Nelson Bay

Trip Start Feb 04, 2008
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Trip End Jan 19, 2009


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Where I stayed
Halifax Holiday Park
(Nelson Bay hotels)

Flag of Australia  , New South Wales,
Monday, July 14, 2008

We left the sleepy hamlet (what do you mean no internet after 5pm!?) and drove along coast to the big smoke, well Newcastle. Like it's geordieland namesake it's a big port town (mostly due to the coal industry) but you wouldn't know it just by walking around it. Granted it was a monday morning but it wasn't quite the bustling metropolis (it was founded in 1801 to house all the convicts who'd been kicked out of Sydney for being too... well, criminal i guess) we'd hoped for. We took a stroll along the water front, climbed the town's viewing tower and that was that.

We drove north on to the Port Stephens peninsular and stopped for lunch at Stockton Bight Sand Dunes - the longest moving sand dunes in the southern hemisphere and quite a sight!
After lunch we Wandered out over the dunes dodging 4x4s and camels (seriously). A few degrees warmer and you could have mistaken it for the Sahara Dolphins!
Dolphins!
 . That night we stayed in the delightful town of Nelson Bay at the Halifax campsite, right on the beach. While Debs was checking us in I couldn't resist running down to catch another awesome sunset, shared with the local pelicans!

The next day we headed to the Tourist Info to find some activities for the day and decided, finally, to go on a whale watching tour. After a picnic lunch in the park overlooking the harbour we headed out on the catamaran Mirage to find some whales. There were plenty of them and dolphins too. A couple of Humpback whales came right up to the boat just 20 feet or so away. They were huge! Unfortunately trying to take good photos of them proved very difficult especially when they surface quickly then dive back down for between 3 and 15 minutes. It's anyone's guess where they are going to pop up next! On the way back into the harbour we stopped to watch a handfull of the 120 Dolphins that live there all year round playing and fishing. They stopped what they were doing for a minute to come and give us a quick once over before getting back to business.

That night we caught up with emails at an internet cafe in town and then headed home with some booze from the local Bottle'O.

NB: If white wine is called just that - 'White Wine' then it's generally not very nice!
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