Old Bar

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If you visit Old Bar,

You will find another sleepy village:

A beautiful coast of gold,

The deep turquoise of the sea,

A sandbar that resists

The Manning’s kiss of the sea

And three layers of infinity –

Sea, sky and soul

Merging in that endless slumber

Of the wearied waves


But listen carefully -

There, beyond the waves

Buzzes an airplane

Landing here, taking off there

The azure skies seem a palimpsest.

The old folks smile –

They know the whispers

Of the phantom we cannot see

They point to the grass of emptiness -

An airstrip of yesteryear


Here, even today

The Hawker Demons and Gannets

Continue to lift,

Charles Smith draws crowds

And Nancy Bird inspires generations.

But don’t look too closely,

The runway parts seldom-

And only a few hear a sonic boom,

As Old Bar buries its secrets

In the murmurs of the endless sea…


5th April, 2026


Old Bar sits on the Mid North Coast, about 315 km north of Sydney—roughly a 3.5 to 4-hour drive via the Pacific Highway. It’s 15 minutes from Taree, the nearest regional centre, and around 45–50 minutes north of Forster, making it an easy detour if you’re exploring the Barrington Coast.

The town lies near the mouth of the Manning River, where a shifting sandbar shapes both the coastline and local fishing culture. Its beaches are long, uncrowded, and popular for swimming, surfing, and whale watching in season.

A lesser-known highlight is its aviation past: in the 1920s–30s, the flat coastal land doubled as a makeshift airstrip, used by early pioneers like Charles Kingsford Smith and Nancy Bird Walton. Old Bar was also among a handful of places that included Grafton, Lismore, Coffs Harbour where flights run by the New England Airways would stop on flights connecting Sydney and Brisbane. Old Bar emerged in the WW2 scenario as well supporting RAF flights. History faded away, leaving Old Bar in its aviation senescence as another rustic and slooming village on the gorgeous coast of NSW.

While no formal runway remains today, the area’s open grassy stretches and local stories preserve this legacy—adding a quiet historical layer to an otherwise laid-back seaside escape.


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