Diamond Head Campground NSW – Three Nights Camping by the Beach
There are some campsites where you pull in, set up the van and immediately know you’ve found somewhere special.
Diamond Head Campground was one of those places.
Tucked inside Crowdy Bay National Park on the NSW Mid North Coast, Diamond Head gives you the kind of camping we love — an unpowered site, the beach right there, wildlife wandering through camp, beautiful walks and a night sky that reminds you just how far away from the city you are.
We spent three nights at Diamond Head Campground, and it was easily one of the most beautiful coastal camps we’ve stayed at.
The night sky above Diamond Head – snapped from my phone.
Camping at Diamond Head
Diamond Head Campground is run by NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and sits right beside the beach in Crowdy Bay National Park, between Taree and Port Macquarie.
The campground is completely unpowered, so you need to be set up for off-grid camping.
For us, that’s part of the appeal.
There are toilets and showers, picnic areas, barbecues and beach showers, but you still feel like you’re properly camping rather than staying in a caravan park. The official campground facilities include flush toilets, cold showers, marked unpowered sites, picnic tables and barbecue facilities. Drinking water isn’t supplied, so you need to arrive with your own. (NSW National Parks)
We had the caravan set up with some rather curious neighbours.
The kangaroos here aren’t something you occasionally spot in the distance.
They are everywhere.
They wandered around the campground, relaxed underneath the caravan and seemed completely unbothered by all of us visitors sharing their home.
You do need to remember that they are wild animals, but being able to sit outside your van in the morning with kangaroos quietly grazing nearby is pretty hard to beat.
A Beach Right on Your Doorstep
One of the best things about Diamond Head is its location.
You’re not driving somewhere every time you want to go to the beach. You can leave camp and be on the sand within minutes.
And apparently the kangaroos enjoy a beach day too.
Things to do include Swimming , fishing and exploring the coastline, and the scenery changes constantly as you move around the headland.
There are long sandy stretches, rocky coves, enormous cliff faces and little passages between the rocks that feel almost hidden from the rest of the coast.
The beaches here are unpatrolled and NSW National Parks warns that strong rips and currents can occur, so it’s definitely somewhere to take care when swimming. (NSW National Parks)
Exploring Diamond Head
If you enjoy bushwalking, don’t spend the entire trip sitting at camp.
The surrounding coastline is spectacular.
We headed out along the walking tracks and found lookout after lookout across the ocean.
The Diamond Head Loop Walk starts from the campground and runs through coastal forest and heath before opening onto panoramic views across Crowdy Bay. The official route is a 4.3km Grade 3 loop, with NSW National Parks suggesting around 1.5 to 2.5 hours. (NSW National Parks)
There’s also the shorter Mermaid Lookout track, around 1.4km return, if you don’t want to tackle the full loop. It’s also a whale-watching spot during the migration season. (NSW National Parks)
The views are worth the walk.
Ocean on one side, bushland on the other, rocky cliffs dropping into clear blue water below — it is classic NSW Mid North Coast scenery.
The Rock Formations
One of my favourite parts of exploring Diamond Head was getting down amongst the huge rock formations.
Some sections almost look as though someone has sliced straight through the cliffs.
You can walk between towering rock walls before the passage suddenly opens back out towards the ocean.
The cliffs around Diamond Head contain quartz, and NSW National Parks says the sparkling quartz faces are thought to be where the name Diamond Head came from. (NSW National Parks)
Standing underneath them gives you a completely different perspective from looking down from the headland.
[JUSTIN’S PHOTO – ROCKY OCEAN COVE]
And then there are the little rocky coves.
Clear water, waves breaking over the rocks and hardly another person around — exactly the sort of place that makes you stop walking for a while and just take it all in.
Fishing, Swimming and Doing Absolutely Nothing
Not every day needs an itinerary.
Part of what we enjoyed about our three nights at Diamond Head was simply having everything we wanted around us.
Go for a fish.
Have a swim.
Walk along the beach.
Head off on one of the bush tracks.
Sit outside the caravan and watch the kangaroos.
Or do absolutely nothing.
That’s the beauty of camping somewhere like this.
And Then the Stars Came Out
As beautiful as Diamond Head is during the day, nighttime gave us one of the highlights of the trip.
With the campground surrounded by national park and away from the bright lights of the bigger towns, the sky was incredible.
I captured this shot above our camp.
Thousands of stars were visible overhead, with the Milky Way stretching across the darkness.
It was one of those skies you can stand underneath for ages.
No television.
No traffic.
Just the sound of the ocean nearby and an enormous sky above you.
What You Need to Know Before Camping at Diamond Head
Diamond Head is a National Parks campground rather than a powered holiday park, so come prepared.
The sites are unpowered, there are flush toilets and cold showers, and you need to bring your own drinking and cooking water. Generators and pets aren’t permitted. (NSW National Parks)
The campground caters for caravans, motorhomes, camper trailers, campervans and tents and has 75 campsites. (NSW National Parks)
If you’re towing a caravan, it’s also worth checking the latest road conditions before arriving because sections of the access roads can deteriorate after rain. (NSW National Parks)
Check Diamond Head Campground information and bookings with NSW National Parks
Would We Stay at Diamond Head Again?
Absolutely.
Three nights gave us enough time to explore, fish, swim and walk, but we could easily have stayed longer.
Diamond Head has that combination that’s getting harder to find — a beautiful beachfront location without losing the feeling that you’re actually camping in the bush.
There are no powered sites or resort-style facilities.
Instead, you get kangaroos outside your caravan, bush tracks disappearing along the headland, rocky coves, long beaches, the sound of the ocean at night and a sky absolutely filled with stars.
Sometimes that’s all you need.
Diamond Head Campground, Crowdy Bay National Park, NSW