Stockton Beach

Stockton Beach is located north of the Hunter River in New South Wales, Australia. It is 32km long and stretches from Stockton, to Anna Bay. Over many years Stockton Beach has been the site of numerous shipwrecks and aircraft crash sites. In World War II it was fortified against a possible attack by Imperial Japanese forces. During that time it served as a bombing and gunnery range as well as a dumping area for unused bombs by aircraft returning from training sorties. The length of the beach, its generally hard surface and numerous items of interest along the beach make it popular with four-wheel drive (4WD) enthusiasts. Four-wheel drive vehicles are permitted to drive on Stockton Beach provided the vehicles are in possession of valid permits. The beach is also popular with fishermen and several different varieties of fish may be caught.GeographyStockton Beach, on the Tasman Sea, starts on the northern side of the break wall that protects the entrance to Newcastle harbour in Stockton, Newcastle's northern most suburb, and stretches for 32km in an approximate north-easterly direction to Anna Bay in Port Stephens. In some areas it is as much as 1km wide and has sand dunes over 30m high although at the Stockton end it is at its narrowest with no dunes. Each year the dunes move north by approximately 4m. The sand on Stockton Beach varies from hard to soft packed and changes daily with the changing winds and weather. The dunes are the largest continuous mobile sand dunes in the Southern Hemisphere.