A relatively unpleasant six hour sail with too little wind and too much swell from too many directions had us arriving in the port of Newcastle. There were a couple of huge ships to avoid as we arrived, but no dramas.
We had a very agreeable two night stay at the New Castle Cruising Yacht Club Marina. We both found Newcastle to be an interesting town, with plenty of character. There's been a lot of recent development, but many old historic buildings still around .
There's a great beach just next to the city. Matt was most impressed to see a group of school kids romping around in the surf, with the teachers sitting back relaxed in the shoreside pavilion, having transferred all duty of care to the local life guards. Try doing that in a Tasmanian school.