Day 6 Wednesday June 11^th 2014 Moss Vale to Stockton

Last night was mild and the morning is foggy but clearing as we leave. It is 11 degrees at 9:00am. We drive through Bowral and Mittagong then join the Hume Highway. Bowral is stunning with long roadside hedges and grand homes with gatehouses. Pretty manicured parks and European trees.

It is a long drag up the M7 and the Newcastle Expressway. At last we skirt Newcastle and arrive at the Stockton Beach Holiday Park.

The park is on the point beside the beach which looks towards the Stockton Dunes. There is a long breakwater of about a kilometre that forms the mouth of the Hunter River and there are ships constantly passing. The breakwater has been built on the wrecks of ships that foundered here. As well there are memorials to locals who have died. It is quite haunting.

We walk along the main Mitchell Street past clapboard houses and old shops and hotels from the bygone era of when this was a steel worker town. At the end of the street there is a ferry wharf and an uninterrupted view of Newcastle.

It is now warm enough to cook on the BBQ to the sounds of crashing surf and ships horns. The slippers get packed away.

Travelling Kms: 287Kms Note: The M7 Tollway bypasses Sydney and any price is a bargain compared to towing a caravan through Sydney traffic when you’re not used to it.