13th to 15th Jan – Stockton and Coal Point

We were up early, packed and by 9am we were on the road to Newcastle to catch up with Bert and Lea for a couple of days. Friends from our Saudi days we managed to keep in touch. We last saw them during our previous trip around OZ back in 2011. They have now relocated to Stockton, a suburb of Newcastle just across the water from the centre of the city and a stones throw from the beach. They have recently renovated their 1870’s home where we stayed with them for two nights to catch up and share some stories. We started the day with a walk to the beach for a swim (bodysurf) followed by lunch at the local café on the beach. After lots of catching up the following day brought high winds, and offered a great opportunity to catch the ferry (2 minute walk at the end of the road) across to Newcastle. The surf was incredible and as we went around the corner past the baths you certainly needed to concentrate keeping upright. Heading into the centre of Newcastle we dropped into a little café for a drink prior to lunch.  Walking back to the ferry terminal we left Leas and Bert to then head to Honeysuckle Restaurant on the water (20 min walk along the board walk) to meet other Saudi friends Nicole, Aidan and Maddy for lunch. Newcastle has done a great job with the foreshore area and Fremantle has a lot of catching up to do. After a great catch up over lunch we headed back late in the afternoon to Bert and Leas for a roast dinner, something we haven’t had for several months, thanks guys! Unfortunately our schedule only afforded us two nights so we said our goodbyes and headed across to Coal Point as they headed to work that morning. A lovely time was had by all, thanks for the memories.
We arrived at Coal Point and setup camp at the top of the long steep driveway for the evening and headed out for a fish with Mike in the boat. With the wind blowing a gale we headed in to a more sheltered point and dropped in 8 crab pots, followed by a spot of squiding to use for down rigging. Mike caught the only little squid which we finally used but unfortunately we were out of luck in the fishing department. That said the Crab pots did us proud, and we managed 3 large blue swimmers, which went straight to the pool room! It was lovely to be out on the boat again enjoying the wonderful views Lake Macquarie has to offer. With family and friends around we enjoyed a lovely BBQ with crab entrée. Another lovely time had with friends.

















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