What a great find this was. The tea-rooms are absolutely charming and are set inside a 19th century lighthouse-keeper's cottage. From the headland, the views extend across Port Stephens and beyond. The views were magical. On a bright, sunny blue-sky day we could see Shoal...Bay, Boondelbah Island, Tomaree Point, and Mt Yaccaba clearly.
Tables are mostly outside and it couldn’t be a nicer setting. A pair of friendly, colourful rosellas even flitted around overhead, staying still long enough for photos every once in a while.
The cafe-style food was excellent. I enjoyed the Smoked Salmon Smash (avocado, pesto, rocket, tomatoes & capers on sourdough $23) and we shared scones with jam and cream ($10). They were nicely fluffy and also huge. Pleasingly, they served leaf tea, in a pot (no soggy, old teabags here).
Next time, I’d do two things differently:
i) Firstly, I’d book ahead. Forgetting that it was school holidays, we didn’t think to book and the place was very busy. As we didn’t plan to stay any longer than an hour, staff very kindly checked and found us a table that was between bookings.
ii) Secondly, we should have popped into the lighthouse museum when we first saw that it was open. Instead we went to the tearooms but the museum relies on volunteers to man it and by the time we’d had brunch, it was shut so we missed out.
GETTING THERE: There is a tiny carpark beside the lighthouse which can accomodate a few cars. If you have to park at the bottom of the hill, it is only a short walk to the top (less than 5 min). Having caught the ferry from Tea Gardens, we walked the full distance from the ferry - a lovely 20 minute walk which took us along Nelson Bay and Little Beach, past Fly Point and through the Flora Gardens. I’d highly recommend this.More