Pass on Newcastle

This morning we decided to get up early and go for a swim in the ocean before brekky. We walked 10 minutes to Pebbly Beach, which was aptly named but really beautiful.

Overlooking Pebbly Beach

The water splashes over the rocks during high tide, creating a nice pool which we decided to climb down to. The water was a bit chilly but refreshing, though not deep enough to swim in. We waded around for a bit before climbing back up the rocks and walking down the trail to Forster Beach.

Tide Pool at Pebbly Beach

At the south end of Forster Beach is an “ocean bath” which is basically a man-made pool fed by the ocean water. It is basically like you are swimming in the ocean, but provided protection from unfriendly creatures and crashing waves.

Nice place to avoid the unfriendly creatures of the sea

The water was a bit warmer so we went swimming for a bit before heading up the beach to Beach Bums Cafe. Here we enjoyed our last meal in Forster before continuing our journey south.

On the way down to Newcastle, we stopped at Seal Rocks, which was a beach that was recommended to us. This spot is known for its diving and snorkeling, though we were prepared for neither. The area was beautiful, but we couldn't spend much time there. We walked around for a bit and took some pictures.

Seal Rocks

The red tide is some sort of plant or algae being washed onshore, creating a really cool effect when the waves crashed

The drive down to Newcastle took only about an hour, but when we arrived we were less than impressed. The guide book had many great things to say about this city, even likening it to a “small Sydney without the glitz and glamour.” Boy were we misled.

After driving around the entire city, we saw nothing appealing. The only redeeming quality was the waves … however, there were no surf shops anywhere. We finally located one about 3 miles from the beach, but it had no rentals to speak of.

We decided, after eating lunch, that we would continue south to Swansea to see what it has to offer. Looking at the map, it appeared to be much like Forster, which we loved.

By the time we arrived in Swansea and found a motel, it was just about 5pm. The town was tiny and not at all like Forster – but better than Newcastle. Finding an open restaurant proved to be a challenge, so we decided to go to a tavern for dinner. We had 45 minutes to kill before the kitchen opened, so we played some pokies and walked away with a whopping $12 :-)

Dinner was actually pretty good, AM had a salmon dish with fingerling potatoes and veggies and Bernard had pork belly with smashed potatoes and veggies.

After dinner, there was not much else to do as we had already seen the entire town, so we headed back to our motel. We decided that we will leave early in the morning for Sydney so we could spend out first day at Manly Beach.