How to holiday large and enjoy all the trimmings for less in a tiny house

At the Northern Rivers NSW town of Ballina, home of the Big Prawn and the Bigger Than Average Pineapple, I spent a weekend staying in a new "Tiny Home" at Reflections Shaws Bay Holiday Park. Apparently, although counterintuitively, tiny homes are the next big thing. They are better for the environment: being smaller, they have a smaller ecological footprint (in much the same way as smaller people often have smaller feet). There are tiny homes for hire across the country ....

I had hoped to eat Mini Rolls and play mini golf and enjoy a mini-break entirely in theme with the accommodation, but I was surprised to find that there was enough to do in Ballina without staging my own elaborate private joke - although I did end up stealing a pocket load of 8g packets of butter from the Virgin lounge at Sydney Airport, to save money on breakfast.

There are two Reflections Holiday Parks in Ballina (the other is closer to the centre of town) and Shaws Bay is the better situated. My tiny home looks out over a pocket of beach to the wide blue Richmond River. I've got great water views from my kitchenette, which is equipped with a small microwave, a compact gas stovetop, a miniature dishwasher and a really tiny sink. It'd probably be easy to make simple meals here, but the nearby Shaws Bay Hotel has a restaurant, and staff who are paid to cook and wash dishes, so I decide to leave the catering to the professionals.

A modest wall-mounted television hangs in an unusual spot between the bedroom and living area (which are separated from one another by a partial partition) which I assume to be a mistake until I realise that the screen can be tilted to be seen from either room. However, it's more entertaining to sit on the (quite large) deck and watch the unending morning procession of locals, campers and anglers that passes by, as the entire population of Ballina strides to the tip of the breakwater that separates the river from the bay, a single-minded mission to complete its 10,000 steps.

The tiny home has the prime spot in what is primarily a caravan park, and it strikes me that it's not really all that tiny compared with the smaller caravans and motorhomes parked nearby - and it's huge next to the swagman's bivouac camping tent next door, which is only just bigger than a sleeping bag.

The park is very dog-friendly indeed. Most families seem to have brought their dog, and pets are welcome in the tiny home (which, sadly, does not incorporate a tiny kennel). If you haven't got a dog, you might like to borrow one to fit in with the neighbours.

Just outside the fence - literally two minutes' walk from the holiday park - is a café, a pizza/fish-and-chip shop, and the fiercely casual Shaws Bay Hotel. The hotel's outdoor area spills out onto a beach, and it's one of the few pubs in Australia where beach volleyball equipment is available from the bar.

On a warm and clear morning, I walk along the coastal North Wall track to Lighthouse Beach and then on to Shelly Beach, through a fun run and a sausage sizzle, and past restaurants, cafes and surf clubs crowded with customers enjoying coffee, cakes and avocado toast.

The centre of Ballina is a five-minute drive away. In town, there's a boardwalk along the river and some great places to eat.

Israeli eateries Cafe Boker and Tel Aviv Yafo are very popular for breakfast and lunch, and both are bloody good. I chose the slow-cooked lamb with humus for breakfast at Cafe Boker. It's great, but the serving was big enough for dinner. At Yafo, the burekas are divine.

And everything at Bob's Tacos, an appropriately small restaurant in the Riverwalk Arcade, is about 10 times better than it ought to be.

Try the lunch specials at the classy French restaurant Che Bon (37/41 Cherry Street): the Big Bon, four-hour slow-cooked beef with raclette cheese in a brioche bun, is meltingly delicious, and fantastic value at just $16.

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Ballina's traditional attractions are totally out of theme with the weekend, but I pay them a visit anyway. The Big Prawn, which had a makeover in 2013 and moved from its birthplace above a garage to a spot outside the local Bunnings, has grown a tail and now looks like an ad for the hardware store. The Bigger Than Average Pineapple, traditionally located by a petrol station, lives up to its modest title.

Getting there: Qantas, Virgin Australia and Jetstar all fly from Sydney to Ballina. Jetstar also flies from Melbourne and Pelican flies from Newcastle and Dubbo.

Staying there: Reflections Shaws Bay Holiday Park is at 1 Brighton Street, East Ballina. Tiny Homes start at about $238 per night, for two people and a dog.

Explore more: reflectionsholidayparks.com.au/parks/shaws-bay

The writer was a guest of Reflections.