The on-site camp kitchen and BBQ area is the easy answer on a slow afternoon, especially when you have walked the beach all morning and just want to throw something on the hotplate while the sun drops behind Mount Gulaga. The kitchen is well kept, the picnic tables are sociable, and we found ourselves trading travel notes with neighbours over a shared bottle of South Coast red more than once. Stocking up is simple too, with the IGA, butcher and bakery only a short stroll up the hill into town.

For a proper morning ritual, head to Elsewhere on Lamont Street. We picked up flat whites, a still-warm cannoli and a small tub of fresh ricotta to take back to the park, and were so smitten we returned the next day for the toasties and house-made pasta to cook back at the cabin. It is the kind of place that quietly defines a holiday.

Down at the harbour, Saltwater at Bermagui is our pick for a long, lazy lunch. Grab a window table, order the local oysters and whatever has come off the trawlers that morning, and watch the fishing fleet drift in. For something a little more relaxed, Mister Hope does seriously good single origin coffee and brunch plates that punch well above a town this size.

When the light starts to fade, Bermagui Beach Hotel is a short walk from the gates and has been the locals' favourite for decades. We loved a parmi and a pint on the deck after a swim at the Blue Pool, with the sound of the surf rolling in just over the road.

Honestly, you may not need to leave the park gates for the first day. Horseshoe Bay Beach is literally across the road, with safe swimming, a small rock pool at the southern end and enough sand for the kids to disappear with a bucket while you set up a beach chair. The on-site playground and skate park keep younger guests busy too.

A short stroll south takes you to the Bermagui Blue Pool, one of the most photographed ocean pools on the NSW coast. The 75 steps down the cliff are worth every one, and the water is impossibly clear on a still morning. Snorkellers will spot wrasse, leatherjackets and the occasional octopus tucked into the rocks. Just up the road, the harbour and Fishermen's Wharf precinct is the heart of town, with the local fish co-op selling whatever has just been landed.

About ten minutes north, Camel Rock Beach lives up to its name, with a striking dromedary-shaped headland anchoring a long, surfable stretch of sand. We pulled up at sunrise and had the place almost to ourselves. Continue further north and you reach Mimosa Rocks National Park, where the Aragunnu walking track loops through coastal forest to dramatic pyramid-shaped rocks and quiet beaches. Keep an eye offshore between June and November for whales heading north.

For something cultural, the Bermagui Country Women's Association markets and the seasonal Four Winds Festival are both well worth timing a visit around. And if you have a spare afternoon, the drive inland to Tilba Tilba is a slice of heritage NSW, with cheese tastings and old timber shopfronts that feel pleasantly stuck in another decade.

We loved that the park sits on the quieter, residential side of Horseshoe Bay, so mornings felt unhurried while the cafes and harbour were still an easy ten-minute walk away.