High on the cliffs of Wyrrabalong National Park near Bateau Bay, Crackneck Point Lookout is the Central Coast's best free whale-watching balcony - a dramatic clifftop perch you can drive almost right up to, no big hike required. Between May and November humpbacks migrate past close to shore, and year-round the elevated coastal view makes a knockout backdrop for a picnic-with-a-vista morning.

Why We Love It

• Whale watching from dry land humpbacks pass close to shore on migration (roughly May to November) and the clifftop height gives you a grandstand view of blows and breaches.

• Big payoff, tiny effort a concrete path runs from the carpark to three lookout tiers, so toddlers, prams and grandparents all reach the view in a few steps.

• Hang-gliders overhead the clifftop is a launch site, so on breezy days kids get a free airshow of paragliders and hang-gliders peeling off the edge.

• Walk it out if you want more the Coast walking track links north about 2km to Bateau Bay Beach and south about 1.5km toward Forresters Beach for an easy cliff-edge ramble.

• Five accessible picnic tables and grassy edges spread a rug or claim a table and make a whole lazy morning of it.