The park sits within easy walking distance of just about everywhere worth eating in Forster, which makes life simple. For breakfast our pick is Beach Bums Cafe at Forster Main Beach, about a 5 minute stroll from the park and open from 5.45am if you want to catch sunrise with a coffee. The breakfast bowl of goodness and the big brekky are both worth ordering, and you cannot beat the ocean views from the deck.

For lunch or a midweek dinner, Little Nel Cafe on Wharf Street does a reliably good job of burgers, salads and locally roasted coffee, and it is about 8 minutes on foot. If you want something a bit more substantial, Forster Brewing Company is a short drive across the bridge into Tuncurry with a solid beer list and wood fired pizza, and Eastern Tiger Restaurant Forster is our go-to if we are craving Thai.

On site there is a camp kitchen with two BBQs, a fridge, microwave, toaster and kettle, which is handy for cooking up whatever you have pulled out of Wallis Lake that day. There is no restaurant or kiosk at the park itself, so stock up at the Coles on Wharf Street (around 10 minutes walk) before you settle in.

The location is the headline act. You are sandwiched between Wallis Lake and the ocean, with the lake shore sitting directly beside the park for easy launching of kayaks, SUPs and tinnies, and Main Beach plus the ocean baths just a short walk south. The patrolled surf beach is ideal for a swim when the surf is up, and the ocean baths are a lovely sheltered alternative when it is not. If you are here between May and November, keep an eye on the horizon because the humpback whale migration passes right by the headland.

For a proper day out, head 10 minutes down the road to Booti Booti National Park. The walk to the top of Cape Hawke is short but steep and the 360 degree views over the coast and lakes from the viewing platform are the best in the area. Further into the park, Elizabeth Beach is one of the prettiest stretches of sand on the Mid North Coast and The Green Cathedral, an open air church built into a grove of palm trees on Wallis Lake, is a genuinely unusual detour worth the 15 minute drive.

Back at the park, the communal fire pit fires up through the cooler months and there are board games and DVDs at reception on rainy afternoons. School holiday activities run during NSW school breaks, which is handy if you are travelling with kids who need something to burn off. Bikes and fishing rods are the two things we would not leave home without.

You are paying for the prime location rather than seclusion. The park is compact and busy through summer and school holidays, so if you are after a quiet bush setup this is probably not the one. Dog owners will also need to look elsewhere as this park does not accept pets.