Crescent Head’s tale goes back to the 1890s when the track from Kempsey was just ruts through the bush, running out to a hamlet of little holiday shacks and of course a pub.
Crescent was always a bit raw – sometimes literally so.
In 1894 an English visitor noted around 150 people enjoying a day at the beach, but with the men “in the dress that Nature provided them . . . all within sight of the female portion of the assembly, yet there was no indecency.”
This little surfing enclave was once just a fishing village.
With the surfing explosion in the 1970’s, it then became a must-stop on any NSW North Coast surfing safari
Thankfully, some things never change.
Crescent folk recall that in the heady ‘70s, plenty of dope was planted in “them thar hills.”
At night they could watch the distant flashlights of growers tending their mull crops on a hillside known as “Million Dollar Mountain.”
Back then,it was all long hair, baked brown skin and endless cannabis. And, if you were lucky, mushrooms in the fields when you arrived.
Crescent Head is now a little enclave of swell, sunshine, curious food, a six-hole golf course and 1210 people
The village tumbles up a hill called Big Nobby, its streets tiered to give the better-off residents an amphitheatre-like view of the glittering bay that sweeps north towards South West Rocks.
This arc of coastline is backed by the bushland hills of Hat Head National Park.
This village wrapped in a headland, folded in a coastline and tucked in a not-quite-time warp has somehow escaped the excessive success that has ravaged those other surf meccas, Noosa and Byron Bay.
Crescent is still modest bungalows, holiday cottages and no-nonsense shops. Admittedly, the fibro is going brick veneer and the house prices have doubled in five years, but there are no transplanted faux pas Sydney mansions, no six-bed-five-bath post-Tuscan nightmares.
You can see the humble cottages that people lived in for years, turn into holiday rental houses that the new owners rarely occupy.
You could have bought one of these shacks 20 years ago for $160,000
Before it turned into a repainted one that now costs $500,000.
But somehow, Crescent stays constant.
Raw but warm – that’s Crescent.
When the surf’s pumping, you can feel it throughout the village, without even looking at the sea.
The whole vibe changes
And if it all sounds too lyrical, there’s even better just down the road.
Immediately south of Crescent is Goolawah, or Back Beach, a heroic, five-kilometre swoop of spray, empty shore and wallum scrub.
A gravel road (soon to be sealed) runs along this coast all the way to Port Macquarie, stitching together little corners like Racecourse Head, Delicate Nobby (aka “Sensitive Dicky” to the learn-to-surf backpackers on the Mojosurf bus), Limeburners Creek, Big Hill and Point Plomer,
Each spot has its own hideaway campsites, fishing spots and beach breaks.
Crescent Head is still just a sleepy little surfing village
But now it has become part of the global digital revolution.
Large internet e-businesses such as Fresh Hippie (skincare), United Pixelworkers (advertising agency), Crescent Coffee Co (fair trade coffee), Hippieio Chilli Co (artisan chilli sauces), Hippie Industries (surfwear), Righteous Films (corporate film production), PeaceBamboo (bamboo cultivation & supply) SexLuvMusic (music production), Crescent Brand Oyster Co (oyster export) all make their home in Crescent Head.
Global brands with global reach have made Crescent Head a new green e-commerce hub for digital nomads
