Originally, I thought the weekend was enough for just Newcastle. Well, it took only one day to see Newcastle. Port Stephens was not even part of the plan. Not to mention Hunter Valley. Here goes the story:
We left Friday night for a two hour drive from Sydney to Newcastle. Newcastle is an industrial place, as it shows on restaurant names (ie. 'Engine Room' where we had breakfast on Saturday and 'Fuel' where we had lunch). As Ingrid said, Newcastle is a gateway to some of the neighbouring towns (ie. Port Stephens, Hunter Valley). And my coworker said there's really nothing to see there. But I just had to see!
There were some stuff to see in Newcastle...but really, its still in redevelopment stage. Honeysuckle Harbour, for example, is pretty new with wharves (and more wharves to come), cafes, bars, and restaurants. They have the Crowne Plaza hotel by the boardwalk. New apartment condos being build at the moment. Give it 2-3 more years and this place will be happening! The wharves though, have a view of the shipping docks just across the water. But I can see the wharves possibly looking like the wharves at Darling Harbour in a few years. They also need a theatre nearby to draw the crowds. The town is old and the shopping area is so-so. And may I say, we were trying to figure out why food is so expensive over here...its not like its Sydney!!! You want to draw the crowds? Don't overprice!!!Anywho...
We had dinner on Friday night at Darby St where you'll find all of Newcastle's population hanging out on Friday night (not really but that was just our running joke for the night). Either you go here or at Honeysuckle Harbour on Friday or Saturday nights.
The next day, we had breakfast at the 'Engine Room' on a very very nice day. At one point during the day, someone said that you just had to go to the 'Engine Room'. Hmm, I guess we went to the right spot. We walked down the boardwalk, through downtown, and through the "shopping" area. Nothing much really. We went to pick up the car and drove to Nobby's beach. Some people fishing, surfing (they do have some good waves around here). We drove through the beach on what they call 'Bather's Way'...a nice drive along the coast. At one point, we saw a spot where they hang glide from. Not today, I said. It wasn't part of the plan. So I didn't...don't worry. After the drive, we went to the 'Junction' (see how industrial it is?) and had lunch at the 'Fuel'. More walking around the area then we headed to Beaumont St where you'll find the "better" shopping area (hey, they had an Apple store over there!). By 5pm, we went back to the hotel and asked for other things to see in Newcastle. We told them where we've been all day and they said, "Hunter Valley is not too far away!"We drove to Hunter Valley (1hr away) to have dinner. Hunter Valley is the wine region similar to Napa Valley. It was dark and late when we got there so obviously, most of the wineries were closed already. But there were some restaurants open. Warning: if you want to have dinner in Hunter Valley on a Saturday night, make sure you book ahead. It probably took us about five to six different places before we went back to the third restaurant (which was available) because the restaurants/wineries were either booked for a wedding, some other private function, fully booked to the public, and was just too crowded (maybe this is where the people from Newcastle go to on Saturday nights????). We were embarassed to go back to the third restaurant (the first restaurant that was actually available for seating) coz they were probably thinking, "ah, you came back. You couldn't get in to the other restaurants, eh?" Hehehhehe. One of the wineries we went to had a nice and homey restaurant...called the "Pepper Tree". Try it next time. Just beware of the prices...well actually, there were no prices on the menu. That only means it'll cost you an arm and a leg for dinner.
If you want to just get away and have a relaxing weekend, Newcastle is a quiet place to just hang. Hunter Valley and Port Stephens is not too far away if you want to do more things.
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