Lupine adventures – Pittwater YHA

AKA Travelling in a Pack


By Lydia C Lee.

Got a group? A big group? Want to go away but don’t camp? Want a cheap weekend away? Have you thought about hiring a youth hostel? There are a number around NSW that can be hired for the weekend. We have an annual escape with 28 – 32 people, adults and kids, to the Pittwater YHA.

It takes a bit of planning, you need to work out numbers to fit the rooms as each room has a different number of beds. You have to bring your own food so each family/couple is allocated a meal or dessert. While this sounds daunting, it works well and you have less to bring and no leftovers. In fact, to avoid leftovers, don’t allocate anyone for the last lunch and eat all the leftovers, because what you bring, you have to take with you! (One thing to note, while they have a MASSIVE commercial fridge, they don’t have a freezer – so bear that in mind when meal planning).

Planning is the key, and packing light is essential – you have to get a boat over to Halls Wharf, and then cart everything up a hill (they provide wheel barrows to lighten the load), for a 15 minute walk. They do have a portacot you can use, so you don’t have to lug that up there!!

But once you’re there, the view is spectacular!

The layout has an indoor lounge room and outdoor tables on the covered balcony – we eat on the balcony and the adults tend to play board games and cards til the wee small hours out there, having not moved from dinner. The kids take over the indoor room until sent to bed. (Our aim is to get the children to do the washing up, and that has worked with varying success each year).

The youth hostel has board games, badminton and the highlight is kayaking – you can rent the 6 kayaks for the whole weekend so people can come and go as they wish. Life jackets are supplied for both adults and children. There is a beach across the bay that you kayak to, or you can swim off the wharf.

It’s surrounded by bush, there are plenty of long walks for the more energetic but if you need to duck back to the city, that’s also easy and only an hour or so away. There is plenty of wild life, and last year, when one of the teenagers failed to shut the lounge room door when he went to bed, we woke to a LARGE python stretching across the table to the window, trying to get out!! Quite the highlight of the weekend!

What makes this place work so well for large groups, is the kids entertain each other so the adults get a relaxing break too. It’s a world away and yet so close…If you don’t have a group to getaway with, maybe it’s time to find one…

Practicalities: http://www.yha.com.au/hostels/nsw/sydney-surrounds/pittwater/
The website has the ferry timetable, the outline of the group booking procedure, prices and other relevant details. For a group booking you need to book well in advance, as it’s a understandably a popular hostel.
This hostel obviously can also be booked by the room, if you don't want to book the whole place out for yourself.


Linking with #PracticalMondays