It was a short drive along the coast, between Tuggerah Lake, Budgewoi Lake and Lake Munmorah to Swansea which is right next to the channel linking the huge Lake Macquarie to the Tasman Sea (or is that Pacific Ocean).
I had booked in at Swansea Gardens Lakeside Holiday Park on the peninsular sticking out into the lake, alongside the Swansea Channel in from the Lake Entrance. Another huge park right next to the water, where I was lucky to get a spot as they were close to fully booked for the weekend. In most of these coastal and tourist attractive locations, there are either no or extremely limited free camping area, where leaving the van would likely be a security issue. Swansea and many of the towns and villages around the Lake are almost Southern Suburbs, or easy commuting distance from Newcastle.
On Friday I drove into Newcastle to have a look at the local Caravan and Camping Holiday Expo. I have now been to quite a few of these, at home, in Adelaide and Brisbane. Lots of new vans, campers and all sorts of stuff.
It was another scorcher of a day, with intense sun, so I did the full protective cover up, with hat, long sleeves and sunscreen. Another rare excuse for a stern looking selfie. Takes concentration to get it right.
I managed to find two things to buy, before fleeing back to the van and turning on the air-con full blast. One was a small cover for an "Anderson Plug" connector and the other was a replacement 12v internal fan for the caravan to replace one of the 2 existing units. One had developed an intermittent fault and had stopped working most of the time. Not too difficult a job for me to replace it.
On Saturday morning I took a long walk around the peninsular before it got too hot.
Beautiful by the lake in the cool of the morning.
I then took a drive into the Newcastle suburb of Charlestown, which has the most enormous shopping centre that I think I have ever been in. Quite daunting as many entrances and huge parking areas underneath the centre. Impressive, with 3 stories of shops and a large cinema complex, which was what had attracted me. I went to see "Molly's Game", a reasonably new American movie, which I thought had pretty good ratings and also Idris Elba (of "Luther" and "The Wire" fame) in the male lead. It was OK, but not worth writing home about.
On the way back to the Park I drove a little further South an had a look at Caves Beach, where another cool change was underway.
Nice looking beach, still with plenty of people in the water, despite the strong (coolish) breeze that had developed.
On the other side of the headland was a much more rocky coastline with caves undercut into the cliff line.
On Sunday morning (11 Feb) I crossed over onto Coon Island at the end of the peninsula near the park for my walk. Just a few people walking their dogs, some interesting habitats and a bit of history to absorb.
In my outing to Charlestown yesterday, I noticed that "Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri" was also showing at the cinemas. So back I went and this is a movie I would highly recommend. Interesting unusual characters, a story with a number of twists and turns and for me totally immersive. Not a 10 out of 10, but probably North of 8.1/2, which is pretty good for me.
I attempted to do a bit of a scenic drive around Newcastle but it wasn't very successful and no photographs to show. The combination of many people "Sunday driving" plus a whole lot of blocked off areas due to works for a new light rail system, just made it too hard. However, what I saw looked like a nice City, now undergoing significant recovery and regeneration since the closure of the Steelworks some years ago.
Monday 12 February 2018.
Time to hitch up yet again and another not too long journey to the North and East to the Port Stephens Area on the other side of Newcastle.
This time I was booked into the Halifax Holiday Park close into Nelson Bay and next to the prominent inner lighthouse hill, between the "normal" beach and Little Beach. A very nice area, but the park was full and sites were all quite tight, with not a lot of breeze between trees on one side and the hill on the other.
The "main" beach at Nelson Bay looking towards Shoal Bay and Tomaree Head.
On Tuesday, or was it Wednesday, I did a bit of touring around, including a visit up to the Gan Gan Lookout a very prominent hill between Nelson Bay, Salamander and Anna Bays'.
At the top of the lookout are a number of huge telecommunications towers (who is worried about Microwave transmissions) and spectacular views in all directions.
On Thursday I did some more touring around, including Birubi Point and Beach (pictured) near Anna Bay. The beach seemed to go on forever, with extensive sand dunes in the background.
Further back into the Port is Soldiers Point, where this picture of the Yacht Club / marina is taken.
Fishing is popular off the rocks at Soldiers Point.
In the late afternoon, the old keepers cottage & the marine rescue centre at the Nelson Bay Inner Light is bathed in sunshine
The Little Beach boathouse and restaurant is in a beautiful location close to the caravan park,
and Little Beach is perfectly sheltered for safe swimming with a number of shady trees and grassed area next to the beach. There is a boat launching ramp near the point which is the base of the hill up to the Inner Light.
The Nelson Bay Marina looks great from the hill up above the busy township.
On Thursday night I had an excellent meal at The Little Nel Cafe on the ground floor of the Nelson Resort close to town. It was recommended as number one restaurant in the area by Trip Adviser and I certainly agree that it was well above average. No food porn pictures this time, but a salad including cured ham, fresh fig and creamed cheese as an entree and a main with scallops and tempura stuffed zucchini flowers was pretty impressive for a cafe.
Port Stephens and Nelson Bay is a beautiful area, but being close to Newcastle and not that far from Sydney it is a very busy holiday destination. Even though school holidays were over, plenty of older folks, grey nomads and international tourists filling the parks and accommodation.
Friday 16 February 2018
Time to give up the coastal humidity for a few days and head inland and further North to Gloucester, a farming area and gateway to the impressive Barrington Tops National Park. Another recommended place to visit from Andrew Davies. Pretty good record so far.
After the crowded coastal caravan parks with small sites, Gloucester was a pleasant change with heaps of room, with a cow paddock next door.
After the crowded coastal caravan parks with small sites, Gloucester was a pleasant change with heaps of room, with a cow paddock next door.
The park was also alive with rabbits, as surprisingly were a number of the coastal parks, including Nelson Bay.
On Saturday, I took the drive up to the Barrington Tops, which rise up to around 1500 metres above sea level. Quite a spectacular drive, first through increasingly hilly grazing country, into dense and steep rain forest, with snow gums and alpine swamp areas on the high plateau tops.
A number of fires were burning in the steep hills near Cobark and the Barrington Tops State Forest
Thunderbolts View out over the edge of the escarpment was very impressive.
The walk into the view was relatively open snow gum country on the tops of the plateau.
The nearby Devils Hole view, also looks out to the edge of the escarpment, but down into a particularly steep valley or hole.
A little further on is Polblue Swamp, very different again and not far before the road starts descending to the West of the Tops.
On Sunday (18 Feb), I took a drive first back to the South, then West to have a look at the Gloucester River Valley and then the Gloucester Tops, which also forms part of the Barrington Tops National Park.
The road had a number of (concrete) fords across the river, which I suspect would be very interesting after heavy rain in the hills.
Again the road begins in grazing country with quite a few dairy herds and then climbs steeply into the rain forest country. The Gloucester Tops Road follows the bed of the River, climbing up to aroun 1400 metres.
On the way back down, I had an interesting incident with the Landcruiser. On a section of fairly bad corrugations, the rear end started swaying violently.
Fortunately no other damage appeared to have happened & on Monday morning I was able to find a local mechanic who sourced a high tension bolt and re-attached the rod. For a test drive I took a short drive outside the town.
Tuesday 20 February 2018
During the morning, a cool change came through with some welcome rain showers. I did know it was coming, so had time to hook up the van and take a last walk around the town without getting very wet.
Today I headed back towards the coast and the Great Lakes Region, which includes the twin cities of Forster and Tuncurry, which will start the next chapter of the blog.
Another great blog. Seen so much of that coast from sea but never had much of a look landside!! Vicariously through you now. Thank you. Love the photos again. What camera u using? We left Turkey Connection in that marina in Nelsons Bay. When it was sold. Life time ago!! chow
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