The park's two camp kitchens are the kind of setup that turns a simple feed into a holiday memory, with full-size ovens, cooktops, microwaves, fridges and BBQs alongside long picnic tables that fill up come dusk. The on-site kiosk handles the small forgotten things like ice, milk and the Sunday paper, and there is always someone happy to point you towards the best bakery in town. We would suggest stocking the cabin fridge on day one and saving the eating out for sunsets.

Mornings belong to Sandpit Cafe, tucked inside the surf club with a deck looking straight out to Main Beach. The big breakfast is genuinely big, the coffee is strong and we found ourselves wandering back day after day for that post-swim, sand-on-the-floorboards feeling. For something busier and more bustling, Vespas on Oak on the corner of Park and Oak Street is a local hotspot for iced coffees and brunch in semi-alfresco shade, and we loved tucking into a slow flat white there before the heat of the day kicked in.

When the river light starts to soften, Sandbar & Restaurant is our pick for a nice dinner. The kitchen leans into local seafood and seasonal plates and the timber deck above Main Beach is worth lingering at long after the mains are cleared. For something more relaxed, Hotel Illawong does honest pub fare from steaks to fish and chips, with cold beers and a friendly front bar that has been part of the town's fabric for decades.

Save room for a detour to Muzza's Milk Bar, where the thick shakes are made the way they used to be and a paper bag of mixed lollies somehow tastes better than it should. We grabbed shakes, walked down to the river and watched the trawlers come in. Holiday food, exactly.

With the park's bocce court, playground and big riverside lawns wrapped around shady gum trees, the kids will likely sort their own afternoons out before you have even unpacked the car. Bring bikes if you can, the flat back streets down to the river are easy going for little legs, and the dog wash near reception is a quiet small-park luxury after a long beach romp.

Patrolled Main Beach is a short stroll from the gate and is the safest swim in town for families. Drive a few minutes south and you reach Chinamans Beach, a quiet curve of sand bordered by Bundjalung National Park and Dirawong Reserve, where the walking track up to Goanna Headland delivers some of the most peaceful coastal views on the North Coast. Allow two and a half to three hours if you take on the full Evans Head to Chinamans Beach loop, and time it for late winter or spring when the wildflowers make every switchback worth the boots.

The Evans River itself is the easy daily anchor. We launched a kayak just upstream of the park and found pelicans, mangroves and the occasional dolphin nosing in from the bar, and the fishing for bream, flathead and whiting is the kind that turns into a tradition by day three. The Evans Head Memorial Aerodrome Museum tells a surprisingly rich WWII story for a town this size, and the Razorback Lookout just south of town is our pick for sunset, with whales drifting past between June and November if you bring binoculars.

For a day trip, Ballina is around thirty minutes north for the Big Prawn, riverside cycling and a swim at Shaws Bay, while Byron Bay is about an hour up the coast when you fancy a livelier day out. Closer to home, the monthly Evans Head Riverside Markets are worth timing your visit around, and the Fish & Chips Festival in winter draws crowds for live music, seafood and a lighthearted small-town buzz.

We loved that Evans Head still feels like a working fishing village rather than a polished tourist town, so plan an evening at the riverbank around dusk to watch the trawlers come in, it is quietly the best free show on the Northern Rivers.