(NEW) CASTLE
The gritty coal town has come of age with hipster bars, boutiques and cafés
It MAY be the second-largest city in NSW but Newcastle has traditionally struggled for attention next to its prettier neighbours: the fertile wine country of the Hunter Valley to the west and the laid-back beach towns of the Central Coast and Mid North Coast. When you’re best known for steel and coal, it can be hard to get a date.
But Newcastle has had a makeover. While everyone was busy sipping chardonnay in Pokolbin and soaking up the rays on Avoca Beach, this city of hidden charms was quietly shaking off the dust, wiping away the grime and moving its famously creative DNA into the sunlight. (Some of the country’s most renowned musicians and artists, including rock band Silverchair and painter William Dobell, hail from the city.)
Today, it’s alive with restaurants, cafés and bars that make the most of the region’s fresh produce. Locals enjoy freekeh salads and iced tea in the cafés on Darby Street in Cooks Hill or sip Hunter Valley wines in the breezy restaurants on the harbourfront. In beachy Merewether, dogs with panting grins wait outside the surfhouse while their owners, sporting swimmers and salt-scrunched hair, grab takeaway coffee. And in the centre of town, music trickles out of alleyway bars that you need to walk past twice to find.
Thankfully, the city’s heritage has remained intact. Its harbour continues to hum with coal ships and tugboats. Streetscapes are still dominated by Victorian terrace houses and grand early-20th-century pubs, though today they’re likely to be housing an interior design business or hosting a pop-up whisky tasting. A light rail system, set to open early this year, will tie popular precincts together and breathe new life into the city centre.
The Hunter Valley still has top-shelf food and wine; the coastal towns have their beaches. But Newcastle has found its niche with a combination of both, plus a generous dollop of cool. Its days as a drive-by dot on the map are over. Now it’s exactly where you should go.