For those lucky enough to not be restricted to the weekends then I applaud you, but for the rest of us the weekends are our time to shine. Luckily, NSW has a bunch of public holidays packed into the summer season. As it’s always satisfying to feel like you have used that time well, had a special adventure or done something you couldn’t fit into a normal two-day trip, I’ve compiled a few of my favourite long weekend adventures. These include: Hitching, Cycling, Hiking and canoeing; some of which I have written about before and some which are new.
Let me know your experiences.

1. HITCH – Sydney to Byron – Cost ~$100

A simple trip with minimal planning. Grab yourself a map of NSW or at least something with the major roads and towns between Sydney and Byron on. Pack a tent, sleeping gear and some food, not too much you’ll be able to top up along the way.

During my trip I got a last-minute lift with a work colleague (remember lots of people travel on long weekends) and started in Forster. I would recommend jumping on the Newcastle line North to get out of Sydney. Starting early and close to the Pacific Highway is your best bet for a long ride. Potentially near Hornsby, although you might need to walk yourself out-of-town a bit.

If you wait for the right lift (particularly from a truck stop) you could easily get there in a day. The way approach I took was particularly slow and I still got there in only 2 days. If you did get in to trouble timing wise, you could always bail out and hitch to a nearby train station to back to Central, which removes any Monday morning anxiety.

To get back from Byron, you can get the 5.02pm bus/train back to Sydney for $64.49 (which you could also get up there if you’re boring) this gets you to central 7.01am Monday morning. So make sure you leave a change of clothes in the office. If you can afford it you can also fly back from Ballarat or if you’ve made good time hitch back, but you would get very little time in Byron.

It is important to note this trip is a lot more about the travelling and the fun of hitching, than actually getting to Byron, if that is your main focus I would recommend with only 3 days just flying or training up. But if you like to meet people and see a few place in between it makes a great weekend.

Read my Trip Report

2. CYCLE – Myall Lakes – Cost ~ $20

Step one, get access to a bike with a rack. That’s really the only important step. I cannot stress enough how much better a cycling trip is without carrying a backpack. It hurts your back, it hurts your bum. If you can get a pannier rack/bags, do it. I had to make do with a rack and no bags as I couldn’t get any at such short notice. My backpack only had a change of clothes and my food in it and it has a mesh back which lifted it off my spine, still not ideal.

The route was simple, I wrote it down from google maps cycle directions. Day 1(60km): Train to Newcastle interchange and ferry across to Stockton, ride through Medowie to Little Mountain Campground (including a last ~6km of dirt road). Day 2(65km) : Retrace your tracks to the road, head to Mungo Brush Rd via Karuah and Tea Gardens. Day 3(90km) : Return to Stockton via Karuah and Medowie, then ferry to Newcastle and train to Sydney.

All the riding is reasonably flat particularly around the Myall lakes area. The views along this trip are incredible. There are of course a few linking highway sections which are a little boring but they all at least have decent size shoulders.

The off-road at the end of day 1/beginning of day 2 is very achievable by bike in the dry, although you would need to have good tires and a spare tube in the event of a flat (which I thankfully didn’t get). If there’s been a lot of rain I would find an alternative first night (you could easily head to Myall lakes for two nights and ride around there). The campsite is by a beautiful salt water lake. There is no drinkable water, so be prepared. During the ride in it can seem a little isolated and creepy, I stopped at one point to consider if I was too scared to go deeper, but once I got to camp there where multiple groups of very nice people. Just the fact other people were there made it not creepy. I highly doubt it will ever be empty on a long weekend. Also worth noting I had phone reception with Optus in camp and the whole ride in.

Some key other points:

1. I took 2.25l of water which wasn’t quite enough for me personally – I recommend 3l for the night sections, topping up at servos along the way.
2. The tourist information centre you’ll pass heading out of Tea Gardens is a great place to fill up your bottles and get information of the best campsites. I stayed at Banskia campsite which was lovely and only 18km out from Tea Gardens.
3. Go into campsites even if they say they are full by the road, I found a whole pitch when it said full and often people are willing to share if you’re small with no car.
4. Stop at Dark Point look out along Mungo Bush Rd, the sand dunes are incredible.

3. HIKE – Kanangra to Katoomba – Cost ~$40-100 (assuming you have cars)

A well-known 3 day hike in the Blue Mountains. This walk is a tough one with some long days and if it’s been dry you’ll need to carry quite a bit of water up some pretty tough terrain and inclines. The views will make it worth it along with the well-earned swim in Cox’s River! Doing this over three days, rather than two or less, I think is the only way to have any time to enjoy the scenery you’re walking through.

Getting out to Kanangra involves having a car and unless you have a friend to either drop you off or hike at the same time in reverse and pick up the car you’ll need two cars to go and pick that first car back up. This can be a limiting factor. If however you can work with this it will be an amazing trip.

The best detailed track notes are of course Tom Brennan’s.

4. CANOE – Kangaroo Valley – Cost ~ $250

If you have a canoe and a car you can transport it with this trip is almost free. If likely me you do not then you can easily hire one.

You can do a two-day one way trip between Bendeela Recreation Area and Tallowa Dam, however as we had three days we did that section plus a bit further past the dam and on the third day paddled back to the dam. I really enjoyed taking that extra time it gave us non-experienced canoeists time to get into it, as well as having two nights in the bush with the freedom to explore a bit.

The campsites are easy to find, just pulling your boat up on the bank. On the one way section there is an obvious wide section you’ll see on google maps. It has lots of small personal campsites around it. This does mean it can be a little loud at night, as noise travels so well over water. Campsites west of the dam however, feel completely alone, if you find a good little spot it’ll be amazing, they are shattered about so keep your eyes peeled and feel a little time so you don’t have to settle. There’s no reason you couldn’t do the whole journey along this stretch and if you have your own car it will be the easiest option to make it a return journey to and from the dam.

If you hire the canoes you are given 2 reasonable barrels to go in it, this keeps everything dry and organised. We also brought an eski for food and drinks, plus a 10l tank of water. We had tents and sleeping things. Fires are permitted all along the banks so we brought some pots to cook with. Swimming is allowed but the water is not appealing.

The hire company I used were Kanagaroo Valley Safaris. As much as what they provided led to a great trip, their customer service was very poor. They were a “no rules but life jackets” kind of company which was refreshing. But they didn’t provide any guidance on the canoeing or river even when asked, they shouted at us when we were getting in as we were being to slow, even though we were going as fast as we could with 3 days worth of stuff to pack into a canoe but their ideal time seem to be under a minute. Pick up was again an angry process where you had to choose a time to be there before you set off and they are very strict on it. However, if you expect this and know it is only a bit of silly overpriced admin at the beginning and end of an overall brilliant trip, it is completely worth it.