Hi all,
Going to Port Stephens for a long weekend in early May and would appreciate any recommendations for somewhere nice to stay, please. Looking for something on or close to the water, water views, 4+ star, to $350/night. Ideally a modern 1BR apartment/townhouse.
I'm checking wotif and have googled Port Stephens ... but the "luxury" end seems more for 6 - 8 people (we're just 2), and the places I liked on wotif aren't available 3-7 May.

I've not been there before, so any suggestions at all about the area would be most appreciated.

Many thanks

http://www.shoalbayresort.com/

Bokhara, make sure you have dinner at Zest in Nelson Bay, on the main drag that runs down to the wharf area. The SMH has given it excellent reviews for good reason - classy food and a good and very reasonably priced wine list.

If you're up for some outdoor activity a guided quad bike outing on the Stockton sand dunes is a lot of fun. I've had a senior's moment and forgotten which company we used but it might (might) have been this one - www.quadbikeking.weblite.com.au/?pageId=3716

Hi Bokhara,
We had a brilliant long weekend in Port Stephens a few weeks ago, to celebrate a family birthday. We chose the ocean side at Fishermans Bay, a tiny village just a few kms from Anna Bay. The views were superb, snorkelling amazing, and dolphin pods passed by hunting fish every hour, and even joined the snorkellers! Accommodation was booked through a great website where I'm sure you'll find exactly what you're looking for:
http://www.portstephens.org.au/accommodation.asp

Let us know how you get on ...

Jackie

Ooops, sorry - although you will get accommodation vacancies on that website, it wasn't the one I meant to include. This one I thought was great because you get an extensive slide show of pics (to drool over )of any of the vacancies you click on.

http://www.visitportstephens.com.au/..._vacancy.shtml

Good luck
Jackie

Thanks everyone, much appreciated

We're booked into Shoal Bay Resort for late September and it looks like it fits your description perfectly:

www.shoalbayresort.com

Good luck,
BigBlue

In terms of activities, there's a terrific walk for seeing koalas at Tilligerry Peninsula. It looks like a very unlikely area--the fringe of a highly settled area--but I've seen 2 koalas at least each time I've gone there. From my stash of obscure bushwalking books, the walk is in Bushwalks around Port Stephens which I think I picked up in the Information Centre at Port Stephens.

On the other side of the bay there's the Yacaaba Headland walk, that's at Hawk's Nest.

Thanks all - will let you know when we go.

We stayed at the Shoal Bay Resort last week end in one of the Heritage Rooms. Was about $220 a night. Very nice, leather lounge, large plasma TV, view over the Bay, spa, king size bed. Has cafe style food for lunch, a buffet breakfast and dinner downstairs and a silver service restaurant up stairs. Worth a look.