Exploring Newcastle

Bush and coastal walk on a warm last day of winter. With a sunny weather, top of around 20C, it feels like spring already.

I never thought much about Newcastle. Just somewhere far north from Sydney, around 2 hours drive, with the beach and the sea, but not much highlights.

Opportunity came up when I was invited to a friend's wedding in Newcastle, and coincidently, there was an organised exploratory coastal walk around Newcastle the next day.

Had breakfast on Darby Street, in a café called "3 Monkeys Cafe". I ordered a stuffed mushroom and asparagus on bread. It was so delicious.

After breakfast I walked around the Civic Park and along the wharfs to Newcastle station.









I then caught a bus to Adamstown station, where the group walk started.

The walk began with Fernleigh track, a very flat, shared path with bikes. Stick to your side otherwise you will get some very angry bike riders. The track goes along the old train track, passing a tunnel.





Then we turned into the Yuelarbar management trail, a well preserved and fairly flat bushland. There were little side tracks that lead to a view of a few waterfalls. They are easily missed so watch out for those side tracks.





We even spot an owl on the tree.


This trail led to a lookout of the Glenrock lagoon, and we continued walking towards the beach.




The walk then take us along the coast from Merewether beach, where we had lunch, to Bar beach, to Nobbys beach, to Newcastle station.





















There were a lot of paragliders and hang gliders along the beaches. Few hang gliders were doing somersaults in the air at Bar beach. Not long after we walked past, sadly one of them crashed into a house and lost his life. It was a terrible news on such a lovely day.






Other than the sad news, it was a great day. We ran out of time to visit Nobbys Lighthouse. Definitely want to come back and explore more in the near future.



Distance: 16.6km
Total climb: 434m
Difficulty: Easy/Medium

Go to the link below for information and map for this walk.
http://beyondtracks.com/walks/null/adamstown-to-newcastle-via-fernleigh-track-and-great-north-walk/
Location: Newcastle NSW, Australia

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