Port Macquarie Hastings Heritage
Port Macquarie Hastings Heritage
Port Macquarie Hastings Heritage
5
Cultural ToursHistorical & Heritage ToursWalking ToursArchaeology Tours
Full view
About
Port Macquarie Hastings Heritage, winner of the 2010 North Coast Tourism Award and again recognised in 2011, offers the following walking tours: 1) Uncovering Our Past - This tour covers the history and archaeology of Port Macquarie, it is 2 1/2 hours in duration and departs at 9:30am Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday. 2) Grave Tales - This tour takes you on a journey through our historic cemetery, it is 1 1/2 hours in duration and departs at 2pm every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Tours do not depart on pubic holidays.
Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia
Awards
Travellers' Choice
2023
Suggest edits to improve what we show.
Improve this listingRevenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Port Macquarie Hastings Heritage
Booking unavailable on Tripadvisor
Want other options you can book now?
Show optionsTravellers talk about
(24 reviews)
Contribute
Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
Popular mentions
We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
Learn more about our review moderation.
5.0
199 reviews
Excellent
180
Very good
19
Average
0
Poor
0
Terrible
0
Departure09811064855
1 contribution
Sep. 2023 • Family
Very interesting and entertaining. Mitch was a great host. Definitely worth doing when in Port Macquarie.
Written 21 October 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your review. Glad that you and your family enjoyed my tour.
Written 25 October 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Gabrielle C
1 contribution
Oct. 2023 • Couples
We are so incredibly happy we went on this guided walk. The information was amazing and we learnt so much about the history of Port Macquarie and so entertaining. The Glasshouse now has so much meaning in how designed and built. Thank you Mitch for sharing such great information. Totally recommend when you visit Port Macquarie to do early in your stay. Warm regards Gabrielle
Written 19 October 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thanks Gabrielle for your wonderful review. So glad that you and John enjoyed my Uncovering our Past tour of Port Macquarie. Totally agree with your recommendation that one does the tour early in their stay. I find those that do so appreciate their stay in Port so much more knowing the history of my town. Enjoy the rest of your holiday here and safe travels back to Tasmania.
Written 19 October 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Greg H
Melbourne, Australia5 contributions
Oct. 2023 • Couples
This excellent imformative walking tour of Port Macquarie covered the history and changing landscape as the town developed. Mitch talked about the different layers of archeology, architecture and the people that were part of early days of Port Macquarie. Mitch really knows Port Macquarie.
Written 12 October 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thanks Greg for a great review. So pleased to know that you and Sharon enjoyed my Uncovering our Past tour. Love my town and was happy to share Port's convict past with you. Now you too know of its early European history and its changing landscape. Safe travels.
Written 13 October 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Linda H
1 contribution
Sep. 2023 • Couples
We have been to the Glass House before but we did not know part of Port Macquarie history was on the ground floor, preserved for all to see.
Thanks the co-operative developers ,other parts of the Port history is now visible .
Unknown to most visitors, the CBD has been realigned and parts of the land was once part of the river.
This "walk" is led by Mitch McKay, a former council heritage officer and now an advisor on heritage matters to a number of councils..
Please do this tour on your first day in the Port.
It will make sense of so much you will subsequently see it.
Thanks the co-operative developers ,other parts of the Port history is now visible .
Unknown to most visitors, the CBD has been realigned and parts of the land was once part of the river.
This "walk" is led by Mitch McKay, a former council heritage officer and now an advisor on heritage matters to a number of councils..
Please do this tour on your first day in the Port.
It will make sense of so much you will subsequently see it.
Written 20 September 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thanks Linda for your review. So glad that you and Ross enjoyed my tour. Couldn't agree more with your comment "to do this tour on your first day in Port". I find those that do my tour/s early on in their stay tend to enjoy their stay more knowing the history behind the town.
Written 20 September 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
David M
Surrey4 contributions
Sep. 2023 • Couples
Mitch is an expert guide to Port Macquarie's history: he really knows where the bodies are buried! Some fascinating archaeology.
Written 12 September 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thanks David and Patricia for your review. Hope you enjoyed your stay in my town as well as other places in Australia while you were here.
Written 14 September 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Wendy S
3 contributions
Jul. 2023 • Couples
Mitch was an excellent host, full of knowledge. A must do tour if you have never been to Port Macquarie. Learning about the history and the Foundations of the area. Highly Recommended and would definitely do again if in the region
Written 5 July 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thanks Wendy for your review and recommendation. Glad that you and Phil enjoyed my Uncovering our Past tour. Safe travels.
Written 6 July 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Tour56401867813
2 contributions
Jun. 2023 • Couples
Fantastic historic walk. Very informative, with the right amount of background info and detail. The best tour guide we've had!
Written 4 June 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thanks for your review. Glad that you found my tour very informative and with the right amount of background info and detail.
As for the best tour guide you've had well that's just a bonus comment for me and very much appreciated.
Safe travels.
Written 6 June 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Ken T
1 contribution
May 2023
Great walking tour of the heritage and historical sites in Port Macquarie. Mitch is a very informative guide and passionate about his "town". Learnt a lot about the early settlement of Port Macquarie as a Penal settlement, and visited places we have walked past previously, not knowing of their significance.
Written 25 May 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thanks Ken and Christina for your review. It's always great to learn something about the places one visits especially sites one has previously walked past without knowing their history. So glad that you now not only know of the historical significance of my town and its convict past but also the significance of those places you walked past previously. Safe travels.
Written 26 May 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Duncan R
4 contributions
May 2023
Mitch is the great source of Port Macquarie history, and knows his stuff backwards. His access to the physical archaeological record (for example, inside modern building basements in Port) gives him unequalled opportunity to live the story.
He has two different tours, we have done both, the graveyard tour today.
Fantastic. Also easy walking.
He has two different tours, we have done both, the graveyard tour today.
Fantastic. Also easy walking.
Written 20 May 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thanks Duncan and Jo for your review. It was great to have you come back to Port and do my other tour - the Grave Tales tour. I may have to come up with another tour for when you come back again. Safe travels.
Written 20 May 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Linda B
1 contribution
Apr. 2023 • Couples
Spent a very interesting and informative afternoon touring the Port Macquarie historic cemetery with Mitch our excellent guide. There is absolutely no way you can tour this cemetery without Mitch who was a wealth of information. You would miss out on so much. To find out that Dorothea Mackellar's grandfather is buried here as well as Napolean Bonaparte's supposed illegitimate son and so many other interesting characters, too many to list. Well worth spending an afternoon with Mitch.
Written 27 April 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thanks Linda for your review of my Grave Tales tour. Glad that you and Gil found my tour interesting and informative. Happy to have spent the afternoon wandering through the cemetery and introducing you to some of the interesting characters that call this restful place home.
Written 27 April 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
No questions have been asked about this experience