No Bull Real Estate

With a busy working harbour, Newcastle has some beautiful little spots to discover

Horseshoe Beach

If you look to your right, as you return along Nobbys Head towards the mainland, you will see tiny Horseshoe Beach facing east out to the ocean. The rock wall adjacent Horseshoe Beach is a popular fishing spot. It lies at the tip of the harbourside area now officially known as The Foreshore. Start walking in a westerly direction along The Foreshore. At the end of the rocky section is an area known as the Boat Harbour, a stone harbour constructed between 1866 and 1873. It contains the Pilot Station, established in 1866, and the Tug Wharf and has been used continuously for over one hundred years. The earliest pilot station was a convict-manned whaleboat which commenced operations in 1812. Tugs still take the huge coal and container ships from the ocean up the estuary to their moorings. Beyond the pilot station is King's Wharf. The large section of adjacent grassy parkland is Harbourside Park. The enormous barbecue and shelter shed in the park was originally a railway shed (c.1880) as this area was once the site of the Newcastle East Marshalling Yard. The gigantic yellow building looming over the park at its southern fringe (in Stevenson Place) is the former John Bull Warehouse (c.1890). There is a pond in the park known as the Frog Pond which, in its original form, was a well fed by a freshwater spring. It was the major source of freshwater for the first European settlers. Convicts once carried 100 gallons of water a day to the prison in Scott St and ships docking in the harbour used it to restock supplies. The original shoreline of 1797 lay close to this site, drawing attention to the fact that the harbour foreshores are entirely man-made and bare little resemblance to the way the Hunter was prior to the 19th century. They were constructed from about 1840 with material supplied by ship's ballast, the dredging of the river mouth and sand taken from the dunes of Newcastle East.

Queen's Wharf

Walk westwards along Wharf Rd and you will come to Queens Wharf. The observation tower, which is linked, via a walkway, to the city mall offers an excellent view up the Hunter River and across the city. There is also a marina, a ferry wharf (you can cross the Hunter on the Stockton ferry - a pleasant 15-minute trip), a tavern, boutique brewery, cafe and restaurant.

Great North Walk and the Yuelarbah Track

A plaque on the tower indicates that this is also the end point of the 250-km Great North Walk from Sydney Cove through the Hunter Valley to Newcastle, a 14-day walk taking in a wide range of environments and attractions, both natural and man-made. It can be broken down into smaller subsections, such as the Yuelarbah Track (the local section) which covers 25 km.

The William IV and Merewether St Wharf

Just a little further west along Wharf Rd are the Merewether St wharves where, on the third Sunday of each month, the William IV, a replica of the first Australian built coastal steamer, departs at 11.00 a.m. and 2.00 p.m. for a cruise around the harbour. The original vessel was built near Clarencetown and the replica was constructed at Raymond Terrace. The industrial area of Carrington lies on the other side of the harbour. Directly opposite the wharves is the state dockyard. To the left of that you will see The Basin receding to the north. On the corner of Wharf Rd and Argyle St is Argyle House, the former headquarters of the Australian Agricultural Co. (c.1883). It has some particularly fine cast-iron lacework around the eaves and columns.