There is no on-site restaurant, but that becomes part of the charm here. We made the most of the riverside camp kitchen and BBQs, which set a slow holiday rhythm with kookaburras for company and the Bellinger River sliding past at the end of the lawn. A quick top-up shop in Urunga or Bellingen on the way in saves a second trip later.

In the village itself, Mylestom General Store is the heartbeat. It is part post office, part coffee window, part fish and chippery, and the deck looking back over the river is one of the most underrated lunch spots on the Coffs Coast. We ordered the beer-battered flathead wrapped in paper, walked it back to the park lawn, and sat with our toes in the grass watching the boats drift by. Keep an eye out too for their occasional Friday night dinners with live music, which the locals quietly rave about.

A two-minute stroll from the park, Surfside Pizza inside the North Beach Bowling Club has become our easy-night favourite, with hefty gourmet pizzas, a proper bistro menu and cold schooners on the deck. For something different, Chans Chinese Restaurant is a long-running local favourite, the kind of village BYO that everyone seems to know by name.

Five minutes south in Urunga, Liberty Providores is where the locals queue for Dark Arts coffee, hot-pressed jaffles and pantry treats you will absolutely throw in the basket on the way out. A few doors along, the historic Ocean View Hotel Urunga does a generous bistro feed with views over the Kalang and Bellinger Rivers, and a fireplace that earns its keep on cooler winter nights.

If you have time for a longer dinner, the 15-minute drive into Bellingen is well worth it. The town's farm-to-table cafes, sourdough bakeries and pub bistros built around the historic Hammond and Wheatley building make for an easy afternoon, especially when paired with a wander along Hyde Street.

The park itself does a lot of the heavy lifting for families. Our pick was the mini golf course tucked under the pines, but the kids equally happily orbited the swimming pool, the tennis court and the playground for hours. With the Bellinger River literally at the back gate and a netted tidal pool keeping things calm for little ones, you can genuinely set up camp and not move the car for days.

Cross the dunes from the park and you are onto North Beach Mylestom, nine kilometres of gloriously empty surf beach that is patrolled in summer. Beginners and intermediates love the consistent peelers, while anglers wander up the sand at dawn for tailor and whiting. Bring a kayak or SUP and the river is just as good, with quiet upstream paddles past mangroves and birdlife, or a drift down to the estuary mouth.

A 15-minute drive inland delivers you to Bellingen, one of the prettiest towns on the north coast. Time your visit for the third Saturday of the month and the famous community markets fill Bellingen Park with live music, local makers and food trucks. The town's bookshops, galleries and the iconic Old Butter Factory are made for an unhurried afternoon.

Push another 30 minutes up the Waterfall Way and you reach Dorrigo National Park, where the Skywalk floats out over the Gondwana rainforest canopy and Crystal Shower Falls is one of the most rewarding short walks in the state. We packed a thermos and made an early start, then dropped back into Bellingen for lunch on the way home.

Heading north instead, Coffs Harbour is just 25 minutes away. The Big Banana Fun Park is the obvious crowd-pleaser, with water slides, toboggan rides, mini golf and ice skating all in one spot. The Coffs jetty strip, Muttonbird Island and the Solitary Islands snorkelling sites round out an easy day trip if the surf is flat at home.

We loved that the park sits right on the Bellinger River with North Beach just a short stroll over the dunes, so you can swim in calm river water before breakfast and chase waves in the afternoon without ever moving the car.