Tomaree and Zenith Beach
As a travel and lifestyle photographer, one thing I get asked a lot about is my favourite destination. Forever the explorer in me, I can't definitively say I have an outright fave, as there's too much of this world I've yet to see! But what I can say is Port Stephens is certainly up there with the best of them. We've been lucky enough to visit this beautiful part of the NSW coast twice in as many weeks for a bit of work and a bit of play. Just the way it should be.
Our most recent visit, we took the little ones with us. We stayed at The Loft Corlette, a beautiful recently renovated 2-bedroom holiday home in Corlette, inside the bay. This place is immaculately styled with soft neutral hues, just my style and perfect if you love taking photos indoors, which we do :)
It's my kinda place
So many features in this place
We even shot a few product campaigns while we stayed here, it's just perfect for it. There's just so many little nooks to take advantage of. We'd highly recommend this spot. It's a short stroll to your closest beach or a quick drive to all the local spots I recommend below.
Post beach dry out spot - Natural Light Heaven
Happy wife, Happy life
SOME OF MY RECOMMENDED SPOTS
There's a couple of no-brainer spots you MUST visit while here. One being Zenith Beach. It's right up there with one of my favourite beaches in the world. Crowned on either side with picturesque mounts (Tomaree and Stephens Peak). The water is often very clear and blue, the sand is light and if you're lucky you might even spot a whale or a dolphins passing by. In my experience, it's rarely busy and the view of the ocean is ridiculously good here and you won't regret a visit.
Zenith Beach - One of the best around
Mid-winter didn't stop me from hopping in this beautiful water
While we're at it, we may as well mention the other parts of this area that make it special. To the south you can drop into Box and Wreck beach which are both amazing and further south again you can walk over Fingal Spit over to Shark Island. But keep in mind the tides, as the spit might disappear on you and you'll be left to swim back.
The view out to Shark Island
Stockton Bight Sand Dunes, in the Worimi Conservation Lands. This is such a special part of the Australian coastline. These dunes are the largest coastal dunes in the Southern Hemisphere. It's popular with a bunch of people, mostly 4WD enthusiasts but also people who want to take a camel ride, sand board or those who just want to enjoy the incredible 32kms sand dunes with a camera, like me. Our girls had the BEST time of our whole trip here. Even though it was a little cold and windy, they didn't care one bit! We stayed til it was dark and in the morning all they wanted was to go back.
I hope you enjoy the visual journey, here's a few more shots from the dunes, if you want to see more be sure to check out the PORT STEPHENS Prints or follow along on instagram where I'll be posting more of my work from this beautiful part of the world.
Cheers
Ben
