Weekend in 'Newy'
- matthewphillis
- 22 hours ago
- 9 min read
The second largest city in New South Wales... and a smaller version of Sydney?
Summer was still lingering in Sydney, and even though Autumn had started, it didn’t really feel like it yet. That’s one of the great things about this city, long summers and relatively mild winters (as long as there are no bushfires). Even in Spring when the weather is starting to heat up, it’s still not too hot to do things like walks and picnics. Autumn gets a littler colder and rainier, but it’s often the best time to go hiking as well. We’d celebrated our honeymoon back in November 2022, but in February 2023 it was our first wedding anniversary. This meant that we had a great excuse to get away somewhere nice for the weekend, and maybe even a good excuse for a fancy restaurant. We didn’t want to go so far away, more something within 2 hours driving of Sydney - we’d bought a car just before New Year’s and were keen to use it! Looking around at places to stay, we finally settled on Newcastle, a city just under 2 hours north of Sydney. We loaded up the little Corolla hatch with a few things and hit the road on Saturday morning. Getting out of the city wasn’t too bad at about 8am, as most people were just getting up or walking for a coffee at their local café, but later on around 11am the traffic is nearly as bad as weekday peak hour; everyone driving to a shopping centre, lunch, or somewhere else to spend time, money, or entertain the kids.
We crossed the bridge while admiring the views of the CBD and Opera House on our right, passed the suburb of North Sydney (the second Sydney CBD), and keep going north through the leafy suburbs of the North Shore, before hanging a right onto the M1 motorway towards Newcastle. The drive from here was a big motorway, and nothing special itself, but the road goes right through the Ku-ring-gai National Park, which is immense, stretching from the leafy suburbs towards the edge of Sydney and the Hawkesbury River. There are walks you can do here, but I have never really explored this national park as much as others (like the Blue Mountains National Park), only doing a short bit of walking around Palm Beach and West Head Lookout. Trees, and so many of them, rushed past us as we followed the road that was cut through sandstone hills. We crossed over the Hawkesbury River and the Mooney Mooney Bridge (which has a windsock as it gets very windy!), then headed up past Gosford and towards our destination for the weekend.
Before getting to Newcastle, we decided to stop off for a coffee and a short walk, not because the drive was long, but because the sun was shining... and because ‘why not’ was also a pretty good reason. We stopped at The Entrance, a coastal town on the old highway north, a little more than halfway between Sydney and Newcastle. I’d been here before, and like this time, it was only a short stopover, but I remember it fondly. Although the town centre isn’t amazing, slightly dated souvenir shops, ice cream parlours, and fairground rides, the backdrop to The Entrance is stunning. The town sits right on the coast but also has an inlet from the ocean into Tuggerah Lake, so it is literally surrounded by sparkling blue water. This may not be a place to live, not for me anyway, but it would be a great place for a summer weekend house, or an investment property. We walked along the esplanade, taking in the sun and water view, and there were plenty of people doing the same.
We grabbed a coffee, a small snack, and sat down on the grass to people watch. Something that really caught my eye though were the pelicans – the sheer number and size of them were amazing. They cruised the skies like dinosaurs, huge wingspans and beaks, landing where they wanted to and doing what they wanted to, because nobody was going to mess with them. Some even perched up on streetlights, fighting smaller birds off as they sat two to a light, kings of the skies, like it was the Jurassic Era. Back on the road again, we crossed the bridge over the inlet and continued north to Newcastle. Some of the names of towns and places here are quite funny, and very Australian, like Woy Woy, Buttaba and Budgewoi. There are some ‘normal’ names here too, a lot from the UK, like Swansea (where we’re planning to go camping in April), or just a name that suits the area, like Pelican, Fishing Point, and Coal Point. The last town was clearly named after the abundance of coal in the area, and evidence of this industry are the large cooling towers of power stations dotted around the lake. Yes, Australia still runs on mainly fossil fuels, most of that coal with a little bit of gas, but it is better than the talk of switching to nuclear that happened during the 2025 federal election. Whenever I think of a nuclear power station sitting on the water, I think of the Simpsons and the 3-eyed fish. Thankfully, that was voted down, and the country continues its push towards solar, wind, and renewables. The power stations did make for interesting photos though.
Newcastle is located on the mouth of the Hunter River, which feeds into the famous Hunter Region, a large wine growing area in New South Wales. A British colony was attempted in 1800 to take advantage of the abundant cedar trees and coal deposits (which were found lying around on the surface), with the convicts and soldiers having some early run-ins with the local First Nations people, resulting a handful of deaths. This did not deter the Brits, who smelled money from coal exports, and so tried again and were eventually successful, setting up a terrible workcamp style town. Since its successful founding in 1804, Newcastle (or Newy as the locals call it) has become the second largest city in New South Wales. It has grown from its violent and humble beginnings to become a city of over 500,000 people, and some even think it resembles a smaller version of Sydney (and I happen to agree with this). The main industry of Newcastle remains coal, although it was also a shipbuilding and steel manufacturing town, but those came to an end when BHP closed down their operation in 1999. It was also the hometown of Australia’s famous grunge band Silverchair, who formed before they’d finished High School, and are most known for songs like “Tomorrow” and “Freak”.
With its colonial history, Newcastle has plenty of buildings from the period, including Customs House, a large City Hall, and imposing red-brick church that sits on a hill overlooking the city and harbour. Today, the harbour and cargo ships still dominate, but since the closure of the steelworks, has become more of a cultural city than an industrial one. We cruised into the city, as traffic is nothing like Sydney, and found our room for the weekend without too much effort. The place was just one block from the Newcastle Ocean Baths and was right in the middle of the two famous beaches in Newcastle; Newcastle Beach and Nobby's Beach. We parked, grabbed our bags, and crossed the street to check in. The reception of the building was closed, there was nobody there, but the door to our place was open and the keys inside. It was just a room with an ensuite, but there was no hotel-style reception or service at all. The room looked ok in the photos, and from a surface level in real life as well, but was a little dirty when you looked more closely. We found someone’s toenail clippings on the balcony, and there was dust around edges of things, which clearly reflects the absence cleaning staff or reception staff. It didn’t take us long to dump our stuff and head out. Bad review coming up for this place.
First port of call was Newcastle beach, a short walk from our accommodation. It was nearly lunch time, so we figured a snack and a cold glass of something would hit the spot nicely. The beach is a little more natural than a main city beach, with rocky outcrops in the middle of the sandy stretch as well as at both sides. There was plenty of sand to lay on and play in, but the surf was a little rough which proved Newcastle is known as more of a surfing and wind sports location. The iconic surf life savers, in their red and yellow outfits, were patrolling the beach, flags raised for the swimmers and boards ready to paddle out if anyone needed assistance. Thankfully, they weren’t kept very busy at all, and able to relax and enjoy the glorious weather just like everyone else. After a snack and a drink, we headed up towards Newcastle Baths, which were just up from this beach and right next to Newcastle Canoe Pools, a small, oval-shaped rock pool with a sandy beach. The baths were getting a bit of a face lift, and we couldn’t go in, but I would love to come back and see them when they’re ready as they are an icon of the city.
Built in the 1920s in the Art Deco style, the Newcastle baths are a jump back in time when people went to the beach fully clothed and women swam in dresses. Not able to get in, we kept walking up towards Nobby’s Beach and the lighthouse on Nobby’s Head. The wind had picked up, which made it poor weather for swimming, but great for various wind sports - kite surfers were using the wind and waves to their advantage, getting some big airtime, then crashing back into the surf before going again. I was content with walking and enjoying the views. Walking along the beach, the waves crashing in, was very peaceful and relaxing. Heading up into the dunes of Nobby’s Beach was a little harder work on the legs, but my bare feet enjoyed it. When I say dunes, I don’t mean a few small rises of sand, but actual wild dunes that sometimes hide everything else, including the ocean and other people, but Nobby’s Lighthouse was always there. Built in 1854 to guide ships into the river, it remains active today although most likely unmanned, but is also open to the public on weekends and some holidays. We didn’t visit the lighthouse today, so it goes on the list to do when we come back, much like the 19th century Fort Scratchley which sits on the headland before Nobby’s Beach. You can’t see everything, time or money (or not open to visitors), and sometimes its good to leave things for next time anyway.
We kept walking, around the base of the lighthouse and out to the Newcastle Breakwater. Right at the end of the breakwater, a long concrete over rocks spit, you get to look back at the lighthouse, beaches and city one way, and the container ships waiting to get into port out over the Pacific on the other side. It almost feels like you’re at the most easterly point of Australia out there, but that spot is reserved for the Cape Byron Lighthouse at Byron Bay. We headed back into the city, planning a walk around before heading back to the room to freshen up for dinner. A wander around Newcastle is an interesting experience; there are old sandstone buildings like Christchurch Cathedral and Customs House, which are reminiscent of Sydney’s old buildings like the Town Hall and QVB building, and then there are the modern buildings like the University of Newcastle (UON) campus and the renovated Newcastle Museum. There is also loads of graffiti in this city, both hidden in backstreets and huge installations on sides of buildings on the main road. There are clear signs of reinvention by the city – when one industry closes down, alternatives need to be found to build culture, history, and also to keep locals from leaving and make sure tourists keep visiting. It reminds me a little of a few cities in the UK and Europe; Liverpool being the one that springs to mind, where they were named ‘city of culture,’ which brought about huge changes – buildings, concerts, tourist attractions, and general cleaning up and revamping of amenities.
I remember visiting Liverpool for the first time way back in 2005 and was very disappointed; I had missed a ferry but decided maybe I would stay and look around, but after 5 mins thought it was depressing and went somewhere else. I returned in 2012, 4 years after the city was declared European Capital of Culture, and it had changed significantly – the wharf was redone and the city was full of Beatles attractions (including the Yellow Submarine that actually cruised around the port). Newcastle had the same feel, new and revamped, a focus on public transport, architecture, and art, with restaurants to go with it. I’ll say it again; Newcastle reminds me of a smaller Sydney – culture, beaches, weather, even the buildings and streets feel similar. We walked around, enjoying the sights, before going out for dinner in a nice restaurant. The one we chose had been converted from the old signal box building, right on the old railway line that used to run to Old Newcastle Station, but is now the light rail line. Newcastle as a city is worth a day visit (or a weekend getaway), no doubt, but the area is worth so much more time – there are endless beaches along the coast, and so many natural wonders to enjoy, you can go camping, town hopping, hiking, fishing, or even boating. We will definitely come back to up this way.
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MyUncleTravellingMatt. March 2023.
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