While my sister lived in Australia, she lived in Newcastle with other students studying abroad. Newcastle is about a 3 hour train ride north of Sydney. We spent about a week there when I came to visit. Obviously, I met all of her fellow students and we hung out most nights, either bar hopping around town or watching movies, playing cards, and drinking goon (aka boxed/bagged wine) at the house. That is where this little timehop gem came from today.
Newcastle is a beautiful city that’s right on the coast, so we spent a lot of time at the beach, even though it was September (spring) and still a bit chilly most days. We walked to Nobby’s beach to see Nobby’s Lighthouse. The pier leading out to the lighthouse was full of interesting carvings and lovely graffiti.
We took the Bather’s Way most of the way home. This is a lovely 3ish mile walk between Nobby’s and Glenrock State Conservation Area that stretches along the coast. It passes through Nobby’s Beach, then Newcastle Beach, and then Mereweather Beach, all of which are known for their world class surf conditions. It ends at the Glenrock Reserve, which preserves some gorgeous coastal wetlands and rock formations. I have a few pictures from our walk, including a gorgeous sunset, but I honestly just enjoyed it most of the time, and highly recommend it if you’re ever in Newcastle.
We also visited the Newcastle Museum, which is an interesting mixture of a history museum of the area and a science museum. The area is fairly industrial, so the museum contained some steel manufacturing gear (which my dad recognized immediately since he used to work in the industry) as well as the anvil from the last open blacksmith’s shop in the area. It also contained historical vehicles like trolleys and a 1923 Model T, rugby paraphernalia, and ancient hand tools. The science museum had little experiments for you to do everywhere. There was ferrofluid to play with (if you don’t know what that is, I highly recommend that you check out a few youtube videos), a display where you could make your own tiny (contained) tornado, and a pulley system that allowed you to lift a car with one hand. And of course, we paid a visit to the Newcastle Museum Photo Mural, which is hilarious and a lot of fun!
My favorite place to visit was the Bar Beach General Store (Bar Beach is essentially the northern half of Mereweather Beach, and was just blocks from my sister’s house). Sadly, this place is no longer around due to a sketchy landlord, but it was absolutely wonderful. The General Store was owned by a surfer with excellent taste in music by the name of Mick. He had a collection of surf boards, records, and comfy chairs for hanging around, but he also sold household items you’d find in a convenience store, and amazing coffee and breakfast sandwiches (seriously, this man has pretty much ruined any other breakfast sandwich for me, and it’s been five years). He opened up shop around 7ish, unless the surf was good, and drove around in a great VW van. I’m sure that the locals in Bar Beach miss their General Store, and if I ever make it back that way, I know I will.
Aside from those visits, we generally wandered around the area to do things you can’t back home (well, okay, I CAN climb trees at home, but this one was SO BIG!). We walked around my sister’s host University, and took a train in search of wild kangaroos, which we did find. They act so much like stoned deer! They basically eat the same general stuff and hang out in groups the same way, but they’re way more chill. It takes a lot more to startle them off than it does a group of deer, and they bask in the sun like a dog would! We wandered around the shops in town, including a great little bookstore, that I’m sad to say I don’t remember the name of.
All in all, I loved it in Newcastle. If I ever go back, there are three things I’d like to do that I didn’t get to do the first time. I’d like to take a boat out whale watching, since the whale watching (humpbacks especailly) there is supposed to be world-class from May to November. I’d like to spend some time exploring Glenrock State Conservation Area (the ecology nerd in me is dying to spend a few days there). And last, I’d love to take some surfing lessons! It was just too cold still in mid September to do that my first time there, so next time I’ll have to improve my timing!