Fingal Bay NSW

I searched for a Caravan Park this Christmas on the Gold Coast, and the only one that had room for a small campervan was Fingal Bay. I discovered a beautiful location with pristine beaches, an island, and amazing sunsets and sunrises over the sea as well as great walking tracks and an excellent fish and chip shop next door. The sand bar is exposed at low tide and completely covered by the ocean at mid to high tide. The coastal views from the island are pretty amazing as well.  The most popular way to visit Shark Island is to walk there. Note that the National Parks and Wildlife Services website advises not to walk there for safety reasons, because of the dangers at Fingal Spit. If you plan to walk to Shark Island, make sure you cross the sand spit at low tide

Fingal Bay is the easternmost suburb of the Port Stephens local government area in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. Fingal Bay was originally known as False Bay as, in the 19th century, it was sometimes mistaken for the entrance to Port Stephens. This picturesque village is surrounded by the Tomaree National Park. A magnificent beach with an infamous walk across “the spit” to view the burnt out ruins of the outer lighthouse residence. As early as 1857, the need for a lighthouse on Point Stephens was identified, due to the proximity to the entrance of Port Stephens, and the dangers of the local coastline to ships. A 21 m (69 ft) high stone lighthouse was subsequently constructed in 1862. In 1973 the lighthouse keeper was replaced by automated system powered by solar. The light is 38 m (125 ft) above mean sea level and has a range of 28 km

There is some great fishing off the beach as well as the Headlands. Many large fish has been landed off the spit. This beach is very popular with surfers and is quite protected by the headland in the southern corner. Fingal Bay has a resort, a patrolled beach, a boat ramp and fishing from both the beach and from Fingal Head. Whales can sometimes be spotted offshore between September and November or, less frequently from late May to July. They like to rub their barnacles off on a reef 50 m offshore

The irregularly shaped headland, which is sometimes mistakenly called “Fingal Island”, covers an area of approximately 1 km², most of which is part of the Tomaree National Park, and reaches 75 m (246 ft) in height. Point Stephens was connected to the mainland prior to the “Maitland gale” in 1891. The southeasternmost point of the headland was named “Point Stephens” by Captain Cook when he passed on 11 May 1770.

You can walk to Shark Island from here….

The most important thing to know to walk to Shark Island (also called Fingal Island) is that it must not be visited at any time. It is essential to check out the tide times to plan a safe trip there. https://myfavouriteescapes.com/shark-island-port-stephens/

The Project is a sand transport system that collects sand from the southern side of the Tweed River entrance at Letitia Spit, and pumps it under the river to outlets on the northern side. From there the sand is transported by waves and  currents to nourish the southern Gold Coast beaches. The project periodically dredges sand that accumulates at the Tweed River entrance which is also transported to southern Gold Coast beaches. The system is designed to transport the natural quantities of sand that move northwards along the coast