Tahlee - a surprising place to stay.

Waaaaay back in July last year......6 months ago, how time flies!!....we took the caravan to Wollongong (it's a long story!) and it's actually quite a long way for us to tow the caravan as we are slow-coaches when we are towing.
So we decided to stay somewhere on the way back to break up the trip....because we can!

Thank goodness for Wikicamps.
Without it we would never have stopped at Tahlee, we would never have known about it.

Tahlee is an historic property that is owned and run by a christian organisation. But anyone can camp there on the northern edge of Port Stephens. There is a small fee and there are toilets and showers.

Tahlee was established in the 1820's as a base for the Australian Agricultural Company.
It changed hands over the years with some improvements such as landscaped gardens, a ballroom and billiard room.
There are some charming houses and a rocky boat harbour. The horse-drawn tram to transport guests from the port to the house has sadly disappeared....

There was a conference on when we stayed there so we were unable to have a tour of the buildings.
But there are some little bushwalks around the property.

This fine old stone church was for sale in nearby Carrington. It has been used as a hostel but would be an interesting reno.

As well as camping there are cottages available - find out more here.