Travelling Australia

We had the best day today. We went over on the Ferry to Newcastle.  We were going to go by car, but found it to be 26 klm away as you have to go right around the Docks. Plus it’s $5 an hour to park. So the Ferry it was. It took a whole 5 minutes and cost $1 each, there and back.  You tap your card going on and off.  It was so pretty crossing the River, and even saw a huge cruise ship that was in Port.  It was so clean, and not many on board.  We had never been to Newcastle before, and it was a bit overwhelming as it’s a big city, with a population of 323,000 (2016).  It’s a harbour city in NSW, with lots of beaches. Unfortunately, we’ve arrived here just after this city has hosted a huge Car Race, so they are just in the middle of taking down all the concrete barriers.  But, we stayed along the waterfront as there was lots to see with plenty of places to eat and get coffee.  Beautiful whiting and chips was had as we sat on the lawn overlooking the...

I had forgotten to post these few photos when we did that trip up to the lookout.  After visiting the lookout, and the other lovely beaches and lighthouse, we had a stop on the way home.  There was a sign to say Tomaree Coastal Walk.   It was a very windy day, and the sea was quite rough. What a view!!  And this is the start of the 20 klm walking track. It would have been nice to do a bit of the walk, but it was way too windy…….didn’t fancy getting blown off the top of a cliff.  You can see how all those ships were wrecked as it’s just so rugged.  Stay safe ❤️❤️

Following on from yesterdays post, this coast line is very rugged and there’s been so many shipwrecks. Out on our walk from the park, you can see the names of the ships that were wrecked,  out on this rock wall.  This one is the wreck of the French four-masted barque Adolphe that sailed from Antwerp, September 1904.  The boat was struck by huge seas, coming into the Harbour and hit the rock wall. The Ships lifeboat was dropped  and the seamen slipped down the line one by one. It took half an hour for the 32 men to be placed in the life boat.  It’s estimated that over 200 vessels were lost entering or leaving this Newcastle Harbour. Although the remains of timber ships didn’t remain, the wrecks and hulls  of steel and iron ships remained,  and were used in the construction of the breakwater wall here.  This was a great walkway out to see the wreck.  Our caravan park here is the only one available in Stockton and the whole of Newcastle, so as y...

Port Stephens is a local government area in the Hunter Region of NSW. Its north of Newcastle and  a popular drive from Sydney, that has beautiful beaches, sand dunes and beautiful coastal walks.  Unfortunately…..the weather was terrible today, it was warm, but so windy, as we are so near the coast.  On the way I spotted a sign that said GAN GAN HILL & LOOKOUT……so a quick left turn, and we were going up a very narrow, steep winding hill. Half way up I thought to myself…..what have I got myself into 😳 When we got to the top, there were about 8 car parks and they were all taken bar one, which the car I had followed up, took. So while he squeezed himself into that car park, another car was trying to reverse out. 🫣😳 I think someone should have warned us before coming up here, there was limited parking.  So we were just waiting for someone to reverse, while we were on the steepest of incline, (shitting bricks) Happy to park, and get out of the car, we were so high u...

Left Taree this morning in thick pea soup fog. Couldn’t believe it! Luckily it did last long as I’m not a fan of driving in it.  We only had 170 klms to travel, but it took about 4 hours. There were a lot of hills, and we did stop for morning coffee.  Stockton is a suburb of Newcastle, and lies on the Hunter River. It is a Peninsula, with the Hunter River at the south, and the Pacific Ocean at the east. Stockton Beach is 32 km long, and has sand dunes over 30 metres high.  There is a frequent passenger ferry service from Stockton to Newcastle which takes about 3 minutes.  I asked this lady tonight how we catch the ferry and what happens when we get to the other side. It’s $2 each way, and you can catch a tram down to the beaches in Newcastle and walk along the water front. She was a lovely girl and was so happy to give me so much information on “Newy” as the locals call Newcastle.  The river looked beautiful tonight with a very pretty sunset.  The ferry wit...

A trip over to Foster - Tuncurry was just what was needed today before we leave this area tomorrow.  These two coastal towns are separated by a very large concrete bridge across Wallis Lake.  We’ve been here before, but it’s another one of our very favourites by the sea.  This area is netted off for swimmers, and has a concrete ramp so that anyone that has disabilities, or for us oldies that like to walk in, aided by a hand rail.  Where I took this photo, behind me is a lovely cafe and plenty of outdoor seating.  There is also a caravan park within walking distance close by, which is definitely on our to - do list.  There is a rock wall where you can walk out and you have the surf beach on one side and on the other side is the Seaway, where the boats go out to sea.  It was really rough, and watching the boats go out was enough for me. 😳 It was a very hot day, so we did some shopping and had some lunch then came back to Taree and have packed up the car...