Memorial Walk, Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Memorial Walk, Newcastle, NSW, Australia

We spent a week in Newcastle while our grandson was having his tonsils out. The weather was stiflingly hot, so we didn't get out much. One thing we did manage, though, was to take the clifftop Memorial walk, constructed to commemorate the centenary of the first major military action by Australian and New Zealand forces during WWI. The walkway spans 450 metres from Strzelecki Scenic Lookout to Bar Beach, with outstanding views of the coast and the city.

Plaque at Strzelecki Scenic Lookout

The walkway is decorated with steel silhouettes of soldiers which are engraved with thousands of family names of men and women from Newcastle and the Hunter Valley who served in the Great War.

Silhouettes of soldiers along the walk...

...can be seen on both sides

Memorial Walk has two main sections. The first section starts at the Strzelecki Lookout and takes you over the bridge to the next major viewing platform. The second part of the walk is a stairway that leads down to Memorial Drive and Bar Beach.

Stairs lead down to Bar beach from Memorial Walk

From one side of the walkway, there are views of the City...

…from the other side, you look down the steep cliffs to the Pacific Ocean

A coastal walkway leads north to Newcastle Beach

After all this, if you need to walk some more, there is another walk to the north of Strzelecki Scenic Lookout that leads along Newcastle Beach and round to Nobby’s Beach at the end of which is a lighthouse that has been active for over 150 years.

Nobby’s Lighthouse ensures the safety of ships going into and out of Newcastle Harbour.

Newcastle is Australia's second oldest city, and a fun destination, with beautiful beaches, fine dining, and a true Aussie welcome feeling about it. It is definitely somewhere I will want to go back to again.

Elizabeth Coughlan