Jervis Bay, Australia

Paperbark Camp

Price per night from$373.89

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (AUD572.73), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Barefoot bush luxury

Setting

South Coast sanctuary

Escape the concrete jungle for the Australian bush: Paperbark Camp eco-retreat, only two hours from Sydney, awaits. Glamp it up in tree-fringed tents toting indulgent comfort and take advantage of all that Mother Nature has to offer – bush walking, creek kayaking, swimming, snorkelling and surfing; or simply lounging on a day-bed spotting kangaroos.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A bottle of Australian sparkling wine on arrival

Facilities

Photos Paperbark Camp facilities

Need to know

Rooms

Twelve.

Check–Out

11am; check-in, 2pm, but both are flexible subject to availability.

Prices

Double rooms from £325.74 (AU$630), including tax at 10 per cent.

More details

Rates include breakfast, three-course chef's choice dinner and use of bikes, canoes and sup boards.

Also

Tents are named after local wildlife and intriguing in-room guides give lots of info about your namesake animal. No need to worry about insect encounters, though; full screens and mozzie repellant keeps unwelcome guests at bay. Paperbark Camp is closed during winter from the Monday of the June long weekend and reopens on the first weekend of September.

Hotel closed

Paperbark Camp is closed during winter from mid July to mid August each year.

At the hotel

Free WiFi in communal areas, library, canoes, kayaks and bikes for exploring the local area. In rooms: bespoke Dindi Naturals bath products made in Victoria, free bottled water, Organic Tea Project tea and Single O coffee bags, hot water flask and fresh milk (delivered each morning). In-room spa and beauty treatments on request. Laundry service is also available for $18.00 per small bag.

Our favourite rooms

Surrounded by soaring eucalyptus and paperbark trees, all 12 canvas-clad tents offer laid-back luxury, with comfy beds, ensuite showers (with a freestanding bath in Deluxe rooms) and cool sea breezes thanks to raised hardwood decking and wraparound verandas. Roll-up walls allow you to dictate just how much of the great outdoors you let in (leave tent flaps open to wake up with the sunrise). We love Kookaburra for its privacy and prime creekside location for dawn kayak forays from your doorstep.

Poolside

There’s no pool at Paperbark, but who needs one when the jaw-dropping beaches of Jervis Bay are just four kilometres away?

Spa

There's no Spa, but in-tent massages can be arranged, though advance booking is recommended.

Packing tips

Warm layers for evening, a stack of great reads and a notepad for penning masterpieces en plein air. As well as amplifying the back-to-nature experience, packing light gives you more room in your tent. While a luxury camp stay is the perfect excuse to tune out to the cyber world (we say the only things tweeting out here should be the myna birds), digital devotees are catered for with free WiFi and plug sockets in communal areas.

Also

A minimum two-night stay applies at peak periods or weekends if including a Saturday night. Over Australia Day and Easter long weekends, there's a four-night minimum stay. Smoking is allowed on outdoor decks, but be aware of bushfire risks.

Pet‐friendly

Pets are not permitted. See more pet-friendly hotels in Jervis Bay.

Children

Paperbark Camp caters for juniors ages ten over, but they must be supervised at all times. Extra beds for kids are $150 per night for those aged ten to 17 and $200 for older teens and adults. Rates include dinner, breakfast and use of all facilities.

Best for

Outdoor-enthusiastic kids aged ten or over (the camp only accepts younger children by special arrangement).

Recommended rooms

All tents are the same size inside and can fit a maximum of four (ideally, two adults and two kids, or three children at the most). Opt for a Deluxe for a larger veranda and a bath.

Activities

Paperbark is the stuff of children’s dreams, with possums, kookaburra and other native animals in the trees around your tent and kangaroo sightings at dawn and dusk. Active kids will love the free guest bikes for trail rides, easy walks on forest tracks from the camp, and canoeing and swimming in Currambene Creek and Jervis Bay. Snorkelling sessions beckon in the ocean, too, along with whale-watching in season or diving for older teens. Relaxing beach time and picnics also beckon.

Swimming pool

There’s no pool on site, but kids won’t miss one – head to postcard-pretty Jervis Bay nearby for clear waters and expanses of sand-castle-worthy white beach.

Meals

Kids are welcome to enjoy the full dinner menu, but the The Gunyah has a fresh and tasty children’s menu, too, featuring dishes such as grilled local fish, spaghetti Bolognese, and sausages and mash, and serves kids until 6.30pm. Picnic lunches can also be ordered the night before.

 

No need to pack

High chairs; board games – the games cupboard in the Gunyah has plenty.

Also

There's a rate of $150 per night for juniors aged ten to 17. The hotel doesn't cater for little Smiths (aged 0 to nine), but in rare instances they may make exceptions. In this case, approval must be received in writing before booking.

Sustainability efforts

With advanced accreditation from the Ecotourism Association of Australia, Paperbark Camp is committed to eco-tourism. Produce not grown on-site is locally sourced, and all food served at Paperbark is organic, fair trade and free-range. Local hardwood timber has been used to construct the rooms, which are solar powered, and the hotel uses eco-friendly cleaning products and light bulbs. As part of Paperbark's own conservation programme, the team also removes foreign plant species from the grounds. Local flora and fauna guided tours can be arranged on request.

Food and Drink

Photos Paperbark Camp food and drink

Top Table

Settle back at a candlelit table out on the deck, where sugar gliders (think cute mini possums) fly through the trees around you.

Dress Code

No need to dig out that vintage safari suit! Carry daytime relaxation on into the evening, with casual layers for keeping warm once the sun goes down.

Hotel restaurant

Check all notions of camping fare at the canvas door: you’ll find no straight-from-the-tin spaghetti or singed sausages here. Hotel restaurant the Gunyah is a treetop testament to gourmet dining. Chilean chef Emilio Erazo (formerly of Melbourne hot spot Mamasita) uses local produce to create a modern Australian menu with a Central American accent. Must-try dishes include local Jervis Bay mussels, yellowfin tuna tartare, the Wobbly Knees (mixed beer-based jellies finished with sabayon) and five-texture chocolate cake. Be sure to sample the gob-smackingly good granola at breakfast (so popular Paperbark now provides printed-out copies so you can recreate bush breakfasts back home) and book for dinner, as the restaurant opens to non-guests come evening and is a hit with locals.

Hotel bar

The Gunyah (an aboriginal word meaning 'meeting place' or 'place of shelter') is the social heart of the camp and home to the restaurant, bar, communal kitchen and lounge. Savour a glass of local wine on a comfy sofa in the outdoor area or perched on a bar stool on a nearby deck (perfectly placed for pre-supper wildlife-spotting).

Last orders

Breakfast is served from 8am until 10am; dinner from 6pm until 9pm. Afterwards, take a nightcap to the campfire and cosy up under the stars.

Location

Photos Paperbark Camp location
Address
Paperbark Camp
571 Woollamia Road
Woollamia
2540
Australia

Paperbark Camp is located around 180 kilometres south of Sydney in Jervis Bay. This safari-style retreat sits on the Currambene Creek, flanked by the Booderee National Park, Jervis Bay National Park and Jervis Bay Marine Park.

Planes

The closest international airport is Sydney's Kingsford Smith (www.sydneyairport.com.au). Paperback Camp can arrange airport transfers on request for $190 per person each way. Alternatively, take a domestic flight to Canberra Airport (www.canberraairport.com.au), connected to most of Australia's state capitals and around 240 kilometres away.

Trains

Taking in sweeping views of the New South Wales South Coast, the train ride from Sydney is gorgeous. City Rail (http://www.cityrail.info) operates the South Coast Line service from Central Station to Bomaderry (Nowra), 25 minutes from Paperbark Camp. Paperbark staff are happy to arrange transfers from Bomaderry Station to the hotel on request at $90 one way for up to 4 people.

Automobiles

The easiest way to get to Paperbark Camp is by car (although Paperbark encourages guests to use more eco-friendly transport). The scenic two-and-a-half-hour drive from Sydney takes you along the Grand Pacific Drive, dotted with dreamy spots for lunch or a swim along the way. If you're coming from Canberra, you can either head through Goulburn, Moss Vale and Kangaroo Valley (just under three hours' drive) or take the Kings Highway via Batemans Bay. The camp has free on-site parking.

Worth getting out of bed for

It’s easy (and encouraged) to do absolutely nothing but indulge in lost sleep and a long reading list at Paperbark Camp. You don’t even need to leave the comfort of your room for a massage or beauty treatment set to the soundtrack of the bush.

To appreciate everything on offer at the camp, take a bush trail from the hotel through the paperback forest and mangroves. Go for an early-morning walk to spot kangaroos or rug up for an after-dinner stroll by torchlight to see possums in their natural habitat.

The free guests bikes, canoes and kayaks are a fun, eco-friendly way to explore the local area. If you’re feeling game, take up the ‘Paperbark Challenge’ and canoe to nearby town Huskisson on the shores of Jervis Bay and back, then chalk up your efforts on the communal blackboard that lists the record time (currently set at one hour 20 minutes). Let the Paperbark staff pack you a basket filled with locally-sourced treats so you can stop off for a picnic and a swim on the return journey.

You've got three national parks on your doorstep, including Booderee, Jervis Bay and the Jervis Bay Marine Park, offering pristine bush and ocean habitats. Booderee sports kilometres of walking trails, the Botanic Gardens, aboriginal bushtucker tours, and oodles of kangaroos and birdlife. For the best local beaches, make for Caves Beach (a rated surf spot), Murrays Beach (for spectacular blue water when you burst from the bush), Green Patch (for wildlife by the shore) and Hyams (famous for its super-pale sand, best approached via the White Sands Walk from Huskisson).

Aquatic adventures include whale- and dolphin-watching, guided sea-kayaking, deep-sea fishing and diving. The area is Australia's most popular diving zone after the Great Barrier Reef, and is famous as a whale pit-stop on their annual migration route. Golf at Vincentia Golf Club and horse-riding are also up for grabs for teeing or trotting off.

En route from or to Sydney, the nearby town of Berry makes a good stopping-off point for antiqueing, interiors boutiques and stylish delis and cafés.

Local restaurants

Rick Stein’s restaurant Bannisters is in Mollymook, less than an hour’s drive south along the coast. Make the trip for a lunch celebrating local seafood and shellfish. The restaurant is open for lunch Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday and for dinner every day except Sundays. Booking is essential.

Local cafés

Pick up picnic supplies from the well-stocked deli at Hyams Beach Store and Cafe before exploring famous Hyams Beach. Wharf Rd in Nowra offers a simple and scrummy menu from the seaside (try the beer-battered fish, hand-cut chips and aji panca mayonnaise). The café is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Local bars

Stop by for a laid-back lunch at the Scarborough Hotel on the drive from Sydney. Just south of the Seacliff Bridge on the Grand Pacific Drive, the pub offers local ales, a casual menu and a beer garden with cool coastal vistas. For a late afternoon sundowner with sparkling sea views, grab an outdoor table at the Huskisson on Jervis Bay, aka the Husky Pub.

Reviews

Photos Paperbark Camp reviews
Angus Fontaine

Anonymous review

By Angus Fontaine, Hotel-loving hack

Last time I went camping I took my sons to a site my father used to take me. But much had changed. No more could we just find a patch of bushland, stake our tent and spark up the fire. Licenses were required, campfires were banned, and signs warned campers of the threat from ‘overhanging branches’. When I ignored these new-age directives, rangers fined me $350 for ‘endangering a national park’. So much for the ‘great outdoors’…

Now I’m going bush again. This time in the name of romance and recreation… the recreation of romance, that is. As such, this is far from an ordinary camping trip. It’s ‘glamping’ (glamorous camping) and ‘the wilds’ are 150 minutes south of Sydney in the hamlet of Jervis Bay. Moreover, I’m ‘roughing it’ in a tent furnished with crisp linen, a king-size bed, balcony and claw-foot bath… hence Mrs Smith, who has never endangered a national park in her life, zealously pitching up to join me.

From the moment we turn off the tarmac road onto the dirt track to Paperback Camp, we’re relaxed. Kangaroos bound through the tawny scrub beside us. Magpies issue their waddle-giggle-gargle carol from on high. And glimmering through the eucalypts we can see the slow flow of Currambene Creek. We’re within cooee of the national park named Booderee, meaning ‘bay of plenty’. From the bush to the bays to the beaches that enfold what has been acclaimed as the whitest sand in the world, this is Dhurga country, and one of just three national parks still in the custody of its Aboriginal inhabitants.

We set down our swags at ‘Echidna’, one of eight Original and four Deluxe safari tents Paperbark has had wired up and glowing on solar power since 1998. It’s a large set-up on stilts, with a wide balcony overlooking the bushland and water with an elegant floor-boarded bedroom and en suite. Adjacent is a wetland path so we set stroll, watched by a mob of ’roos, one with tiny joey on board. I feel a flicker of guilt at leaving the kids at home but it passes fast as Mrs Smith and I exult in the quiet. That guilt returns when kangaroo fillet is on the menu that night but hey, it bounds across the palate with such panache we find it hard to rue the roo.

Paperbark hibernates in the winter for repairs and sprucing. It’s a fortnight into the new season when we visit but all tents are full and booked out six weeks in advance. Most of the clientele are couples, although the Camp has become a favourite retreat for corporate teams craving off-site pow-wows. The herb garden was established by Jamie Durie on just such a team-building jaunt. Campfire gatherings, cultural performances, outdoor cinemas, drum circles and bush-tucker tours can be arranged, likewise fishing charters, whale watching trips and horse-riding in Jervis Bay.

Mrs Smith and I are happy to hang at the ranch at first, reading on the balcony, soaking in the tub or watching pygmy possums scurry through the scrub. But as the weekend unfurls we grab a canoe from the flotilla available free to guests. Lazily paddling up the Creek, watching the mangrove birds dry their wings in the warm spring air, we daydream about all the pioneering adventures had in this area since Captain Cook sighted these lands aboard the Endeavour in May 1770.

Our own adventuring is considerably more refined. We borrow a couple of Camp bikes and cycle to nearby Greenfields Beach with one of Paperbark’s signature picnic hampers strapped on the back fender. With pelicans wheeling overhead and a family of kookaburras watching on, we unfold the rug and graze on chicken sandwiches, frittatas, fresh juices and friands, all packed in camping tins and wrapped in brown paper tied with string. It’s unpretentious and delicious. So too the sundowner cocktails and nibbles we enjoy aboard a cruise on the creek that night.

Paperbark’s acclaimed treetop diner the Gunyah, with its ochre inlay, is a fine place to contemplate the simple things in life. There’s a fire roaring for chilly nights, a wraparound balcony for sunny mornings and a fairy-lights-lit arena of tables and sofas where Chilean chef Emilio and young protégé Maximilano artfully bang pans for guests and public alike. Paella nights are particularly famous hereabouts. Appetites are whet with a fresh plump oyster and a sublimely zesty ceviche of prawn, salmon and kingfish before the big pan sparks up from the corner of the dining room and the chefs dole out delicious smoky portions of slow-cooked chorizo, shellfish and chicken with snap peas strewn throughout and salads on the side.

Perched at the Gunyah, a pisco sour at hand and the southern stars overhead, the calming balm of the wilderness and its gentle, untameable rhythms wrap us up and hold us close. Even though phone reception and WiFi exist at Paperbark, it seems obscene to break the spell. For Mrs Smith and I, it’s great not to have a phone in our pockets, an email pressing or even a watch on our wrists. Instead we read, write by hand, talk, kiss and think. Paperbark is that sort of place. Its secret history is written in the waters and stones, the flora and fauna. By camping out, treading lightly and breathing deeply, we take a leaf out of the Paperbark book and feel the great outdoors for all its greatness.

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Price per night from $373.89