Newcastle - the friendliest place in Australia!
Newcastle - the friendliest place in Australia! belongs to the following groups:
Central Coast & Hunter and Newcastle NSW, Lake Macquarie & Surrounding RegionI’m from Brissie. We have great beaches here in South East Queensland and so does the rest of Queensland too. So does the rest of Australia, but I really love your beaches around Newcastle, NSW.
When I was 17, I holidayed with a friend from Brisbane at his parents place at Belmont. That was the start of my love affair with your beaches “south of the border” and also, your entire region. Every day we’d go exploring whatever beaches we could get to around Newcastle, Belmont and Swansea. Your beaches were so different to the ones I had grown up with around the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast. In Brisbane, we have to drive to a surf beach, which involves at least an hours drive, north or south. Here was Newcastle with great beaches beside the CBD – I couldn’t believe it. You could walk to a beautiful surf beach (with headlands too) five minutes from the city! Not only that, but here was a very developed city (in the 60’s) that had lots of charm and sophistication and it wasn’t even the capital. How does that happen? I know I thought that at the time because from then on, I looked upon Newcastle “as the centre of the universe” and if it came from Newcastle, it had to be good.
What I remember though the most from my first visit to Newcastle and Belmont and around Lake Macquarie, was how friendly everyone was. The people were the nicest people I had ever met I reckon and they still are too. I still remember going out to dinner at the local clubs with my Newcastle friends and how sophisicated it all was. Brisbane didn’t even have poker machines in those days and you certainly wouldn’t go to a club too often, but here in Newcastle, it was a way of life and it just seemed so different to my life back in Brisbane.
Then in my early twenties, I was called up for National Service. My ten weeks basic training was spent at Singleton. We were allowed to go as far as Newcastle without requiring a special weekend leave-pass and I was more than happy with that so I drove into Newcastle most weekends and did more exploring and getting to know my favourite city all over again. Sure it was grimey and it was old looking in parts, but to me, that meant it had charm and grace and endless places of fascination. It was after all, an industrial city in the 60’s but it was how a big city should look I thought, and it looked more like a city to me than Brisbane did. I thought of Brisbane as the country town.
One of my favourite places in town (Newcastle) involved a pizza shop in Hunter Street. It’s long since gone, but in the late 60’s they had the best fire-cooked pizzas you could buy. They were like gourmet pizzas now, except 40 years ago, they were the only ones doing them and the fresh seafood was stacked at least two inches high on the pizza. Eating one was like being in heaven! I didn’t need an excuse to go back to Newcastle each weekend, but the pizzas sure were a good incentive. (I may as well have one now that I’m here!)
Another favourite stop of mine was the Oak Milk factory out at the Hexham Bridge where they served the best milkshakes you were ever likely to come across.
Now, 40 or so years later, I’ve been back through Newcastle a few times but as the highway now bypasses the place, I have usually stuck to the bypass. But I didn’t last year. I actually holidayed at Bateau Bay, Terrigal and The Entrance.
You people that live in the Newcastle area sure live in paradise – your beaches are magnificent, your lakes are superb, your national parks and headlands are a joy to spend hours exploring and your clubs have to be in some of the best spots going, but above all that, I’m convinced you are the friendliest people in the whole of Oz.
Thanks Newcastle. What a city!
Bev Woodman
WOW!! thank you so much for this magnificent praise that seems to take in our whole area from Newcastle, to Lake Macquarie and clear down to the Central Coast of NSW. I myself have lived in the region for most of my life and have travelled far and wide – I have seen some magic places but I’m always happy to be back home. We have thankfully shaken our industrial town image and we’re slowly rebuilding the city. I am confident that Newcastle’s business district will look brilliant in just a few years time. I have always been proud and ready to promote the area for what we have here as we have it all – the beaches, the lake, the river, the mountains, the vineyards and the rural community – and the people. Dotted amongst all of this are our beautiful country towns that all have their own charm. One thing a lot of people don’t realise is our unique history that takes us back to the convict days and the very important part that this area played in opening up the inland regions as it was from here that the early settlers set off from to inland places far and wide. I thank you on behalf of this beautiful area for the compliment and accept it with open arms. I also extend the warmest welcome to you in any of your visits to this grand town – we are many towns but after all is said and done – it is Our Town!!
PhotosByG replied
Thank you too Bev for your great reply. It was a pleasure for me to write it and I was pleased to read that you enjoyed it. Thank you. I actually spent about 30 minutes before, looking at all the photos in your group and all the memories started flooding back to me while I was looking at the photos, and I thought, I really owe Newcastle a big thank you as it played such an important part in my life so many years ago. And you are right too about your surrounding country towns – the whole area holds magical memories for me and that includes Maitland, Cessnock, Kurri Kurri, Muswellbrook, Greta & Branxton. Thank you so much Bev and it was a pleasure.
Cheers,
Graham