{"id":238176,"date":"2022-05-03T09:17:42","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T23:17:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/?p=238176"},"modified":"2023-02-16T13:39:22","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T02:39:22","slug":"do-the-central-coast-like-a-green-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/nsw\/central-coast\/do-the-central-coast-like-a-green-local\/","title":{"rendered":"Do the Central Coast like a (green) local"},"content":{"rendered":"
From its lush hinterland to its sandy uncrowded shores, the Central Coast is packed to its picturesque brim with nature-based experiences that are unforgettable for visitors but tread lightly on the earth.<\/h5>\n

This has been recognised by Ecotourism Australia, which recently certified the Central Coast<\/a> as an ECO Destination<\/a> \u2013 for its dedication to conscious tourism, development of sustainability, and for playing its part in preserving indigenous culture. Your next green getaway to the Central Coast will be made even better with a little help from these locals, who know and nurture this land so well. Here, they share their tips for travelling around the region, from soaking up nature to indulging in food and wine.<\/p>\n

Ride waves where the surfing legends go<\/h2>\n

Amee Donohoe, ex-professional surfer and\u00a0owner of Central Coast Surf Academy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thanks to its incredible beaches<\/a>, the Central Coast<\/a> is home to an impressive group of surfing legends. That group includes Amee Donohoe, who was ranked fifth in the world during her successful 12-year surfing career. The owner of Central Coast Surf Academy<\/a> now spends much of her time at her local break, MacMasters Beach, where she honed in on her talents as a child. Away from the waves, Amee straps on her walking shoes to explore Bouddi National Park, home to several amazing trails, including an eight-kilometre track that traces an ancient rocky headland above crashing waves. When it comes to fuelling up, Like Minds<\/a> in Avoca is her pick for coffee, and Lady Copa Pizzeria e birra<\/a> in Copacabana is the spot to enjoy woodfired pizzas and vinos from locally owned Upstairs Wines<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Avoca

Central Coast is home to an impressive group of surfing legends, thanks to its incredible beaches.<\/p><\/div>\n

Wander through rainforest gullies and seek out waterfalls<\/h2>\n

Laurie Pasco, NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service ranger<\/strong><\/p>\n

A true warrior of the planet, Laurie Pasco works as a ranger in Brisbane Water National Park<\/a>, where she\u2019s responsible for helping to protect native plants, animals and historic sites (she\u2019s also a firefighter during bushfire season). It\u2019s no surprise that her favourite national park is the one she spends most of her time in, describing its landscape of sandstone cliffs and escarpments, rainforest gullies, waterfalls and water views of Hawkesbury River and Brisbane Water as beautifully diverse. She spends her leisure time on two wheels, choosing Ourimbah State Forest and Awaba State Forest as her mountain biking playgrounds.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial

These avid surfers frequent Toowoon Bay to start their day with sun, sand and sea.<\/p><\/div>\n

Combine sun, sand and sea with award-winning cuisine<\/h2>\n

Kyal and Kara Demmrich, serial renovators and owners of K&K homewares store<\/strong><\/p>\n

This design super duo became well known for their stint on The Block many moons ago, and they continue to kick goals with their successful building and design company and online homewares store<\/a>. These avid surfers usually start their day with sun, sand and sea, frequenting Shelly Beach, Toowoon Bay or Blue Bay, then pounding The\u00a0Coast walking\u00a0track<\/a>\u00a0in Wyrrabalong National Park. When it comes to caffeine, Flour & Co<\/a> in Toowoon Bay is their firm favourite. Weekends may be spent enjoying long relaxed lunches with friends at the always packed Arc. Est<\/a> or enjoying the fresh and eclectic flavours at hatted restaurant Yellowtail<\/a>, both in Terrigal.<\/p>\n

\"Design

This design super duo continue to kick goals with their successful building and design company.<\/p><\/div>\n

Follow the creatives from local markets to live gigs<\/h2>\n

Tessa Thames, musician<\/strong><\/p>\n

One half of husband-and-wife musical duo Microwave Jenny, Tessa has performed on stages across the country but calls the seaside enclave of Ettalong home. She often pops into her local cafe Lords of Pour<\/a> for a chai latte and croissant fix and Coast 175<\/a> for their corn fritters. Tessa also enjoys catching a flick at the characterful Italian-inspired Cinema Paradiso<\/a> and browsing the stalls at Avoca Beachside Markets<\/a>, where homegrown acts perform. If it\u2019s an after-gig nightcap she\u2019s craving, Tessa makes a beeline for The Boathouse<\/a> Hotel<\/a> Patonga<\/a>, which oozes relaxed pub vibes in a chic coastal setting and has weekly live music.<\/p>\n

\"Avoca

Tessa enjoys browsing the stalls at Avoca Beachside Markets.<\/p><\/div>\n

Head north for a hidden cave system and a historic lighthouse<\/h2>\n

Melissa Roberts, Justin Black and Ryan Barron, co-owners of Johnny Tapas<\/strong><\/p>\n

This local trio injected life into the languid town of Norah Head when they opened Johnny Tapas<\/a> in 2020, and it\u2019s been a much-loved restaurant and bar<\/a> ever since. When they\u2019re not serving up tapas and woodfired pizzas they love to spend time outdoors, naming Soldiers Beach as a favourite spot, Munmorah State Conservation Area<\/a>\u2019s unique cave system an adventurous place to explore, and the walk from Norah Head Lighthouse to Cabbage Tree Harbour<\/a> the perfect way to stretch your legs while enjoying the Central Coast\u2019s wide open spaces.<\/p>\n

\"Norah

Walk from Norah Head Lighthouse to Cabbage Tree Harbour.<\/p><\/div>\n

Find the murals of the area\u2019s best-known street artist<\/h2>\n

Grant Molony, artist<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you spend time around the Central Coast, chances are you\u2019ll see one of Grant Molony\u2019s colourful and detailed murals adorning a wall or interior. Spot the octopus looming overhead at Bay Road Brewing<\/a> in Gosford, and see Michael Jordan at Long Jetty\u2019s heritage cinema turned bar The Savoy<\/a>. His latest venture with his partner Chloe, Rowsie Lane<\/a> at The Entrance, combines art, florals and creative workshops.<\/p>\n

\"Grant

See one of Grant Molony\u2019s colourful and detailed murals.<\/p><\/div>\n

Sip and savour with the local providores<\/h2>\n

Nadia O\u2019Connell, Firescreek Botanical Winery<\/strong><\/p>\n

Running the 2.5-hectare organic Firescreek Botanical <\/a>Winery<\/a> keeps Nadia O\u2019Connell busy, but when she\u2019s not foraging in the garden for fruit for their award-winning botanical wines, or hosting her Winemaker\u2019s Secret Garden Tour, she loves to spend time at Spoon Bay<\/a> or Forresters Beach<\/a>. Brunch is often on the menu at The Fat Goose<\/a> in Hardy\u2019s Bay or Kew Dining<\/a> at Erina Heights. For a taste of other locally made produce<\/a> and beverages, Nadia recommends the self-guided Scenic Sips<\/a> trail that connects the winery to Six String Brewing (offering craft beer) and Distillery Botanica (specialising in gins and other liqueurs), and the Meet the Makers<\/a> trail that connects Little Creek Cheese, Broken Bay Pearl Farm and confectionary wonderland The Factory.<\/p>\n

\"Firescreek

Running Firescreek Botanical Winery keeps Nadia O\u2019Connell busy.<\/p><\/div>\n

For more inspiration from Central Coast locals, visit lovecentralcoast.com\/create-your-story<\/a>.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From its lush hinterland to its sandy uncrowded shores, the Central Coast is packed to its picturesque brim with nature-based experiences that are unforgettable for visitors but tread lightly on the earth. This has been recognised by Ecotourism Australia, which recently certified the Central Coast as an ECO Destination \u2013 for its dedication to conscious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":238568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"advertorial.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[1124],"tags":[7245,7222,7335,6296,4394,5515,4628],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDo the Central Coast like a (green) local - Australian Traveller<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Get the local's guide and tips for the Central Coast; find where the locals love to eat, shop and play that most visitors never know.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do the Central Coast like a (green) local - Australian Traveller\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Get the local's guide and tips for the Central Coast; find where the locals love to eat, shop and play that most visitors never know.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/nsw\/central-coast\/do-the-central-coast-like-a-green-local\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Australian Traveller\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AustTraveller\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-02T23:17:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-16T02:39:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s1.at.atcdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Toowoon-Bay.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Megan Arkinstall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AustTraveller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AustTraveller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Megan Arkinstall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Do the Central Coast like a (green) local - Australian Traveller","description":"Get the local's guide and tips for the Central Coast; find where the locals love to eat, shop and play that most visitors never know.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Do the Central Coast like a (green) local - Australian Traveller","og_description":"Get the local's guide and tips for the Central Coast; find where the locals love to eat, shop and play that most visitors never know.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/nsw\/central-coast\/do-the-central-coast-like-a-green-local\/","og_site_name":"Australian Traveller","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AustTraveller","article_published_time":"2022-05-02T23:17:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-16T02:39:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/s1.at.atcdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Toowoon-Bay.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Megan Arkinstall","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AustTraveller","twitter_site":"@AustTraveller","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Megan Arkinstall","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/nsw\/central-coast\/do-the-central-coast-like-a-green-local\/","url":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/nsw\/central-coast\/do-the-central-coast-like-a-green-local\/","name":"Do the Central Coast like a (green) local - Australian Traveller","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-05-02T23:17:42+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-16T02:39:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7080d2eef0ec35af4044aca9552c770a"},"description":"Get the local's guide and tips for the Central Coast; find where the locals love to eat, shop and play that most visitors never know.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/nsw\/central-coast\/do-the-central-coast-like-a-green-local\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/nsw\/central-coast\/do-the-central-coast-like-a-green-local\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/nsw\/central-coast\/do-the-central-coast-like-a-green-local\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Do the Central Coast like a (green) local"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/","name":"Australian Traveller","description":"Honestly Australian","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7080d2eef0ec35af4044aca9552c770a","name":"Megan Arkinstall","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/s1.at.atcdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Megan-Arkinstall.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/s1.at.atcdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Megan-Arkinstall.jpg","caption":"Megan Arkinstall"},"description":"Megan Arkinstall is a freelance travel writer who you\u2019ll often find at the beach, bushwalking or boating with her young family. She loves reliving travel memories through writing, whether that be sipping limoncello in a sun-drenched courtyard of Monterosso or swimming with green turtles in the aquamarine waters of Tropical North Queensland.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/megan_arkinstall\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/author\/megan-arkinstall\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238176"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238176"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":248722,"href":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238176\/revisions\/248722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}