Port Macquarie has found its full-strength cool
A sleepy coastal town no more, this slice of paradise is known as ‘God’s waiting room’ by locals — and it’s easy to see why.
“God’s waiting room” is how one local   described Port Macquarie from his time growing up there. But now, he says, change is in the air.
A waiter is bringing a tray of cocktails to our group. They’re ink-black. “These are Onyx Margaritas,” he says, explaining that they’re coloured with activated charcoal and spiked with yuzu instead of the Marg’s traditional lime. I’m sceptical. Is a drink that looks like it’s been ejected from a squid something I really need in my life? But we try them and they’re bright and balanced and really quite good.
A round of chargrilled chicken skewers follows – we are, after all, at a bar in Port Macquarie called Stick, named for its yakitori-style snacks – as well as a Gindaloo curry-flavoured drink made with Four Pillars Gin Botanical Curry Powder. Overall our group is impressed.
This bar, which is filled with kitschy grandma treasures such as gilt-framed mirrors and vintage cameras, is just one of the venues that feel like a far cry from the RSL club parmies and wine coolers that have always sprung to my mind when I’ve thought of Port Macquarie, on the New South Wales Mid-North Coast.
It’s not so much that Port Macquarie suddenly seems grown-up. It’s more that the seaside town’s got a fresh, new, cooler-than-you-think attitude.
I’m not alone in my theory. Stick’s owner, Charlie Edwards, grew up in Port Macquarie, and in the past few years he’s felt the town begin to shed its long-established retiree image with vigour.
“It’s no longer God’s waiting room,” he laughs. “When I was a kid there was nothing really – one nightclub, and otherwise just pubs and bowling greens. Now there are loads of younger-focused venues and cool restaurants. It feels really different.”
Later, another resident tells me that the Mid-North Coast doesn’t feel quite so “mid” any more. “We’ve always said it sounds a bit like we’re a mid-strength beer – we’re not really the North, not really the Central Coast, but something in between,” she says.
“But especially since Covid, when a bunch of younger families have begun moving into the area from the cities, I think we’re really starting to shine.”
One place Edwards finds himself pretty regularly when he’s not at Stick is Hello Sailor, an indoor-outdoor waterfront bar serving flamboyant cocktails and street food alongside the yacht masts of the marina.
I’m there on a Friday night, and outdoor picnic tables and barrels with stools are packed with diners kept warm by a fire pit in the centre of the forecourt.
Our group decides to go overboard on the menu because it all sounds so good – piling up shared plates of prawn po’ boys, slow-cooked pork taquitos and halloumi “paddle pops” glazed with chilli jam – all dunked in an excellent homemade hot sauce.
A deep-fried caramelised “Caribbean-style” oyster is less successful – oysters don’t tend to respond well to this much accessorising – but it’s an outlier. This is pure party food and as the crowd’s volume begins to crescendo, it seems to be doing its job.
But don’t be fooled into thinking the new Port Mac is all parties and 20-somethings. A few days earlier I’m at Twotriplefour, the restaurant at Cassegrain Wines about 10 minutes out of town (a local told me Port Macquarie is known as the “10-minute town” because nothing’s further away than 10 minutes), feasting on one of their bursting-at-the seams grazing platters.
The team here make nearly everything on site, from pickles and pasta to smoked meats and their signature Scotch eggs made with pasture-raised pork from Near River Produce around 40 minutes’ drive away.
The owner and executive chef, Pete Cutcliffe, also runs Bills Fishhouse & Bar in town, where, on another day during my stay, I practically dive head-first into a seafood platter stacked with oysters, prawns, sashimi, crab salad and ceviche.
Both venues are proof of Port Macquarie’s growing sophisticated, ingredient-led, less-is-more food scene. And it’s on display again when I head to brunch at Bandwagon cafe and restaurant, a new whitewashed, wooden-floor roadside shack with a menu that goes hard on freshness with items like grilled greens with pumpkin seed romesco, lamb with tabouli and flatbread and house-made sodas. This isn’t fussy, over-garnished “beach holiday” food. It’s just good food.
It’s not just the restaurants and bars that are evolving to accommodate a younger, less bowling-and-bingo crowd. Port Macquarie seems to have looked to its famously wellness-focused northern neighbours – the areas around Byron Bay and the Northern Rivers – for outdoor activity inspiration. You can stand-up paddleboard, for instance, on the tranquil Hastings River with Port Macquarie SUP Fun, straight from the main marina.
One afternoon I join horse-mad host Chrissy McEwan and her team from Hastings River Horse Riding to thunder with a group along the wild shores of Grants Beach at the mouth the Camden Haven River, about 30 minutes south of town.
And on another morning I join a group yoga class in an open-air wooden wedding chapel on the grounds of Sails Port Macquarie overlooking the river, followed by green juices from the hotel’s cafe. The atmosphere reminds me of Byron Bay before it out-Byron Bayed itself.
There’s still plenty about Port Macquarie that appeals to any age. The family-friendly Port Macquarie Holiday Park has some of the best water views around, especially from the pretty wooden blue and white cabins that look directly over the breakwall to the marina.
A river cruise with Port Jet Cruise Adventures is an indulgent way for anyone to spend an afternoon, either stickybeaking into the multimillion-dollar houses along the town’s canals or even – if you’re lucky – stickybeaking into a koala’s priceless riverfront eucalypt.
What’s clear is that Port Macquarie has broadened her fan base. The old girl has a new lease on life.
The writer was a guest of Port Macquarie-Hastings Council.