It’s been drawing crowds of onlookers all week.
As fierce ocean swells bring torrents of water gushing over the reef and sand banks that fringe Newcastle’s shoreline, it’s our latest tourism drawcard that appears to be copping the brunt of the weather.
While July crashes into August and we pass the halfway mark of 2024, all eyes appear to be on the Newcastle Ocean Baths.
All times of the day you can find professional and amateur photographers capturing its every angle, recording what appears to be a coastal phenomenon.
For those who are not from Newcastle or have never visited our beautiful city, these scenes are not your usual happenings.
Sure, we have rough swells, this is Australia after-all, but this week our ‘bath in the ocean’ is literally taking on the ocean, making it newsworthy for a whole other reason.
It’s not an east coast low and there’s no king tides to speak of but it is big messy swells washing walls of water over the concrete structures that line our popular Esplanade address.
Perhaps its because our fresh-faced ocean baths have just been transformed by a makeover that shocked to see it being battered about like this.
Either way, it’s worth adding your version of an ooh-ahh emoji to a social media post about it and sending a “wowee – stars in eyes” to the photographer.
There’s no question it’s been a talking point.
“As a kid we went to the ocean baths and used surfer-planes to get washed into the pool on the ocean side, but I have never seen this much water in the pool before,” said one social media user of the captured images.
“Mother Nature at its best,” said another.
With another stage of the upgrade yet to be completed, talk also turned to the future.
“Let’s hope the designers and City of Newcastle are taking note of this. Following their community engagement for the next phase of the baths development. Please don’t get too fancy with the final design decisions, especially when it has to face these conditions. The current change room layout has been like that for a reason. History and experience tells us something.”
For more on this topic:
- Community views sought on final stage of Newcastle Ocean Baths upgrade – July 2024
- Visitors embrace Newcastle Ocean Baths upgrade – March 2024
- Splash into summer at Newcastle Ocean Baths – Jan 2024
- Newcastle Ocean Baths nominated for State Heritage Listing – Dec 2023
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