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Newcastle or as the locals call it Newy

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This is the place especially for those who love all things related to the beach, sun, sand and especially surfing. However Newcastle also offers shopping, cafes and many of the comforts that urbanites could not live without including decent coffee




	Shot of the central Newcastle area

Newcastle has for many years been simply known as an industrial city. However slowly but surely this is changing especially since BHP moved out about 8 years ago. Nowadays apartments are going up all over the place and the harbourside is continually adding more shops and cafes along it with some being really funky places. Generally however the beaches are and always will be great with many different beaches to choose from and with hardly any issues of overcrowding. There is a significant amount of nightlife for the night owls out there with many pubs and clubs to choose from and for those who like their coffee many cafe strips including those of Darby St, Honeysuckle and Hamilton

Favourite spots:




	Caves Beach

My personal favourite places would have to include King St Hotel on a saturday night however Fostbites and The Brewery are also pretty cool. Great for those who love to dance such as myself. Honeysuckle is a great area to relax with some friends and have a drink or whatever with Silo being a personal favourite of mine. For funky fashion check out Darby St as each shop has its own unique style. My favourite beach however would be Caves Beach which is slightly south of Newcastle towards Swansea and Lake Macquarie which is great by the way for those who can get access to a boat or even for fishing. The Junction is also another really nice area with a mixture of everything in the space of about blocks.

What's really great:




	Stockton Beach

To hire or get a 4wd and go slightly north of Newcastle to Stockton beach where you are able with a permit to go driving on the sand dunes is a great experience. In some parts it seems as if you are in some desert. On the large dunes though it is really fun with a board to go sand surfing down the sand dune. Cruising along the Foreshore on a Sunday afternoon is another great experience as many with good looking cars will come along and park on the side of the road creating a sort if car show with many who cant get parking simply continually doing laps of the strip.

Accommodations:

For accomodation there are the backpackers for those on a budget right near Newcastle Beach itself however the Crown Plaza is a beautiful option as well for those with more money to spend with a good in between being somewhere like the Ibis hotel or simply renting out one of many apartments that are available

Nightlife:

King St Hotel- house, dance, techno music
Frostbites/The Crown and Anchor- Hip Hop/ top 40 upstairs and live bands downstairs
The Brewery- wide range of music
Fannies- true Hip hop/rnb fans as well as those liking techno
M bar- new but real cool looking venue
MJ Finnegans- irish pub with good live bands downstairs and cocktail lounge upstairs
The Beaches Hotel- great on a Sunday night

Hangouts:

just see above

Restaurants:

Lime- ( at The Junction) awesome food with wide range
Giussepes- (at Islington) best pasta and italian food in town
Silo- (Honeysuckle) great atmosphere and decent food
Giovannis deli cafe (Hamilton) best foccacias and lunch type food
Estabar (Newcastle Beach) great views, great coffee and desserts

Other recommendations:

If your aim is to meet people just simply start talking to someone. People are generally quite friendly. Newcastle is not a huge place so it can still be relaxing for those trying to escape city life however still close enough to civilization

Published on Sunday June 26th, 2005 by luna_cat

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