast train line — a trainspotter’s dream! Your hosts can supply timetables. Some train drivers have become so familiar with the sight of ardent trainspotters armed with cameras that they give a friendly toot on the horn as the zoom past — usually to the delighted squeals of the kids.
If all these trains get a little too much, Dungog is only a short drive from the wineries of the Hunter Valley and the world heritage rainforest and wilderness of the Barrington Tops.
You can’t see the motel at White Cliffs from the street. In fact, you can’t see much of White Cliffs from the street. Summer temperatures of 40˚C+ and deposits of opal buried beneath the surface has driven most of the population of this tiny outback town underground.
You’d be mad not to join them. Underground homes have a year-round temperature of 22 degrees.
The Underground Dug-out Motel has 32 rooms — all 10 feet underground, with no windows and no natural light!
The motel has a licensed restaurant (dining options in White Cliffs are fairly slim), a communal TV lounge and bar — all underground. If you feel the need for the sun on your face — or some fresh air — there is an outdoor swimming pool and barbecue area.
Although White Cliffs is a long way from anywhere (245 km north-east of Broken Hill) — you’ll be glad you came. It doesn’t come much more weird — or wonderful — than this.
Underground Dug-out Motel
Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream.
No, don’t seek out your neighbourhood drug dealer. There’s a perfectly legal escape from reality at the Nan Tien Temple, near Wollongong: meditation. Guests here are encouraged to join Buddhist nuns at morning and evening meditation sessions. There’s no guarantee that you’ll find the meaning of life in a Lotus leaf but you can expect a holiday from 21st century life.
Nan Tien is a working temple run by Buddhist nuns. Their daily routine involves meditation, chanting and teaching Buddhist doctrines.
Guests are accommodated at the comfortable and modern 100-room Pilgrim Lodge. The nuns live an ascetic lifestyle but guests will find most modern conveniences, including a TV, telephone, ensuite and tea/coffee-making facilities.
Guests can take part in as much or as little of temple life as they wish. Nothing is compulsory and there is no religious hard-sell. Weekend meditation retreats are held on the second weekend of every month and there are regular meditation classes.
If your idea of the perfect getaway is to get as far from it all as you can, then Green Cape Light House is for you. On offer are 360-degree water views, wildlife at your doorstep, splendid isolation and miles of national park wilderness between you and your nearest neighbour.
Green Cape Light House is the most southerly light station in NSW. It is the tallest and one of the oldest (1883). It is also one of the few in NSW where you can stay.
There are two Assistant Lighthouse Keepers’ cottages available for rent, by the night or by the week. The cottages are identical (one big house split down the middle) and both have a fully-equipped kitchen, lounge and dining rooms, two bedrooms and views to die for. Both sleep six.
Perched on the edge of a rocky peninsula, Green Cape Light House guards one of the most treacherous and dangerous sections of the coast. Nearby, the aptly-named Disaster Bay is littered with wrecks. Just below the light house car park is a cemetery with the graves of some of the 71 people drowned when the Ly-ee-Moon was wrecked here in 1886.
The view from the front rooms and verandah overlooking the cliffs is spectacular. Seals frolic in the white water of the waves below, while the odd dolphin, or whales in season, swim by. Sea eagles, shearwaters, cormorants and even albatross soar above the waves.
At night, remote and isolated on the cape, watching the light cut into the inky sky, it’s easy to relate to the mariners of long ago who once took so much comfort from this light.
Green Cape Light House cottages
other unusual places to stay include:
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