One week in Newcastle

Hello all of you lovely Newcastle people. We plan on spending one week, 13th Feb - 20th Feb in Newcastle.

Flying in, staying in airbnb gorgeous granny flat in Charlestown, and hiring a car.

Already been enlightened in the NSW thread about:

* Ferry to stockton

* Cooks Hill

* Visiting Maitland

*Merryweather baths.

We arrive on a Saturday, and I know the farmer's market is on the Sunday, so will be buying what we can, there.

We're not typically beachy people but obviously Newcastle's deserves a visit, as well as the views of it. We'll do the Bathers way coastal walk. Is this the Newcastle Memorial walk? Or are they separate?

We'll also explore the wharf area.

Gallery & museums.

Happy to shop for gifts.

Would like to visit the Civic theatre - at least have a look if attending something not feasible.

Blackbutt reserve looks lovely.

We love wine, but I'm not very good at tasting, so we'd probably choose a small winery for lunch and bring home some local wine not available in Melbourne. Any suggestions on that front?

Tentatively plan a Mount Yengo morning tour with Wollombi Aboriginal Cultural Tours. Any suggestion for the afternoon in that rough area would be great.

Miss Porter's House is a definite.

Thankyou in advance for any tips.

I should add, we have backup plans in case Covid raises its nasty head - plane ticket and Airbnb both flexible, haven't booked the car yet. If we get stuck in the opposite direction, we have family options in ACT and Dubbo where we'd be welcome. We can easily self isolate when we get back if needs be.

Probably not the FogHorn brewhouse, only one of us drinks beer, and that's rarely.

I really loved gartleman wines they had a lovely restaurant for lunch. Kids would be welcome (ie not to fancy)

The hunter belle cheese room is a must and the hunter valley gardens.

Also the tempus two estate would be worth a visit. Even if not sampling wines.

gartelmann.com.au

Blackbutt is lovely but take the mozzie repellent!

Morpeth for specialty shopping anď Maitland Gaol.

Hunter Valley Gardens.

Port Stephens (Nelson Bay)

A week isn’t going to be long enough!!

Location wise so many places will be an hour from Charlestown (just the way the hunter valley and Newcastle region is) so I’d aim to make the best of each location in one day or you’ll be forever in the car.

I’d aim to do a day at the vineyards and jam pack stuff in.

A day at Port Stephen’s area.

Then three to four days around Newcastle and Lake Macquarie. Both these areas are close to Charlestown so you could come and go (we do, all the time - but it’s definitely an area where we all jump in the car for 20 minutes without a second thought).

I’ll come back with what I’d suggest for those days after kids are asleep.

Having grown up in the maitland area I really can’t imagine why anyone would want to go there on holiday but Lake Macquarie owns my heart so I may be biased!

A day at Nelsons Bay (port stephens) is easy to fill.

- surf beaches on the ocean side

- more gentle beaches on the bay side

- marina area, they have an inflatable splash water park there as well

- dolphin cruises

- shark and ray centre at Anna bay

- new koala sanctuary

- walk/hike up tomaree headland

- sand boarding on the dunes

On the way to the bay is Oakvale Wildlife park - lot of Australian animals, you can feed the Roos, twice daily you can bottle feed the baby lambs and goats. Also have a splash park and playground etc.

If you are doing the vineyards, maybe do the Hunter valley gardens at night - they are still running their Christmas lights until end of January which is a lovely way to spend the evening.

[mention]SplashingRainbows[/mention] driving is no issue at all. In April, fingers crossed we will end our Kimberley's trip by driving Kununurra to Darwin over many days. Likewise a lot of driving in July, first the slow way to Canberra through the mountains, then on to Dubbo.

all good. You just don’t want to waste your time driving in opposite directions in one day is all.

Ok Port Stephen’s area - could consider

* dolphin cruise from d’Albora Marina

* shoal bay beach

* walk up Mt Tomaree

* quad biking on the sand dunes at Stockton if that’s your thing (or hubbies)

* there should be excellent restaurants around for breakfast lunch or dinner but I’m not up with what’s best. I am sure some members are based closer to the bay than I am and might have better ideas.

Edit: Julie beat me to it while I was busy typing It was her I was thinking of that would be more in the know

Hey you do realise that Charlestown is not in Newcastle? - Newcastle insider joke. I used to boast i never left the city boundaries.

I do agree with those on planning your sites because although probably nowhere is more than 1.5 hours you don't want to waste time.

Never been on the memorial walk since it was built which is terrible but it is part but the whole thing is a long way. I'd drive around the waterfront and stop and take little walks. Start from wharf road and continue around Nobbies.

Civic theatre is amazing, I remember Paul McDermott raving about it in a show not sure if anything is on at the moment. It's opposite the art gallery and library and tech museum is about 2 blocks over the ex railway line.

Miss Porter's house only opens once a month or something and is another thing i've never done even though i've walked past it many times.

I really don't like the food at foghorn - you could eat at the HOneysuckle hotel for water frontage, OK we had christmas lunch there and they were only letting us for 1.5 hours on the tables but not generally that busy. If you really want water frontage you could eat at Scartchley the building is over the water in the old ferry terminal - expensive but good seafood or next door they have a sort of cocktail space and bite sized food if you just want to sit and watch the ships come in and out.

So many things to do - I do love Morpeth some lovely very old building and gift shops but most only open on the weekend or Thurs to Sun. Arnotts started there was an old Port before roads and the river silted. Can be hot there.

It's nice to see someone wants to come and see Newcastle though.

Hunter Valley

Vineyard way I’d do Hunter Valley Gardens as suggested by a PP and pay the exorbitant price to see the gardens. They’re beautiful. There are restaurants to eat nearby. Or you can go fancier or more boutique elsewhere.

Also near the gardens is aqua golf which is always a hit with our family.

If you wanted to get up really early you could do a hot air balloon ride and see the vineyards from up high.

There are some nice horse drawn cart tours which always look lovely when I see them but I never plan enough in advance to organise it.

Crowne plaza hunter valley has nice grounds and restaurants too and the best day spa around IMO. Again booking essential.

There are some divine places to eat but watch for closures early in the week (mon & tues or even longer) as weekend trade is the bread and butter. You’ll find hatted restaurants through to informal dining but I would recommend planning in advance and booking.

I regularly hear good things about Sabor dessert bar...

Lake Macquarie

Warners Bay is pretty special. Breakfast at Table One Espresso is pretty divine. The walking trail from Speers point around to Eleebana is nice and flat, well populated and right next to the water. Warners Bay is in the middle and well populated with nice cafes for breakfast and lunch.

Belmont is also lovely. Lake Macquarie yacht club is right on the water for a nice meal and watching some boats go by. There are a number of walks from Belmont, I believe the start of the Fernleigh track.

Both are central to Charlestown (15 minutes away).

Newcastle itself

Food wise honeysuckle is going much better than Darby St or Beaumont St these days. Sadly, covid has had a massive impact on the two ‘eat streets’.

Honeysuckle is the harbour side, The beaches and walks you mentioned are on the other side (beach). There are lots of them all patrolled and well attended all around the coastline. Driving from Charlestown to Newcastle turn right onto Scenic Dr at Merewether Heights and you’ll get a nice tour around the beaches.

The Junction is a nice place to poke around some more boutique shops and is next suburb across from Merewether.

Scratchleys is a favorite restaurant of ours. Book and ask for window seats as you’re new to Newcastle and hopefully they’ll look after you.

Jonahs is nice on the beach side.

Merewether surf house has been good for me but I hear mixed reviews.

IMO the best Indian in Newcastle is Sapphire Indian. If you happen to feel like Indian. They do dine in and takeaway.

(Are you sending a theme - I’m all about food haha)

Blackbutt reserve is definitely worth some time. Make sure you get through the animal enclosures where the birds, koalas and wombats are. They’re kind of tucked away if you don’t know to look for them.

There are some divine places to eat but watch for closures early in the week (mon & tues or even longer) as weekend trade is the bread and butter. You’ll find hatted restaurants through to informal dining but I would recommend planning in advance and booking.

I regularly hear good things about Sabor dessert bar...

Yes my sister is going up there for a couple of days in the next few weeks and Sabor isn't open when they wanted to go - like you said i think it's only open thursday onwards.

I’ve only been to merewether surf house for drinks, and to be honest it’s all about the view.

If you like a slightly more alternative vibe Islington has some lovely little independent clothes and gift shops. They also have a fabulous Vegan restaurant-Pinos. Also although you said beaches aren't really your thing the Bogey Hole is a beautiful seawater rock pool to swim in-from memory the convicts built it for the free settlers/officers(but happy to be corrected)it's part of the memorial walk. King Edward Park near there is a lovely place for a picnic too.

Finally found my own thread. Dealing with one bar max on the wifi has foiled me a few times.

We had an interesting 24 hours at the start of our trip.

Prior to that, Virgin changed our flights five times (which wasn’t at all unexpected) and I did consider accepting a six hour stopover in Brisbane, but decided to deal with the phone call, and managed to change our flight from Saturday to Friday - little did I know the implications of that at the time. The small gods were also smiling on us in that the almost booked our airbnb could be extended one day either end (when the return flight eventually also got cancelled).

With all the rumours swirling in Melbourne on Friday morning, it was a bit hard to know what to do, but I just assumed that if we went ahead, and the rumours were true, we’d just lockdown here for five days, still be able to go shopping and go for walks.

Very little effort made at Melbourne airport to advise people of the easy, online way to do the travel pass for NSW, so Vic, the airport, Virgin could be more helpful there. Done in a jiffy.

We were in the air when the lockdown was announced so only heard once in Newcastle. Took about 1.5 hours to get through the checked but staff there all unfailingly cheerful. When we got to the final (main) check, he said ‘you’re fine to go’, and I said ‘so we just lockdown for five days’ and you could have knocked me over with a feather when he said we didn’t. I think I actually said ‘are you sure?’ I was so surprised. The gist of his response was that Melbourne was locked down to protect ‘us’ (meaning we two) while they tracked down everyone who’d been in terminal four, and if that didn’t include us, we didn’t have to do anything.

Then we wake to a message from home that we had to lockdown (which we’d of course expected) and a bit later thought I’d better get the specific details only to find it only applied to people who arrived after midnight.

Anyways, we’re here, Drove up to the Hunter Valley gardens in the deluge, and the small gods smiled on us again with the rain easing significantly for the two hours we were there. Very, very beautiful, and looked especially glossy and green in the light rain. Ducks and frogs seemed very happy. . Spent an hour or two on the way at the Pokolbin village. Think we got mixed up with the shops we were supposed to go to, but the ones we were at we really enjoyed.

Bought an inordinate amount of food at the farmer’s market this morning - just amazing, far better than my local one - figs to die for. Pretty sure we’ve got enough food even if we had to isolate for 14 days. The hunter valley pasta co will be providing several meals.

Visited the Miss Porter house this afternoon which was well worth the visit.

Love the fact that everyone has to use the NSW QR system - so quick and easy to use. The services vic one is, too (although it doesn’t have a checkout time) but places can use their own which means you go through the tedious entering of info each time. It’s also far more prominent, and we got far more reminders (have you checked in?) than at home. Hunter Valley Gardens even needed to check our phones. Not that it was busy, I think we struck about a dozen people in total.

Off for a walk and then hopefully watch Raonic win!

Thank you again for all of your suggestions, they have been really helpful.

I was at the farmer's market this morning. We may have passed!

Lovely day compared to yesterday. Sunny and not too hot.

I was at the farmer's market this morning. We may have passed!

Lovely day compared to yesterday. Sunny and not too hot.

Probably! We were there for a while.

We were the older couple weighed down by their bags.

I must admit we were a bit influenced by the fact that rules around COVID can change very quickly, and that if Victoria’s situation deteriorated and we had to lockdown, we were damn well going to do so with yummy food. As a result, we bought way too much food, and being someone who can’t waste food, are finding this holiday an exception to the rule - we usually lose weight on holidays as we don’t stop. Not this time.

That as well as the large jar of ginger honey, bottle of Limoncello, on top of the stuff in bottles we bought in Pokolbin, and we haven’t even got to Gartleman’s yet (lunch tomorrow) where we’ll buy wine for our dog minders.

[mention]SplashingRainbows[/mention] I can see why you love Lake Macquarie - it’s gorgeous. My husband does the maps and navigation so you can imagine his amusement when I asked if we were going to walk all the way around the lake today.

I hope you're having a great time [mention]Bornagirl[/mention]

I hope you're having a great time @Bornagirl

Fabulous, thank you. . Felt a bit surreal for a start, getting here only hours before lockdown in Vic, and not having to do so here, plus also not knowing if restrictions might change if Vic got worse.

So relieved for all concerned that it seems to be so much under control that they’re even going straight back to tennis crowds, and density rules.

that would have helped with the weight loss situation haha

The lake hasn’t been its best the last few days, with the yucky southerly. Hopefully you get a chance to see it at its most glorious before you go.

that would have helped with the weight loss situation haha

The lake hasn’t been its best the last few days, with the yucky southerly. Hopefully you get a chance to see it at its most glorious before you go.

We will be going back to the cafe you recommended for breakfast fri or sat. Slow start today after waiting for the PC in Vic, then watching Ash Barty, and we took our sweet time walking from one end of the boardwalk, only to arrive at the cafe at three, and I hadn’t checked their times. We felt breakfast there would be great. Like we need more food. We will do the other half of the walk then, too. We only drove through Belmont, but I can well imagine spending a couple of weeks there.

At the market we bought trays of apricots and nectarines, then she said ‘3 for $15..’ so we added plums, then came across figs, then passion fruit ....

Which market is this? I’ll need to drag DH along next time, or better still leave the kids with him and spend the morning there by myself.

Which market is this? I’ll need to drag DH along next time, or better still leave the kids with him and spend the morning there by myself.

https://newcastlecityfarmersmarket.com.au/

The Newcastle city farmers’ market. At the Showgrounds, plenty of parking, cars close enough to drop back bags if you over do it.

We are off shortly to the Maitland slow food market (not sure if that’s its exact name) which I believe is fortnightly.