Nobby's Lighthouse

Newcastle is New South Wales second largest city after Sydney with a population of 350,000. It lies at the mouth of the Hunter River and was a major industrial city producing most of Australia's steel. There were major coal fields in the area and a port developed to export the steel.

We drove north along the coast from Merewether past some other ocean baths. We would have stopped except there were no parking spaces. The waves were high and every surfer from the area was out there hanging ten.

We found a parking spot in the old downtown area.

A curious overhanging style.

We will return tomorrow to investigate this area.

We arrived at Nobby's beach.

A storm threatened to the north.

The lighthouse and associated buildings.

The causeway leading out to the lighthouse.

Contemplation.

The Hunter River.

The area was once volcanic.

A tram used to run on the causeway.

There is no admittance to the lighthouse. I was not too disappointed since I didn't want to climb the steep slope.

In the distance is the road bridge to the north crossing the river.

Looking back to the area where the factories produced steel.

The lighthouse is hidden by this lookout. In WWII, this was a heavily defended area.

The final part of the causeway.

Rain was approaching.

I decided not to risk walking further since the rain was getting closer.

An unloaded ship leaving port.

Escorted by three tugs.

A smaller ship leaving port.

We really enjoyed visiting this area.

Newcastle beaches

As you may remember, house exchanges have played a large part in my retirement. When we arrived back in Oz on 2020, we were offered an exchange in Newcastle, about 100 miles north of Sydney which we accepted. Covid intervened and finally we are doing the exchange.

We took the 4 hour train trip to Brisbane and followed up with another 12 hour train trip to Newcastle the following day. It was a pleasure to walk a couple of blocks to see this view.

The coastal area around Newcastle is not familiar to me so we headed north to Nelson Bay and this is Tomaree Head.

Nelson Bay is now lined with units and is a popular destination.

Fifty years ago, I drove from Brisbane to Melbourne and along the way I stayed the night at a motel at Budgewoi that backed onto a beautiful beach. The motel is gone but a few miles south lies Pelican Beach.

When you see a beach like this you understand why Aussies are not overly impressed by beaches overseas.

Lake Macquarie at Nord's Wharf.

It hard to take a bad photo on such a beautiful day.

Later in the day we walked up to our local beach to see the Merewether Ocean Pool.

Driveway down to the pool.

There are two pools, a shallow one for kiddies and a deeper one further out. It's the biggest in the southern hemisphere.

Path in front of the Surf Lifesaving Club overlooking the pool.

With such strong waves, dangerous rips will easily carry unsuspecting swimmers out to sea. It is essential to swim between the flags since that area is patrolled.