Stockton Beach March 2020

THURSDAY 19^TH MARCH 2020

This is our first trip in the caravan for 2020, only keeping to short trips our destination Stockton Beach Holiday Park approximately 2hrs from home.  We arrived around 11.45am booked in and found our site easily near the amenities and camp kitchen.  We had lunch then decided to have a quick look around close to the park this took a couple of hours.

We drove to Shipwreck Point, Stockton, breakwater in Newcastle Harbour, where we could see Knobby’s Lookout and Queens Wharf.  We walked along the breakwater not intending to go to far on seeing a shipwreck in the water

we decided to investigate, then further up another shipwreck.  Along the walkway light poles were a great roosting place for the local pelicans and cormorants.  We were also able to see the damage the big seas had made to the sand along the beach, the sand had been washed away right up to the Surf Life Saving Club House.  The Holiday Park itself had to move about 4 cabins which were situated on the beach to another area in the park as they were also on the brink of been washed out to sea.

Knobby’s Beach Lighthouse across the entrance/exit of the port of Newcastle overlooks the ocean of the shipping lanes of the enormous vessels which enter this harbour to fill the hulls with Australian coal and return out to sea and further destinations.  We were lucky on the timing of our walk, as we were walking out a freighter was on its way out of the harbour surrounded by three tugs to make sure it stayed in the correct passage, it was an amazing sight, the tugs do a wonderful job the size of some of these freighters are enormous.

The freighters have a pilot (man) on board who takes the freighters out of the Newcastle harbour and out to the open sea once this has been achieved a helicopter is sent out to pick up the pilot from the vessel, if the vessel has cargo on the deck and a helicopter is not able to land a special boat goes out to the freighter once it is at sea and returns the pilot by boat to the port this goes on all day.

On walking to the very end of the breakwater we came across an older gentleman taking photos and keenly watching the freighters, we started up a conversation and it turned out this elderly gentleman was a Master Shipman a Captain of a Ship for quite a few years, his stories and knowledge were unbelievable, we learnt so much about freighters.

FRIDAY 20TH MARCH 2020

Today we drove around into Newcastle it has changed a lot since we were last here.  There are more buildings along the shoreline being accommodation, restaurants and a tram line.  Our main destination today was to walk up the top of Knobbys Head but first of all we needed to find a car parking space with reasonable time available to park.  After driving around for some time we ended up at Knobbys Beach
and eventually caught someone reversing out of a car space which we were lucky enough to see, there is no time limit here for parking. 

We walked along the foreshore on the opposite side of the harbour from yesterday and again this was a busy place with freighters coming and going tugs keeping these big ships in line.  We walked up the walkway to Knobbys Head and found we could not go any further up to the Light House this pathway was roped off, very disappointing, work being done on this walkway.

Returning back to Knobbys beach noting there were not many people in or on the beach the day was perfect weather wise.  We drove around some more and into King Edward Park again parking was an issue which made it hard to see any of the beautiful shore line off this park.  Driving out of the park we found a place to pull over and view Knobbys Beach from a high spot and Canoe Pool.

On returning back to the caravan we saw the light rail in action and at one stage we were driving right beside this, we put the tram on our list to do tomorrow.  On our way back to the caravan park we saw another ship wreck

just out of the industrial area not far from Stockton, the seabirds gave the wreck a thumbs up, great for roosting on and drying out their wings.  A quiet day enjoying the rest.

SATURDAY 21^ST MARCH 2020

Today was to be something really special, we were going on a Zodiac ride outside the harbour, south of Newcastle to Catherine Hill Bay, really looking forward to this as we thought it may have been called off due to the current Corona Virus spreading throughout the world at present.

We did not take the car we used the services Newcastle provided for the public.  We caught the people ferry from Stockton Wharf to Queen Wharf which was all of 10 minutes then walked down the pier to where we had to meet the Zodiac.  Along the pier were several eating places where coffees, breakfast etc could be purchased.  Lots of people riding bikes, walking dogs and just generally walking this was not overcrowded plenty of room.

There were only six passengers on this Zodiac trip which normally carries twenty, this was excellent as we needed to have space between all passengers.  Our Zodiac skipper was a young man named Dominic, at first our thoughts, he is very young but he was very knowledgeable, courteous and confident about this tour.  
We were given a safety drill and all safety was explained to us and where life jackets etc were situated, then we were on our way. 

The water in the harbour was still with no wind and we thought great, outside the heads will be the same but this was not the case it was not too rough but we did go up and down especially going down the coast, our skipper was an excellent seaman stopping at various places down the coast for us to see and listen to explanations on various sites along the way.

Observing the shoreline from the ocean side was wonderful Knobbys Lighthouse, Knobbys Beach, Newcastle Ocean Baths and Merewether Ocean Baths and beaches from a different angle, fantastic.

   

Nine Mile Beach where numerous cars, tents and other type of accommodation were able to be seen along the whole of its length. 

Awesome caves not able to be seen from the land side only from the ocean, Caves Beach on which you can only enter the caves at very low tide look completely different from the ocean and the number of houses along the shoreline is amazing.  The rocky shoreline where large rocks have fallen from the cliff face to the sea edge make a beautiful colour of the rock face and its sheer cliffs.

Catherine Hill Bay wharf

is in disrepair and cannot be walked on any longer it is quite dangerous but from the ocean side we could get very close and in fact the zodiac went under the last pier it was wonderful to be able to see this old wharf so close up.

Sad to have to return it was a wonderful trip the home run was a lot smoother the wind was running in the opposite direction, lots of boats out on the water with people trying to catch the elusive fish.

To return to Newcastle Harbour we had to wait off shore for the skipper to get this clearance to enter the harbour again due to the freighters moving in and out it went very smoothly.

We had lunch on our return then caught the light rail up and back which is excellent, got off the pier where we needed to catch the ferry back to Stockton, it was a great day.

SUNDAY 22^ND MAY 2020

A rest day today, our last day.  Our daughter and grandchildren were visiting later in the morning we had lunch with them, another walk along the breakwater where the grandchildren were in awe of the freighters and the tugs coming and going, a swim in the small beach near this and a wonderful family afternoon, this was a wonderful four days, beautiful weather and Stockton is a great place to visit.