by Carole Meisenhelter

Created on: July 14, 2010   Last Updated: July 16, 2010

Just a brief hour and half journey from Sydney up the F3 freeway, and you will find yourself alongside one of Australia’s largest coastal salt-water lakes.  With 174 kilometers of foreshore, Lake Macquarie displays a decided relaxed and “away from the city limits” environment, and is home to almost 200,000 people.

Go fishing, boating, sailing, kayaking and water-ski.  Breathe in the salt-air and enjoy the sunshine!  Swim in the lake or visit many popular beaches in close proximity; there is something for everyone who loves the water! 

For those who’d like to cycle or walk and keep fit while visiting Lake Macquarie, look to any of the twelve pathway systems in various locations around the lake.  Maps showing each pathway network are available for download here.

If it’s bush-walking you enjoy, don’t go past the Watagan Mountains in national park and state forests.  Do the Boarding House Dam moss wall walk, and see waterfalls like Gap Creek Falls.  Trail riding on horseback is another fabulous way to take in the Watagans, through bushland and rainforest pockets.

For keen skate-boarders and in-line skaters, there’s eight designated skate parks also, in the region.  Their locations are shown on these maps. 

Throw a backpack with a picnic lunch over your shoulders, and take a walk through the Morisset State Conservation Area administered by National Parks & Wildlife Service.  It has wide, easy walking tracks to suit all ages through tall timbered sclerophyll forests.  A variety of natural wildlife can be sighted ... if you’re lucky to be in the right place at the right time.  From Eastern Grey kangaroos, Laughing Kookaburras and Lace Monitors, to Musk Lorikeets,Southern Boobook Owls and White-Bellied Sea-Eagles.  Sit a while by the foreshore anywhere, and you might see pelicans and Black Swans drifting along on the lake.

Lake Macquarie City Art gallery is situated on 15 acres of parkland with ancient fig trees, on the foreshores at Booragul.  The gallery is open to the public Tuesdays through to Sunday, 10 am to 5pm., with free admission.  A modern facility, well worth a visit to admire works from well recognized artists and also wonderful opportunities to view regular updated touring exhibitions from around Australia.  Check out the wonderful array of quality contempory craft available for sale including ceramics, glass, jewelry items, handmade cards, art journals and more.

Feeling like a coffee by now?  Then make your way down the pathway, to the historic Awaba House, with its leadlight window features and art-deco interior and sit and enjoy a morning tea, lunch or afternoon tea break, looking out to the lake and nearby marina. 

Before you visit; be sure to take a peek here for a virtual experience of holiday destination, Lake Macquarie.  Visitors are most welcome, with over one hundred varied accommodation outlets about the lake, at anytime of year, where “the livin’ is easy”.

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