A family lap of the NSW South Coast: Kiama to the Victorian border

Somewhere around Bermagui, my youngest asked why we don't just live in the van. Fair question. We'd been rolling down the NSW South Coast for eleven days by then, averaging maybe 90 kilometres between stops, and both kids had gone properly feral in the good sense: sunburnt noses, sandy sleeping bags, absolutely no interest in going home. That's the South Coast in a nutshell. It's not the flashiest stretch of the East Coast Run, but for families it might be the most forgiving one.

The route from Kiama down to the Victorian border is roughly 550 kilometres if you drive it straight through, which nobody sensible does. Spread over two to three weeks it becomes a string of short, kid-manageable hops between beach towns, lake systems and national parks, with enough powered caravan parks that you're never more than a day's drive from a hot shower and a washing machine. That's the bit that matters when you're travelling with two primary-schoolers and a dog who thinks every wave is personally out to get her.

Why the NSW South Coast works for a family trip

The honest answer is drive times. Nowhere on this run demands more than about two hours behind the wheel if you're doing it properly, and most days you're looking at 45 minutes to an hour. That matters enormously with kids under ten, who lose patience with the van somewhere around the ninety-minute mark regardless of how many snacks you've packed (see our notes on camp snacks that survive the corrugations, though corrugations aren't really the problem down here — it's sealed road the whole way).

The other advantage is water. Lakes, ocean beaches, rock pools and a couple of genuinely good swimming holes are never far apart, and the water's warm enough to swim from around November through to April depending on how far south you push. Check the Bureau of Meteorology's coastal water temperature records if you want exact numbers before you commit the kids to a lake swim in June, because Merimbula in winter is a different proposition to Merimbula in January.

Kiama and the Illawarra: easing in

If you're coming from Sydney, Kiama is the obvious first stop and it does the job well. We've stayed at Easts Beach Holiday Park three times now and the amenities block has consistently been clean at 7am, which after nine years of caravan parks I've learned not to take for granted. The site itself is a short walk to a patrolled beach, there's a camp kitchen that actually gets used, and the kids can walk to the blowhole on Blowhole Point Road without you needing to move the car all day.

I'll say this though — Kiama township itself gets overrun in school holidays and parking near the harbour is genuinely difficult by 10am. If you're only doing one night, go early to the blowhole and save the shops for a weekday.

Jervis Bay and Booderee: the swimming stop worth the detour

Jervis Bay is where the trip earns its reputation. Hyams Beach gets all the postcards for its sand, and it's genuinely that white, but it's also genuinely crowded in January and the parking is limited to the point of being a fight. We've had better luck with the beaches inside Booderee National Park itself — Green Patch and Murrays Beach are calmer, there's shade, and the water is protected enough for younger kids to actually swim rather than just get dumped by waves. Booderee is jointly managed with the local Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community and NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, and a vehicle entry fee applies, so check current permit and fee details on the NPWS website before you go.

This whole pocket is also one of the better spots on the coast for a family walk that isn't too ambitious — some of the tracks around Booderee tie in nicely with what we've covered in walks worth unhitching for, most under an hour return, which is about the ceiling for an eight-year-old before the complaining starts.

Ulladulla to Narooma: the quiet middle

This stretch doesn't get talked about as much as Jervis Bay or Merimbula, and I reckon that's exactly why it's worth slowing down for. Ulladulla has a working harbour, a decent bakery strip, and Mollymook Beach right next door if the kids want another crack at bodyboarding. Further south, Narooma sits on an inlet with a genuinely good jetty for crabbing, and the break wall out to Australia Rock is an easy, flat walk that even the dog enjoyed.

Central Tilba, just inland, is worth a half-day if your kids can handle a heritage village without a playground — ours managed about ninety minutes before asking for ice cream and the car, in that order.

Bermagui to Merimbula: rock pools and lake systems

Bermagui's Blue Pool is a genuine highlight — an ocean rock pool carved into the cliffs, calm enough for kids to swim laps while you keep an eye on them from the rocks above. It's free, it's not overrun the way Hyams Beach is, and it photographs better than it has any right to for a spot that costs nothing.

Merimbula Lake is the other drawcard through here, good for a stand-up paddleboard hire or just a shallow paddle for younger kids who aren't ready for surf beaches yet. We've found the lake foreshore areas genuinely dog-friendly too, which isn't universal down this coast — worth checking our notes on caravanning with pets before you assume every beach or park will welcome yours.

Eden and the run to the Victorian border

Eden marks the last proper town before the coast road turns into forest and the services thin out. It's a working whaling-history port with a genuinely interesting museum if you've got kids who like a good gruesome story, and Twofold Bay is sheltered enough for calm-water swimming most days. From here the drive to the Victorian border cuts through state forest, and if you're continuing the lap, the coast road eventually connects toward Wilsons Promontory — we've reviewed the camping there separately at Tidal River, and it's a genuinely good bonus stop if you're pushing on rather than turning back.

Timing, weather and the towing bit

School holidays down this coast get busy, particularly the two weeks either side of Christmas and the April break, and the good powered sites at places like Kiama and Merimbula book out months ahead. If your kids' schooling allows any flexibility at all, shoulder season — March to early May, or September to October — gets you the same weather with half the crowds and a fair bit more negotiating room on site prices. We've written more broadly about squeezing a trip into school holiday windows without blowing the budget, and most of that logic applies here at a smaller scale.

The road itself is sealed and gentle the whole way, so this isn't a trip that tests your rig the way the high country or outback tracks do. It's a good one for a first-time tow with kids in the back, honestly, precisely because nothing about the driving demands your full attention and you can actually enjoy the scenery instead of white-knuckling a set of corrugations.

What I'd do differently next time

Book Kiama and Merimbula ahead, always. Everywhere else, we've had good luck rolling in with a day or two's notice, even in shoulder season. And I'd give Bermagui's Blue Pool a full morning rather than the rushed hour we managed — some spots on this coast reward slowing right down, and that one's near the top of the list.