South Durras

Perfectly positioned between a sparkling lake, ocean beaches and rich forests, South Durras is a little paradise.

Known for its iconic images of kangaroos on sandy beaches, the camera-happy macropods are never hard to find, and more often than not will be sharing the grounds of your accommodation or picnic area with you. With the town surrounded by Murrumarang National Park, native animals such as wallabies, goannas, parrots and cockatoos are never far away.

The national park is stunning to explore, and makes South Durras the perfect place for an escape into a natural landscape. There are very few areas on Australia’s east coast where oceanside forests still stand. Here, beautiful spotted gums run right down to the sea and offer the chance to walk the landscape as it has stood for millennia. The park includes secluded beaches, headlands and forests in all directions. Those to the south are most easily accessed. One of the highlights is Wasp Head, with an excellent walk providing ocean views, golden beaches, hidden bays and ancient cliffs. The beautifully weathered sandstone here marks the edge of the 280-million-year-old Sydney Basin. The Eurobodalla coastline is a world-class geological gallery with amazing formations and folds of sandstone, siltstone, shale, granite, basalt and fossils dating back as far as 510 million years.

The deep rockpools at North Head represent millions of years of wave erosion. Accessible via a beach walk from the North Head camping ground, the pools offer snorkelling in clean clear water full of colour and life.

Away from the ocean beaches, Durras Lake provides calm flat waters perfect for swimming, fishing, kayaking and paddle boarding. Regarded as one of the purest estuaries on the east coast, Durras Lake is protected by an untouched forest catchment. Fishing for table fish such as bream, whiting and flathead is as simple as casting from the shore. The lake is ideal for kayaks and small boats.