Newcastle, New South Wales, is the world's biggest coal loading harbour and, as such, sees a high number of large coal carrying ships enter the port. Most of the coal goes to Asian destinations. Newcastle is situated at the mouth of the Hunter River, and also used to be a large steel producing city, but most of the steel works have now closed, with the majority of steel making happening in Port Kembla, south of Sydney.
However, the coal loading facilities are something to see, with miles of conveyor belts carrying coal from huge trains to the loading points. On one of my many visits to Newcastle - my wife grew up there - I took some photos of the shipping activities in the river port, some of which are below.
The little ferry, Shortland, operated by Newcastle Buses and Ferries, runs a short shuttle service from Stockton, on the north side of the river, to Newcastle CBD. The service runs each way every 30 minutes, and only takes about 5 minutes. To go by car would take at least 30 to 40 minutes.
Peter.
