Octie Appetie: Hawkesbury River Oyster Shed in Mooney Mooney and Walkabout Wildlife Sanctuary

18 February 2025

Hawkesbury River Oyster Shed in Mooney Mooney and Walkabout Wildlife Sanctuary

Lovely day, lovely breeze, perfect excuse to ditch the couch and have some awesome outdoor adventurous. One weekend when weather forecast said it would be a fantastic day to engage in outdoor activities and soak up the natural beauty around us, we used this chance to do a short-day trip to Mooney Mooney and nearby.

A brief stop at Beecroft to fuel our tummy with some delicious coffee early in the morning. To be honest, we've never been to Beecroft before and we randomly entered a coffee shop right at the entrance of Beecroft Place Shopping mall (sorry, can't remember the name was). As this is not our main purpose visiting this suburb, so we didn't wander around too long. But I noticed that there are many interesting shops and restaurants in this suburb and I'll definitely make our way here again soon.

Taro latte and lemon tart

Our second stop for the day was this oyster farm along Hawkesbury River. There are a few oyster farms in the area but we landed in this Hawkesbury River Oyster Shed. We picked this place purely from Google review. Once we tried their fresh oyster, we definitely agree with the reviewers.

There is an open dining space area facing the water. Their seafood is super super fresh. Pricing wise is pretty reasonable. We got ourselves half dozen each, Sydney Rocks $22 for half dozen and Pacific oysters $25 for half dozen. They were too good until we need to get more of those oysters and we went for something fancy which was oyster cooked in truffle butter. Although, truffle butter added flavour into the oyster. I, to be honest still prefer my oyster when they are raw with bouncy texture and simply added a dash of lemon on top.

Lucky, we came early, because right after we left, I saw more cars coming in and lots of them cannot find a car park.

From fresh superlicious oyster, we then moved on to a small zoo in Central Coast region, named Walkabout Wildlife Sanctuary. This place is quite tiny compared to other zoos, however, my kids had their best time here. They can get very close to some animals like kangaroos, wallabies, and even pat a koala and rabbits because in here they let those animals freely roaming around in the open area.

Adult price is $38 and $22 for a kid, I suggest you purchase ticket online as the price is cheaper through online.