Hunter Region - Recipe for nostalgia
Did your family have a ‘regular’ summer holiday destination? Mine did – Port Stephens on the NSW mid-north coast. Most of my ‘soft-focus’ childhood memories are here: building sandcastles, learning to ride a wave, catching my first fish.
When I returned for the first time in nearly 20 years, everything was as I remembered it… and nothing was.
My wife Kellie and I checked into The Nelson, a recently refurbished motel that sits in a prime spot overlooking Nelson Bay. From our room’s balcony I spotted the first major alteration to the Nelson Bay of my youth. The western corner of the bay used to be nothing more than a fishing co-op and a break-wall marina. Now it was d’Albora Marina, a buzzing plaza of restaurants, cafés and shops. We ate dinner at a bar there, Vues. I sipped a beer and tried to come to terms with it all as the sun set.
When we arrived back at the marina the next day the dawn sky was a swathe of newborn pink. Clad in our wetsuits, we boarded the boat for Dolphin Swim Australia’s dolphin encounter. We were told it can often get rough outside the heads, but the Imagine Cruises crew was delighted with the stillness of the water.
It wasn’t long before we spotted our first pod. The crew doesn’t use food to attract the wild dolphins – they rely on their natural curiosity and playfulness. Because dolphins are verbal creatures, resident dolphin biologist Elise Bailey believes it is important to communicate with them to maintain their interest. Throughout the morning she squealed things like “Look at you!” or “Aren’t you beautiful!”
When the dolphins were arcing along next to the boat we lowered ourselves into the boom net and pulled on our flippers and goggles. We then clipped on our safety harnesses and slid into the water.
Air bubbles cleared to reveal three common dolphins in front of me. They swam upside down and curled around each other, but they were always tantalizingly out of reach. We wondered what they thought of the peculiar goggled visitors to their underwater world.
Elise said the dolphins sometimes dress up their flippers with sea grass to show off. They also offer the sea grass as a gift to the terrestrial visitors under the boat. Hard to believe? I saw it happen. A fellow snorkeller took some home as a souvenir.
Kellie and I ate lunch at the Aqua-Blu Bar and Bistro. As I bit into a burger I had conflicting emotions. I liked the vibe at the d’Albora Marina but it was an imposition on my memories of Nelson Bay. Same applied to the town centre. My mind insisted it should be a strip of small-town shops, not a thriving warren of stores and eateries. I just couldn’t reconcile the two.
After lunch we drove along the coast to Salamander Bay, where we checked into the Oaks Pacific Blue Resort. The phrase ‘no expense spared’ must have been the developer’s motto. The pièce de résistance is the 485-metre pool (the longest in the southern hemisphere) running in a circuit around the resort. Many of the ground-level apartments have ‘swim-out’ rooms, meaning you can literally step off your back deck and into the crystal blue water. If friends stayed in a neighbouring room you could travel there, Venice-like, on an inflatable sun-bed.
With some time to kill the next morning, we drove a loop of the Tomaree Peninsula. I stopped with special interest at Taylors Beach, where I had once fished from the jetty and landed a big leatherjacket. It was not at all as I remembered it, even though very little had changed. Nonplussed, I took a few photos and drove away.
Sometime later, while my wife went hunting for a comfort stop at Anna Bay, it occurred to me that memories, especially those smeared with nostalgia, are slippery and unreliable. I began to see today’s Port Stephens in a different light.
We took lunch at Inner Light Tea Rooms, next to the historic lighthouse on Nelson Head, and then drove to Birubi Beach, where our guide from Oakfield Ranch Camel Rides was waiting. Port Stephens is renowned for its mild climate, but it was having an off day and the 50km/h winds turned our beachside camel ride into Operation Desert Storm. It was somehow fitting to learn that tank traps and unspent ammo from WWII could be found along the beach. But the elements couldn’t sandblast our enthusiasm – when I offered to help Kellie down from her camel, she smiled and said, “I don’t want to get off!”
Our finest meal was at Pepper’s Anchorage in Corlette. It's chic yet relaxed waterside atmosphere complements the fare, which is classy but won’t perturb the steak-and-chips set (of which I am a card-carrying member).
The wind had receded when we returned to Birubi Beach to meet up with Port Stephens 4WD Tours. We took the two-hour tour, which encompasses 11km of beach and takes in the famous ‘Tin City’, where squatters built tin shacks during the Great Depression. For the adventurous, there’s also sand- boarding on the dramatic sand hills. Sliding down is terrific fun, but you’ll need to be fit if you want to clamber up for a second run.
We pressed on to Murray’s Brewery at Bobs Farm. Only when you visit a boutique brewery like this do you realise how soulless Australia’s big beer makers have become. At Murray’s, every beer has a personality, and every beer’s label reflects that. Some of those personalities are bold indeed; this is beer for those who want to taste and enjoy it.
We found ourselves in wetsuits again at the Australian Shark and Ray Centre. We also found ourselves waist deep in water filled with small sharks and de-barbed stingrays. Using peg-like tongs to ensure our fingers stayed intact, we fed them prawns and other whiffy seafood treats.
As we drove home I reflected again on the changes time had wrought upon Port Stephens. As our population grows it becomes more important than ever to preserve pockets of natural beauty. But developments like the d’Albora Marina and Gan Gan Hill Lookout prove progress can be positive. Perhaps it is in these places that the child of 2011 will form his own happy memories and in 2030 look back on them with the same fondness I did mine.
