Things to do in Harrington and the Manning Valley

27 August 2026·8 min read

Harrington sits on a river that is one of a kind

This is the part most visitors don’t know, and it’s genuinely unusual. The Manning is a double delta. It reaches the sea through two separate openings instead of one.

The NSW Government describes it as “a double delta river system with two openings, the only one of its kind in the southern hemisphere”. The main mouth is at Harrington. The second opening is down at Old Bar.

So when you stand on the breakwall and watch the water go out, you’re standing at the main mouth of the only river of its type south of the equator. It’s a good thing to know before you look at it.

Walk the breakwall

The breakwall is the thing people come to Harrington for. It runs out from the river mouth, and it’s a flat, easy walk with water on both sides.

It was built in 1894 to protect the shipping channel, and the regional tourism body describes it now as a scenic walk and a good fishing spot. Both are true. There are usually people fishing along it at any hour that isn’t the middle of the night.

Two practical things. There’s no shade out there at all, so early morning or late afternoon is the sensible time in summer. And it’s a working river mouth with real currents, so keep an eye on children near the edge.

It costs nothing and you can do as much or as little of it as you feel like.

Pilot Hill lookout

A short drive up the hill and you get the whole river delta laid out in front of you. Barrington Coast describes the lookout as giving expansive views over the river delta.

There’s also a small piece of history up there. The site holds the graves of the river pilots, the men whose job was guiding vessels across the bar at the river mouth. That bar is the same stretch of water the breakwall was built to make safe.

It’s five minutes out of your day and it’s the best free view in town.

The Crowdy Head lighthouse

Crowdy Head is the small fishing village just up the coast, and the lighthouse sits on the headland above it.

It’s worth the trip for two reasons. Barrington Coast notes it is one of only two lighthouses along a 190km stretch of this coastline, with a 360-degree view, and easily accessible by car all the way to the top. So you don’t have to climb anything.

And it is described as one of the best vantage points on the coast to watch the humpback migration, which runs May to November. More on that below.

Crowdy Bay National Park

The national park runs north along the coast from Crowdy Head, and it’s the biggest day out on this list.

NSW National Parks lists walking tracks including the Diamond Head loop, and campgrounds at Diamond Head, Crowdy Gap, Indian Head and Kylies Beach. There are picnic areas, and Kylies Hut is a heritage site inside the park. Birdwatching, fishing, surfing, swimming and whale watching are all listed as things people come for.

Two things to plan around, both from the park’s official page:

• There is a vehicle entry fee of $8 per vehicle per day. Check the official page before you go, since fees change.
• The park is always open, but it can close in poor weather or on high fire danger days. Worth a look at the page on the morning you go.

And one that catches people out badly, so it has its own section further down: you can’t take a dog in.

Whale season, May to November

The humpbacks pass this stretch of coast twice a year, heading north through the winter and back south with calves later in the season. Crowdy Head lighthouse is named as one of the better places to watch it from, and whale watching is listed among the things to do in Crowdy Bay National Park.

You need a clear day, some patience and ideally a pair of binoculars. You don’t need a boat or a ticket.

If you’re making a morning of it, the lighthouse is close enough to Harrington that you can watch for an hour and still be back for lunch.

More of the park, if you have a full day

The Diamond Head loop is the walk most people do, but it isn’t the only one. NSW National Parks also lists the Forest, Crowdy Gap, Mermaid Lookout and Metcalfes tracks, so there’s more than one day in the park if you like walking.

There are picnic areas at Blackbutt, Cheesetree, Geebung and Abbey Creek, which is worth knowing if you’d rather bring lunch than plan around opening hours.

And there’s Kylies Hut, a heritage site inside the park. It’s a small thing rather than a grand one, but it’s the kind of stop that makes a walk feel like it went somewhere.

The four campgrounds are at Diamond Head, Crowdy Gap, Indian Head and Kylies Beach, all run by NSW National Parks, so a day trip can become a weekend without much planning.

The river itself

If you like a bit of context with a view, the Manning is worth knowing about. The NSW Government records it as rising in the Barrington Tops and running 261 kilometres to the sea, dropping about 1,500 metres along the way.

That’s a short, steep river by Australian standards, and it’s part of why the mouth at Harrington moves the way it does and why the bar out there earned the reputation it has.

Crowdy Head, just up the coast, is described by Barrington Coast as a small fishing village that still carries a strong maritime flavour from its early settlement. Between the pilots’ graves at Pilot Hill, the 1894 breakwall and the lighthouse, the whole area is really one long story about getting boats safely in and out of a difficult river mouth.

Fishing is still a large part of what people do here. The breakwall is named as a good spot, and fishing is listed among the things to do in the national park as well.

If you have a dog with you

This is the single most useful thing on this page for a lot of visitors, and it surprises people every summer.

NSW National Parks states plainly that “dogs and other pets are not permitted in most NSW national parks and reserves”. Crowdy Bay is a national park. So the beaches and tracks inside it are not a dog outing, and turning up with one in the car means somebody sits in it.

Beaches and reserves outside the park are managed by MidCoast Council, and the rules differ from place to place. Their dogs in public spaces page is the current list, and it’s the one to check rather than anything you read on a forum.

We’ve written more about this in taking the dog out around Harrington, including where dogs are welcome up here.

Where the café fits into a day out

The Clubhouse Café is inside the clubhouse at Harrington Waters Golf Club, at 41 Josephine Boulevard. It’s open to the public seven days a week and you don’t need to be a member or play golf. The kitchen serves 8:30am to 2pm, and on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday the bar and café stay open until 5:30pm, weather permitting.

Breakfast runs 8:30 to 11:30am and lunch runs 11:30am to 2pm, so it fits either end of a morning outing. Coffee, teas and cake are on all day. There’s parking on site, the deck looks out over the fairways and the water, and dogs are welcome in the outdoor seating.

Takeaway is available too. Call ahead on (02) 6556 0409 and it’ll be ready, which is the easier option if you’re heading up the coast.

A morning that works

If you only have half a day, this is the order that makes sense. Breakfast at the café from 8:30. Up to Pilot Hill for the view. Out along the breakwall while it’s still cool. Then the lighthouse at Crowdy Head, and back for lunch before 2pm.

That’s a full morning, it costs almost nothing, and you’ll have seen the best of what Harrington has.