There's no on-site cafe or restaurant here, but that's part of the charm. The park sits a short stroll from Pambula's heritage main street, so most mornings we wandered over with a tote bag and came back loaded with pastries, coffee and the makings of a long lazy lunch at the picnic table. The communal BBQs and camp kitchen do the heavy lifting come dinner time, and we found ourselves cooking up local prawns and fresh-shucked oysters more nights than not.

For coffee and a slow breakfast, Wild Rye's Baking Co under the historic verandah on Quondola Street is the obvious pick. We grabbed flat whites and warm sourdough on the first morning and it became a daily ritual. Just up the road, Cafe Pambula does generous breakfast plates and toasties that travel well back to the park.

For oysters straight from the source, Broadwater Oysters on Pambula Lake is non-negotiable. We picked up a dozen unopened to shuck back at the cabin, then booked a tasting for the next afternoon. Wheeler's Seafood Restaurant is the long-running local institution, sitting right beside the oyster leases and doing a brilliant tasting plate if you can't decide.

In the evenings, Longstocking Brewery is a five-minute drive and worth every metre. The wood-fired pizzas, rotating taps and live local musicians made it our favourite long table dinner of the trip. For a proper sit-down occasion, Banksia Restaurant in the village serves a refined three-course set menu from a chef trained at Tetsuya's, with quietly perfect plating that punches well above its small-town address.

The park itself is a slow-paced kind of place, with grassy sites under the gums, a couple of tennis courts and the wetlands just across the road. We spent most afternoons cycling the gentle loops of Panboola Wetlands, 82 hectares of billabongs, saltmarsh and birdlife with a network of flat tracks that suit kids on training wheels as much as serious walkers.

Pambula Beach is a five-minute drive or a longer wander down the river path, with mellow surf, golden sand and an off-leash dog beach at Lions Park that our pup did not want to leave. From the southern end, the Pambula River Mouth walk follows the estuary back through banksia forest with eastern grey kangaroos lounging on the foreshore most mornings.

The Sapphire Coast Oyster Trail is the headline experience and Pambula Lake is its beating heart. We jumped aboard Captain Sponge's Magical Oyster Tours for a morning on the water with one of the region's most loved growers, then booked into the Broadwater Oysters Shuck School the next day to learn the technique properly. For a more active take, Navigate Expeditions runs a Kayak and Shuck combo on the estuary that's hard to beat on a calm autumn morning.

A short drive north, Magic Mountain at Merimbula keeps the kids occupied for an entire afternoon with toboggans and waterslides, while the Merimbula Boardwalk is a flat 3.4km return stroll through mangroves and under eucalyptus canopies. Time your visit for September or October if you can, when the Sapphire Coast Whale Festival takes over Eden, half an hour south.

We loved that the village bakery, pub and IGA are an easy stroll across the bridge, so we left the car behind for most of the stay and only fired it up for oyster runs and beach trips.