It's located only 100 kilometres from Sydney, which by car will take you around 1 hour and you will be in one of the most unspoilt spots in NSW. Catherine Hill Bay owes it preservation to the coal mine, which has controlled and limited development here for 150 years. The mine’s decommissioned jetty still stands but otherwise the beach remains in a pretty natural state.
Access is via a sealed beach road off the Sydney - Newcastle Freeway and the Pacific Highway. Despite the beauty of the bay and its attractive situation in a valley surrounded by high hills and bushland, the presence of the rusty iron and lifeless machinery inevitably gives the Bay a very different feel to other busy tourism-based towns of the Central Coast.
In terms of places to stay Lake Macquarie is just down the road and offers a range of budget accommodation and pretty solid nightlife for the traveller.
Attractions
Rows of 19th century miners' cottages, in a residential area known as Middle Camp in a gully surrounded by high hills, line the roadside. Some of these are available as rental accommodation. They are essentially simple and similar, box-like units with verandahs and no fences, all situated very close to the street.
Northwood Rd which runs by the cemetery to a side road, leads out to First Lookout, a bluff overlooking the beach below. At either end are the two headlands which demarcate the bay's boundaries. At the southern end is the coal-loading wharf with the colliery on the hillside behind it.
Second Lookout is another viewing area offering a different angle and more elevated perspective over the same views.
Cams Wharf Rd takes you to Crangan Bay in the south-eastern corner of Lake Macquarie . There is a picnic area with a boat ramp and views west to Point Wolstoncroft at the tip of the peninsula which marks the western boundary of the bay, with the stacks of Eraring Power Station on the western shore of the lake in the distance and the mountains in the background. Off the point is Pulbah Island, a nature reserve, and, to the north-west Wangi Wangi Point and, behind it,Coal Point, both long, narrow peninsulas which stick out from the western shore of the lake.
Raffertys Rd leads to a resort with a very pleasant and tranquil park with well-established trees, barbecue facilities and shelter sheds at the entrance.
