A Trip to The Ruins

The Ruins is 15km South of Forster

Located approximately 15 km South of Forster in NSW, is Booti-Booti National Park, and The Ruins Campground and picnic area. Backing onto 7 Mile Beach to the East, and Wallis lake to the West, The Ruins is a great spot to stop on your way North or South, but equally as good as a destination or base from which to explore everything that the Myall Lakes/Forster/Tuncurry region has to offer.

I recently travelled there with the kids for 3 nights, taking the Ford Everest (which has just clocked over 60,000kms) and the Tvan. The weather outlook had been looking kind of rough, but with the Tvan in tow I figured we’d have a great time anyway.

It was a bit grey the day we turned up

The Ruins Campground during the trips I’ve done has been a bustling place. There are flushing toilets and hot showers available, and they have just commissioned a new larger toilet and shower block. The sites are well sized, and wherever you camp, you are less than 100m to stepping out onto 7 Mile beach.

A lovely spot

This place has turned into a bit of an annual pilgrimage for us with the extended family, and with a bunch of sites booked close together, our kids were busy roaming between them, playing games, exploring, negotiating treats and just having an absolute ball outside.

Kids having a ball

It can be a bit of a wind tunnel being on a narrow stretch of land between the beach and a lake, so you need to be prepared for that. In fact, we’ve had strong winds both times we were there. The Tvan was never bothered by it at all, despite others either having to drop their tents due to the wind, or damaging their 3×3 Marquees.

7 Mile beach is a beautiful spot for swimming, playing on the beach, and exploring. There are some great rocky areas and rockpools to explore at the Southern end of the beach, and if you are keen to stretch your legs, there is a great walk which meanders up over the headland for several kilometres before finishing up at Elizabeth Beach to the South.

7 Mile beach!

Across the road on the Western side is Wallis Lake. There are a number of areas you can stop and visit of picnic at here, and being a lake, the water temperature over summer is lovely, but you also get beautiful sand bars that you can walk out onto and which are great for the smaller kids to paddle about with no surf. They are generally a bit better protected from the wind too.

Wallis Lake to the West!

If off-roading is your thing, then you can purchase a permit and there are some beaches you can drive on here too. It is much more economical to buy a 12 month pass than the 30 day one. The sand can be pretty soft, so make sure you’re prepared to get stuck.