The camp kitchen here is something special, perched on the headland with a wraparound ocean outlook that turns every sausage sizzle into an event. We loved padding down with a bottle of red and watching the moon throw a silver path across the Pacific while dinner cooked. There's no on-site cafe or restaurant, so most mornings we wandered up the hill with a tote bag and stocked up at the village shops before retreating back to our deck.

Our absolute favourite breakfast haunt was Bonnys Beach Cafe, tucked above the Bonny Hills Surf Club just a few minutes' stroll from the park. We grabbed a window seat for poached eggs on sourdough and watched the surfers carve up Rainbow Beach below. It's casual, friendly and works equally well for a lazy lunch of beer-battered flathead and chips.

For something a bit more leafy and unexpected, Bonny Hills Garden Centre Cafe is a gem. We stopped in for a flat white and a slice of orange almond cake and ended up wandering the nursery for an hour. The seasonal menu changes often, and the courtyard tables under the shade cloth are a little oasis on a warm afternoon.

When we wanted a proper pub feed, Bonny Hills Beach Hotel was a five-minute drive up Ocean Drive. Schnitzels the size of a dinner plate, cold schooners, a beer garden made for kids to run wild in, and live music on Sunday afternoons that pulled the whole village in. For a special evening out, we drove fifteen minutes to Long Point Vineyard for a tasting platter and a bottle of their semillon on the verandah, looking out across the vines toward the coast.

The park's million-dollar trick is the staircase down the headland straight onto Rainbow Beach. We swam, walked the dog at dawn and watched the kids spend hours in the rock pools at the southern end. Between June and November, settle in with a thermos at the headland lookout right beside the park and you'll almost certainly spot humpbacks breaching their way north or south along the coast.

Five minutes up the road, Grants Beach and the Grants Head walking track give you a beautiful hour-long loop through banksia heath with sweeping ocean views from the trig point. For something more relaxed, the Kattang Nature Reserve offers easy clifftop wandering with wildflowers in spring.

Port Macquarie is twenty minutes north and well worth a day. We headed in for a morning coffee on the Town Green and the completed the easy Coastal Walk along the headlands.

Closer to base, Long Point Vineyard and Art Gallery is a lovely afternoon detour for wine tasting and a wander through the gallery. Don't miss the local market scene either, with the Bonny Hills Progress Hall markets on the second Sunday of each month and the larger Wauchope Farmers' Market on the third Saturday, both brilliant for fresh produce, bakes and local crafts to take back to the camp kitchen.

We loved that the park feels delightfully tucked away yet the village shops, surf club and beach are all an easy stroll, so once you arrive you can park the car for the whole stay.