Start the weekend by hearing from dietitians how to improve your own health by following a plant based diet, without nutrition deficiencies and producing zero waste. Booking essential for the workshop. Afterwards enjoy a game of 'FootGolf' at Mangrove Mountain Memorial club and see who plays the best!

Enjoy time to explore this native production nursery and see the diverse range of native plants the nursery propagates and grows to help attract birds and other fauna to the Central Coast. Nursery tours are available to learn about the process how the nursery's work is helping local bush regeneration. Plants can be purchased so you too can grow them at home.

Who can't resist a traditional homemade Devonshire Tea!  Recharge the batteries at Somersby Hall with a pot of tea and freshly prepared scones, cream and jam! There will be a selection of other light snacks and sweet treats to enjoy too. Afterwards browse the selection of hand crafted art and gifts stalls.

Let your creativity flow and make a stunning dried flower arrangement or learn all about succulents at Coachwood Nursery during the Harvest Festival.  Create the most beautiful wall art wreath or a Driftwood and Australian Native table decoration and two posies or learn everything you need to know about succulents. Includes a range of succulent plants to take home. Booking essential!

Stop by the Mountain Growers Market and support local growers by purchasing their free chemical free fresh and seasonal produce. Once your baskets are full of fresh fruit and veg treat yourself to some delicious hot foods or beautiful homemade art and craft from the other market stalls. As you continue on the Harvest Festival trail stop at Royale Orchids Nursery to see the stunning flowering orchids!

Finish the day with a freshly made winter woodfire pizza and a drink, while listening to live music in the Quack Shack. Bring a rug and spend a relaxing afternoon in the hinterland watching the sun set and reflecting on the wonderful day you have had celebrating the local community. 

Come and experience breakfast with alpacas at 8:30am at Iris Lodge Alpacas! Get up close and personal with the farm's resident alpacas, llamas, sheep and cows. Meet and greet alpacas and even get to feed them! Enjoy the beautiful setting on this eco certified farm. Booking for breakfast essential. 

Join the Tuggerah Lakes Field Archers for a lesson of archery. Learn the basics from experienced archers and get to shoot your very own arrow!  Don't miss this fun activity that the kids six ae sure to love! Bookings essential.  

Jilliby Public School is hosting ‘Artisans on Acres’ where you can enjoy a variety of art and craft workshops and demonstrations. From metal forging to weaving, paintings to pottery, there is something for everyone! Enjoy a delicious lunch or a cream tea, while the kids play and eat ice cream!  

The kids will love feeding and patting the babydoll sheep, dairy goats, cows, chickens, and other farm animals at The Giving Farm.  Afterwards why not pick some seasonal organic flowers or veggies too!  The farm tours will run at 10am, 11am, 12pm, 2pm and 3pm.

Take a self-guided trail around this small family farm exploring the pick-your-own flower fields, feeding the babydoll sheep and visiting the honey extraction and bottling rooms. The kids will love the fun treasure hunt! The farm stall will be open with honey, meats and flowers for sale.

At Mollies Farm the whole family can get up close and personal with friendly goats, alpacas, cows, rabbits, border collies, ducks and chickens. Enjoy the serenity of the farm setting while the kids participate in a guided painting workshop.

East Coast Beverages will be alive with market and food stalls and there is even face painting for the kids too!   Book your tickets to access a behind-the-scenes look at how the fruit juices are made. There will be farm and fruit picking tours available for purchase on the day! You get a produce bag with every ticket, so you can stuff it full with as many oranges as you can carry!

Come and experience what real farm life is like at Grace Springs Farm. Pat the cow, cuddle a chook, collect the eggs and see the pigs being fed. The informative and interactive 90 min tour of a chemical free and regenerative farm is suitable for all ages. Fresh grown produce available to purchase from the farm stall. Bookings essential.

A Harvest Festival favourite! Pick your own Pecans at Artisan Estate amongst 400 beautiful pecan trees. Watch tree shaking and agricultural demonstrations which are on throughout the weekend. This is a fun filled family event that can't be missed. 

Insect loving kids and big kids will enjoy the Ento Park Insect Farm! Take a tour of the unique insect farming facility where you can engage in a hands on experience with reptiles and interact with animals in the petting zoo. Take part in a gardening tour and learn about bush tucker when you participate in the community gardening workshops. Booking essential.

Enjoy a coffee and sausage sizzle at Somersby public school. The kids can play and be kept entertained with art and craft activities, gardening demonstrations and plenty of games. Come and relax with the Central Coast Community. 

Take a bush tucker tour and learn how the first Australians got everything they needed from the bush. This fascinating tour will make you realise how much the Australian land provides for us. Your ticket also includes entry to the Walk About Park where you can enjoy strolling around the park seeing what native animals you can find! 

Pick your own sunflowers and enjoy making them into a beautiful bouquet afterwards. Toast marshmallows in the fire pit and enjoy a coffee from the onsite coffee cart while the kids have their faces painted. Feel free to bring a rug and picnic lunch to take in the sea of sunflowers.

Field Day at Westy's Place has activities for everyone to enjoy! Have fun picking your own macadamia nuts and eating what you've picked. The kids will love the jumping castle and face painting stand. Food trucks will be ready to serve you delicious food and there will also be rural irrigation, pumps ad filtration presentations.

A family friendly day at the farm with educational and engaging activities for everyone. Encounter unique experiences with a herd of therapy horses or suit up for a Bee Tour.  Enjoy live music, browse the market stalls, feast on a BBQ and sip great coffee or BYO picnic and set up a rug in the orchard.  Bookings required for horse activities and beehive tours.

Celebrate the amazing platypus that inhabit the local rivers around the Central Coast. Learn all about their habitat, what they eat and how to protect them. Walk down to Wyong River for the chance to see a wild platypus. Catch waterbugs, test the water quality and listen to talks from experts. Join a birdwatching walk and enjoy the beautiful scenery of Woodbury Inn Park.

Bring the family down to Yarramalong School of Arts Hall to enjoy an evening of bush dancing!  The Waterbombers bush band will be playing live music from 6pm.  Sausage sizzle included in the ticket. Wine, beer, soft drinks, tea and coffee available to purchase.

Awaking with a sense of excitement, today is the day you walk a World Heritage listed path! Best start with a hearty breakfast. Venture just 10 minutes along the riverside road to the Wombat Cafe in Gunderman. Their fresh, hearty home-cooked style meals enjoyed on the outdoor deck in the sunshine will warm the soul ready for a morning of exploring, with the other kind of sole.

This morning you're walking in the footsteps of Convicts who carved the incredible engineering feat of the Old Great North Road in Dharug National Park. Embark on the trail up Devine's Hill, built by up to 720 convicts between 1826 and 1836, complete with interactive educational plaques for adults and kids. Take water, take in the views, and leave only footprints.

Head back to Spencer public wharf for a photo with the iconic local art sculpture by Pete Rush, commissioned to support tourism in the area with a stunning piece of permanent, sustainable art installed on the riverbank. Slightly damaged in the 2021 floods, on closer inspection you'll see "Serenity", a reclining woman made of Gymea lilly, is a symbol of community resilience.

The Anchor at Spencer really does reel you in, and what better event to relax into your afternoon than dipping into their weekend live music sessions by the river. These are the moments where locals and guests mingle and showcase what Spencer does best - no matter how small your town you can still put on a big party that everyone's invited to!

Farewell Spencer and retrace your way along Wiseman's Ferry Road to the M1, enjoy your last taste of the Central Coast's expansive waterway ecosystems at Hawkesbury River Oyster Shed at Mooney Mooney, just before the bridge. Savour flavours straight from the source with fresh seafood platters served up, or takeaway with ice - including our famous local oysters!

It's been an action-packed weekend, and noone would hold it against you for wanting to rest in nature for one more night! If you've made this a camping kind of road trip, there is a wonderfully simple accommodation option waiting for you at Greenmans on the Hawkesbury, looking to Spencer on the opposite bank. The friendly owners offer back-to-basics waterfront caravans for guests, or pitch a tent on your own patch.

Make sure you always check ahead of your journey for weather events and road closures on Council's website. You should also take smart steps to trek safely if venturing into the Dharug wilderness - a good place to start is by following our bushwalking guide here, and to always check the NPWS website for the latest alerts before visiting a national park.

Begin your journey to the secret spots in the Central Coast's hinterland with a deliciously scenic detour to Saddles in Mount White. Beeline for their gourmet bakehouse where travellers can grab house-made breads, pastries, gelato, sweet tarts, classic Aussie meat pies with grass-fed beef cheeks and wine, pork and fennel sausage rolls and very fancy looking Lamingtons.

Drop into The Hub of Mangrove Mountain, a friendly village store on your way to Spencer featuring a swathe of local Hinterland produce (a foodie's farm to fork dream!). With its strong community feel, this is the perfect place to support local with a simple stock up of grocery goods for your overnight stay. Are you a cheesecake fan? Wow, you're in for a treat with their famous seasonal flavours.

If you're the type who likes taking a scenic stop on road trips, to hidden gems off the beaten track, make sure you enjoy the 1km bushwalk from Ironbark Picnic Area to Ironbark Falls in Popran National Park. As one of several wild waterfalls on the Central Coast, this is a refreshing way to slowly immerse yourself in the expanse of greenery that will soon surround you.

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Fed and watered, now follow the superbly scenic road to Spencer, running the curves of Mangrove Creek. You may spot some of the area's history hidden in place and street names... can you see Screech Owl Valley? How about Oyster Shell Road, or Breakfast Creek and, of course, Dinner Creek? These are signs of the rich heritage stories awaiting you in the tiny riverside town of Spencer.

As you arrive in Spencer, find a parking spot by the river, soak up the view and head to The Anchor, a charming local hub for coffee, brunch or freshly cooked lunch. The warm hospitality here is the perfect welcome, perhaps washed down with a glass of white wine on the wharf overlooking the Hawkesbury River. A top place to indulge in fresh local seafood, doubling as a general store and bait shop.

With so many hidden stories of Spencer and the Hawkebsury River's history, ensure you weave Heritage Ventures based at The Hawkesbury Duck (a memorabilia-filled mini museum) into your visit. Whether it's their flagship event Voices of the River, or pre-booking a guided walking or kayaking tour, learn from historians, geologists and an Indigenous astronomy group, respectfully exploring nearby heritage sites.

One of the most invigorating things to do in Spencer and its surrounds is to hire (or if your thing, arrive by) a boat and navigate the calm waterways. Venture where the water sources meet at the confluence, cruise down to historic Wisemans Ferry, or chill with some fishing. Plan the best place to source your vessel in advance, and Spencer has an accessible public wharf, plus The Anchor will often assist guests mooring up if dining by the water's edge.

Sunset sips take on a new vibe in Spencer at The Dunkirk Hotel, not your ordinary watering hole but with its own Facebook following! Enjoy a cold drink by the water where you'll find a sign adorning the tree, "Dunkirk Hotel"; a no frills, outdoor spot to see the day out complete with public camp chairs, picnic tables and the world's most relaxing view. Best seat in the house, no?

Raved about by visitors as "one of the best Thai restaurants they've ever tasted", book a table at Spencer Thai for your evening. Serving traditional and classic favourites, you have the relaxing option of dine in or takeaway depending on how you feel after your epic day of Hinterland adventure. With your accommodation nearby, the team are often happy to deliver.

To truly immerse yourself in the natural surroundings of the Hawkesbury River area, this popular campground in nearby Gunderman, bookable through the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, is the green therapy your soul’s been seeking in the Central Coast Hinterland. Equipped for small caravans, campervans, camper trailers and tents, sleep nestled between eucalypts in the foothills of Dharug's dramatic sandstone cliffs.

Located on the water's edge in Spencer, just moments from the town's two eateries, this restored heritage style accommodation is a captivating option for those who love the intersection of comfort and period architecture. In this private home you'll enjoy stunning entertainment areas, with three bedrooms, fire pit and a spa bath to watch Dark Emu in the skies above, minus those city lights.

Make sure you always check ahead of your journey for weather events and road closures on Council's website. You should also take smart steps to trek safely if venturing into the Dharug wilderness - a good place to start is by following our bushwalking guide here, and to always check the NPWS website for the latest alerts before visiting a national park.