Shopping and entertainment.
There are no shops in NAC, we recommend bringing all your food with you. When coming from Sydney the best place to provision is at Raymond Terrace or Medowie, where you will find large Woolworths and Coles. All the shopping you will need within an easy 25-minute drive of the house. We use Medowie mostly.
Tea gardens is 15 min drive north. Tea Gardens is a river town with restaurants, fish and chips, ice cream, shops and waterfront boardwalk. There is a regular ferry to Nelson Bay under the singing bridge. There is a small Coles supermarket and Post office, bakery and usual shops in a small town. Recommended restaurants are Tillermans and Mumms Fish restaurant.
Hawks nest is beyond Tea Gardens, and the river meets the sea, there is beach patrolled surf beach, with 4×4 beach access, cafes, pub, ice cream. Surf Beaches are at Hawks Nest, nearby Jimmy’s beach is a surf free beach not patrolled.
Karuah is a river town 10 minutes south and offers an IGA, Oyster sellers, BP servo with takeaway, Post office, Bottle shop and the Karuah RSL with Chinese restaurant, all-season Boat ramp with trailer parking suitable for all size trailer boats. Karuah RSL has a free bus which does collect from North arm cove, the timetable and phone number is in the manual.
Medowie has large Woolworths, Coles, Bottle shop, bakery, pub, and a few restaurants.
You are also within 1 hr drive of the Hunter Valley wineries, Barrington Tops and a huge hinterland of adventure trails. If you have a boat, we recommend you seek out Fame cove on the opposite headland to North arm cove, it is a very spectacular bay.
The Rock service station is 10 minutes from the house towards tea gardens where you can get fuel, bread, milk, Subway and a variety of fast food.