Anna Bay to Newcastle
38 km (868 km) | 11 hr
It was a magical start to Stage 7 of my coastal camino with a glorious (but lengthy) walk along Stockton Beach, which, at 34 km, is the longest beach in NSW. Add on a couple of clicks of wandering into and around the amazing dunes, a couple more at the end for Little Beach, then more from the foreshore to the wharf, and it ended up being a long, long, looooong day's walk.
I kicked off at sunrise on a cool, cloudy day - perfect weather for this long-haul coastal ramble. The amazing Anna Bay dunes and a few early morning horse riders provided an exquisite start. It was then followed by a 2-hour stroll along the sand. Next was a thermos coffee stop at the post-apocalyptic Tin City, a remnant of desperation and homelessness during the 1930s depression. The shacks are on a 100-year lease, so some lucky descendants of less fortunate ancestors can stay amidst the incredible dunes and pretend to be Mad Max (it features in the first movie). Such an awe-inspiring place!
While it was a lot of sandy walking, the majesty of the dunes that back this astonishing stretch of sand – undulating perfection 3 km wide for many, many leagues - made this a perfect spot for lengthy, uninterrupted period of walking meditation.
The wreck of the MV Sygna, which used to be a feature near the southern end of the beach when I was a lad, has now all but disappeared - the sea takes care of its own, as they say. Not sure if it's related, but Stockton has to be one of the 'rippiest' beaches I've ever seen - and I've seen a few in my time. There’s a scarily steep entry into the water with swirling cross currents and ever-changing rips as the soft sand jostles and swirls under the swells. Definitely not the place for a cheeky swim. Fortunately for me, the day was cool, and no dolphins were beckoning me in!
Sad to see a dead turtle on the beach. It triggered a somewhat morbid curiosity as to why seaside scavengers consume all the flesh around the head and flippers but seem to leave the rest. With suitable pilgrim’s reverence, I said a little farewell to ‘Shelley the turtle’ - so named because the carcass reminded me of the death of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. (He died in a sailing accident and his body washed up on a beach near Viareggio in Italy. He could only be identified by the clothes he wore, and the book of poetry in his pocket as his face and hands had been eaten away by fish and crabs. On the plus side he did get a dramatic beachside cremation, as the painting by Louis Édouard Fournier, the Funeral of Shelley, dramatically illustrates).
Shelley the turtle’s little tragedy, and thoughts of the untimely deaths of the romantic poets, were more than made up for as I wandered ever southwards by probably the best collection of driftwood resting logs on the coast so far - just right for a lot of coastal camino reflection as I trudged my weary way ever southwards.
I finished the day with a ferry crossing of the Hunter River. In the NSW northern rivers package that meant that the Tweed, Richmond, Clarence, Macleay, Hastings, Manning and now Hunter had all been crossed with only the Hawkesbury left between me and Sydney. So I was feeling mighty chuffed on the ferry across the Hunter to Newcastle, with an extra little chuckle knowing that it wouldn’t mean anything to almost anyone else – it was kind of sweet to have a cheer group of three – me, myself, and I!
Spent the night in comfort in ever enthralling Newcastle which was such a contrast to the isolation of the ocean of sand that is Stockton Beach. If you want sand, sand and more sand then Stockton and its mighty mobile dunes (the largest in Australia) would definitely be the place for you. And if you don't fancy walking the whole beach in one large bite, there are exits at Williamtown and Fern Bay, both with bus connections to the ferry across to Newcastle.