The Entrance, an hour to two hours up the coast from Sydney — depending on how fast you drive, what route you take, and where in Sydney you're coming from — is a place I sometimes go to for a quiet time.
It's not as upmarket as Terrigal, south of it, and can also be quite uninviting, especially when you can't find an open restaurant on a Monday or Tuesday. The last time I was there, in March, KFC didn't even open until 6pm or thereabouts and only two, or maybe three, Chinese restaurants were open on main street — The Entrance Rd — which is a one-way street running through the centre of town going north. This was a Tuesday and the nice lady at the visitor centre did say quite a number of local restaurants closed Monday and Tuesday since they were open the other days and needed a break.
If I wanted quiet, that was what I got.
Holiday escape
For me, The Entrance is far enough from the rush of Sydney life and the tyranny of computers, and no doubt many people do come here for escape, for a spot of fishing on Lake Tuggerah, long walks along sea and lake around the point before your cross the bridge over The Channel and head north towards Toukley. At the same time it's close enough to Sydney if I have to return to the Big Smoke in a hurry.
If you think of the finger of land as pointing to the area ahead of you, Lake Tuggerah is to your left and the Pacific is to your right. Right in front of you would be The Channel which connects the lake to the sea.
Two relatively large apartment hotels — I stayed at the Citigate Sebel Waterfront Resort Hotel the last time I was at The Entrance; the other is the Waldorf Apartment Hotel — are located at the right of the southern end of the bridge, closer to the sea. There are other hotels on the other side of the foot of the bridge, closer to the lake.
If you like to fish
You can fish almost from the side of the road, particularly along The Channel and Lake Tuggerah and many do. If you went farther south to Long Jetty, you could fish from the long jetty. (Now you know how Long Jetty got its name.) Or you could hire a boat and go fishing in the lake. There's a boat shed just under the southern end of the bridge at The Entrance and you can hire rowboats, canoes, motorboats, even bikes, from here. There are other boat hire places, such as along the lake at Long Jetty.
If you like to walk
Take a morning walk along the waterfront park, following the curve of Marine Parade. For longer bushwalks, cross the bridge and head to Wyrrabalong National Park where you'll find walking tracks to suit.
If you like to surf
There's a good surfing beach just south of Norah Head on the way to Toukley. This is Soldiers Beach and it's a nice stretch of sand, although you'll find that beaches here don't quite have the whitest sand you find in Jervis Bay south of Sydney. There are small beaches where The Entrance faces the sea, just go past the rocky outcrops.
If you like to eat
In fact there are quite a number of restaurants at The Entrance, despite the early disappointment of not finding a good eatery open on a Tuesday.
There's a restaurant guide which you can ask for at the visitor centre which is close to the northern end of Marine Parade and near the spot where pelicans gather to be fed at 3.30pm every afternoon.
Oh yes, the pelicans
The Entrance is trying to build itself up as the Pelican Capital of Australia. The pelicans are always around in twos, threes or small flocks on the lake, in the channel or where the lake meets the sea. But at 3.30pm, they fly in and congregate at the pelican feeding area where, yes, a feeding frenzy occurs.
But it's not as dramatic a scene as, say, when the little penguins come marching home on Victoria's Phillip Island.
Should you visit The Entrance?
If you want to experience life on an almost typical seaside Australian town, you won't go far wrong visiting The Entrance. The lake is an added bonus. (Yes, you can go on lake cruises, too.)
Take a daytrip from Sydney or spend a weekend or more to discover the area's quiet charms.
And there are the pelicans, too.
Getting there
The quickest way by car from Sydney is to get on the Newcastle Freeway as soon as you can, watch for the turnoff to The Entrance, then follow the road until you hit the sea. You could be at The Entrance in an hour to an hour and a half, again depending on how close you are to the freeway where you're coming from.
Another route is take the Gosford exit, bypass the Gosford city centre and head roughly east, then northeast, on the Entrance Rd, just don't take the turn to Terrigal. You'll find yourself at The Entrance in perhaps a couple of hours from when you started in Sydney.
