Lake Macquarie Foreshore & Bush Walk
Walk the foreshore of Lake Macquarie — Australia's largest coastal saltwater lake — just 30 minutes east of the Hunter Valley wine region, for a complete change of landscape.
- 1
Warners Bay Esplanade
Warners Bay on Lake Macquarie's western shore has a café esplanade overlooking the vast lake — at 110 square kilometres, Lake Macquarie is twice the size of Sydney Harbour and almost entirely surrounded by suburban bushland.
- 2
Speers Point Park
Speers Point Park is the lake's premier foreshore reserve — walking tracks through the park reveal the lake's scale, with the opposite shore barely visible and sailing boats crossing the broad water.
- 3
Wangi Wangi Heritage Area
Wangi Wangi is the lake's most photographed village — the fibro holiday cottages built by Newcastle steel workers from the 1940s have been embraced as heritage, the bushland setting unchanged for decades.
- 4
Dobell House
The home of Australian painter William Dobell, one of the country's greatest portrait painters, is preserved at Wangi Wangi — Dobell lived and worked here overlooking the lake until his death in 1970.
- 5
Nords Wharf Beach
Nords Wharf has a beach on the lake foreshore sheltered from ocean swell — the calm, warm lake water makes for ideal swimming and the surrounding bushland is habitat for yellow-tailed black cockatoos.
- 6
Pelican Sunset View
Australian pelicans roost in large numbers on the lake — watching the pelicans return to roost at sunset across the still lake, backed by the forested ridge, is Lake Macquarie at its most peaceful.