Warners Bay to Mt Myall on Aussie Great North Walk

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Warners Bay to Mt Myall on Aussie Great North Walk

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Difficulty: Easy
Length: 8.0 miles / 12.9 km

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Overview: WARNERS BAY TO WALK MT MYALL: 12.8 km (easy)
From Warners Bay stroll along the shore of Lake Macquarie around Speers Point to cross Five Islands Bridge and walk into Teralba. Pass over the railway and walk past many collieries and old mine sites into farmland around the village of Wakefield. Continue as far as Archery Road (near Mt Myall and the F3 Freeway). This hike takes you from holiday hotels on the northern edge of the picturesque Lake Macquarie through areas indelibly marked by the industrial history of New South Wales.

Full details about the Great North Walk can be found at http://www.thegreatnorthwalk.com
We also recommend accessing e-trails and guides at Great North Walk books - http://tiny.cc/Buy2GNWbooks

Watch a hike movie http://vimeo.com/10912042

Tips: Access from the train at Teralba or drive to Warner's BAy or Wakefield. Download EZ Guide to Great North Walk and downloadable e-trails http://tiny.cc/EZguideGNW

Much of the history of this area can be enjoyed by making a visit to the Richmond Vale Railway Museum and Richmond Main Heritage Park: this private railway operated from 1905 to 1987 and once conveyed miners between the Pelaw Main and Richmond Vale collieries. It used Australia’s last operating steam railway — steam-train rides are available on the first three Sundays of each month.

Try your hand at archery using traditional equipment fashioned on that used before the 1950s. Shooting occurs every second Sunday. Located just off the F3 Freeway off Leneghans Drive about 17 km due north of the Great North Walk at Warners Bay

Points of Interest

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Lake Macquarie

The Great North Walk follows the northern edge of Lake Macquarie form Warner's Bay to Teralba. This is a modern cycle/walk way with plenty of room and great views.

In Warners Bay there is bed and breakfast accommodation at Warner's Bay Bed and Breakfast with three rooms, one with ensuite and two with a shared bathroom. A hearty full English breakfast is included. There are many restaurants within easy walking distance for other meals.

Motel-style accommodation at Pippi’s at the Point offering 14 rooms of boutique accommodation and its own restaurant.

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Five Islands Bridge

In February 1973, a new bridge was built over the Five Islands at the mouth of the creek, this one, to replace the 1899 Watkins Bridge, over there. The latest work, which was finished in 2007, was to widen the road between the two roundabouts at Booragul and Speers Point from two lanes to four and, at the same time, create a divided highway. This involved constructing two new bridges across Cockle Creek, close to the older bridges. Following community feedback, the facilities for both pedestrians and cyclists were upgraded, these improvements including an underpass beneath the southern bridges. New wetlands were created to compensate for the removal of some important ecosystems.
On the Five Islands Bridge be mesmerized by the local pelicans that seem to roost on the massive street floodlights both day and night and swoop from these man-made perches to fish in the bay shallows.

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Great Northern Hotel, Teralba

One claimed origin of the name Teralba is due to Capt James St John Ranclaud. He may have named his land-granted estate of 914 acres (370 hectares) ‘Trialba’ from the Latin (tri albus) meaning ‘three white things’ possibly referring to three local mountains. The other idea arises from the Aboriginal ‘Tool-kar-bar’ meaning a soft ti-tree place.

The Great Northern Hotel that was opened by John Hodges in 1890 and, even though the present brick building dates to only 1923, it is on the same site. It bears a sample of the famous decorative cast-iron lace so common in post-1840s Australian architecture. The designs became more and more intricate following the gold rush era in the 1880s with native animals, birds and flowers worked into the intricate lace patterns that ornamented so many ‘grand’ buildings of that period.

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Teralba Quarry

Teralba was growing very fast, virtually all on land leased from the Quigley family and at such a speed that it seems to have changed with each new organization that moved in: a camp was constructed for railway workers near to the Amos and Company quarry.

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Mine sites now flower-filled

In 1886, the first permanent school in this area was established at ‘Gravel Pits’, then at ‘Glen Mitchell’ in 1889 and finally in April 1891 at ‘Teralba’ without ever moving. The post office, which opened on 1 January 1885, although on the same street, was said to be in ‘Winding Creek’ and the police station that opened in 1886 was called ‘Billy Goat Hill’. When the railway arrived with the opening of the section of the Great Northern Railroad between Gosford and Waratah on 15 August 1887, the place name was ‘Five Islands’ or ‘Lake Macquarie’. Workers were employed in the gravel quarries and at at least three collieries: Teralba, Northern Extended and Cockle Creek. All these had rail links connected as soon as the railway arrived to haul the coal out faster.

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Wakefield

Wakefield is today a small village surrounded by horse studs and orchards.

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Trail ascends

After leaving the road the trail becomes rougher and begins to ascend quite quickly. This is a well-used 4WD track so take care to listen for approaching vehicles.

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Richmond Vale Railway & Colliery Museum

Richmond Vale Railway Museum and Richmond Main Heritage Park: this private railway operated from 1905 to 1987 and once conveyed miners between the Pelaw Main and Richmond Vale collieries. It used Australia’s last operating steam railway — steam-train rides are available on the first three Sundays of each month.
Richmond Main Colliery, once the largest shaft mine in the Southern Hemisphere, is heritage listed. Visit the administrative centre, the powerhouse and the blacksmith’s shop (+61 2 4936 1124). Off Leggets Lane, Richmond Vale, NSW, about 17 km northwest of the Great North Walk at Wakefield.