Love is in the sea air in Port Macquarie

Forget what you think you remember about Port Macquarie - the town has spruced itself up to become a genuine romantic getaway destination.

Port Macquarie

Forget what you think you remember about Port Macquarie.

 For me it was family holidays in a caravan park where the local wildlife was limited to goon-drinking neighbours and a cockroach that resembled one of Dad's size-12 moccasins.

You can still find that experience if you want it, but these days Port Macquarie has remodelled itself as a holiday destination for couples wanting to experience the finer things in life.

With a mixture of culture plus fine wine and dining served up on a backdrop of picturesque coastline, "Port" has spruced itself up to become a genuine romantic getaway destination for couples who don't want to travel to the ends of the Earth.

And the good news for me was that the wife-to-be enjoyed it too.

It's about four hours drive north of Sydney if you want to take the car but you can fly up in about 45 minutes or so.

I was seated behind celebrity vet Dr Harry Cooper who's just as chatty and wears those patchwork cloth caps even when he's not in front of a camera.

My day began in a waterfront penthouse atop the Observatory Hotel, which featured a balcony roughly four times the size of the average Sydney apartment. It overlooked Town Beach.

The food
The first place I went to was a top little restaurant called Fusion 7 on Horton St. It's run and owned by self-confessed Sydney escapee, Lindsey Schwab.

He's recently set up shop after working as a chef at London's Sugar Club under one of London's favourite chefs, Peter Gordon, from New Zealand.

Lindsey is relaxed and on-song after spending the day catching waves at one of Port's many surfing breaks.

"It's just a nice way to operate," he says. "There's no hustle and bustle of Sydney I hated that I can be in the water all day and then be at work in five minutes in the afternoon."

His restaurant has the feel of a trendy inner-Sydney Art Deco eatery and the food is outstanding.

For entr'acte I had the kangaroo fillet. With the chef serving it on a bed of eggplant, olive relish, tahini yoghurt and something called a fennel seed lavosh, the national fauna has never tasted better.

My main was the roast rump of lamb on a sweet potato-smoked paprika rosti with pea and mint salsa.

It melted like lamb-flavoured butter.

A meal for two at Fusion 7 costs more than the average Mid-North-Coast fish and chips fare. It'll probably set you back about $150 for two including wine and entree. But you're on holiday, so treat yourself.

The next morning I rolled out of bed late and moseyed down to Milkbar the cafe under the Observatory. The place has an airy beach feel. With water views from every inch of the place, every seat is the best in the house.

I'm dished up a couple of coffees and a plateful of scrambled eggs on sourdough topped with avocado and spinach. It cost about $15.

The beaches
One of the true highlights of Port Macquarie came from just walking around the beaches.

Stroll out on the Breakwall at Town Beach and you get a flavour of the local culture. The rocks lining the breakwall have been commandeered by locals who have painted them with bright pastel colours, pictures and messages on life, love and loss.

The breakwall is also the starting point for Port's glorious Coastal Walk. The walkway heads south about 9km until the track ends at Lighthouse Beach lookout where, luck permitting, you might see whales.

On the way I stopped at Shelly Beach and learnt about a guy called Harry Thompson who was known as the "Mayor of Shelly Beach".

Harry and his wife, Jean, set up residence on the beach in their caravan in 1960. And after Harry's death in 2001, the local council set up a monument in his honour and commissioned public artworks.

The town
After the walk, it was back into town to check out the sites.

The Glasshouse is Port Macquarie's arts, conference and entertainment centre which opened on Clarence St in August 2009.

It took about eight years to complete and didn't come without a bit of drama. It got the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council sacked in 2008 when it ended up costing an estimated $66 million after originally being budgeted at about $7 million.

It's nice though.

The building has an art gallery featuring works by local artists. The 606-seat theatre has been designed with thousands of purposely placed holes in the wall so that acts don't need amplification. It also attracts top level entertainers. When I came through Sarah Blasko had just played.

The highlight of the stay was the Tastings of the Hastings, which is a month-long food and wine festival held annually in October.

I stopped in for the main event at Port Macquarie Racecourse which was dotted with about 60 tents set up by all the local food and booze producers. To qualify to join, producers need only to be locally based. Entry is only a gold coin donation and the rest is up to you.

Two of the tents were dedicated to Port's local beer producers. Wicked Elf do pale ale and pilsner style beers, while the Herons Creek-based Black Duck Brewery does an ale which needs to be sampled several times.

After two dozen fresh oysters, not quite as many local beers and a couple of indigenous wines, I retired to a spot on the grass to watch the local stage-band and Grinspoon's Phil Jamieson (who is apparently from Wauchope) dance with one of his daughters.

Strawberry picking
Further up the road across the Hastings River is Ricardoes Tomatoes & Strawberries a farm, apparently popular with former Test cricketer and TV personality Mike Whitney. The place is owned by brothers Anthony and Richard Sarks who produce tomatoes and strawberries numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

It's free entry these days but Anthony still has the battered green steel honesty box that was one of the farm's main revenue streams in the early days.

It bears the scars of being stolen and broken into countless times over the years. Anthony would have to bash it back into shape after retrieving it following each theft.

"People would knock it off and we'd find it about 100 yards across the road in the bushland where they'd bash it with a rock," he said.

"I'd just get a hammer and bash it back into shape, so we've still got it."

The strawberries are on A-frames, so you can grab a bucket and pick your own. Or, you can sample tangy Camarosa or super sweet Albions at their cafe. Anthony can also sort you out with a few bottles of his homemade tomato sauce. It's the best thing ever.

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