We had a free Accor night which would have expired in April - so we used it to book an overnight stay in Newcastle.
We left Sydney just after 10am on Sunday and drove to our hotel - the Novotel. We were all checked in by around 12:30pm so we set out to walk around and find somewhere for lunch. We stopped at a “brew”pub close to the beach and shared a burger while sipping a beer and wine and listening to the live music.
It was a very hot day - around 30℃ both SUnday and Monday.
We walked around the beach front checking out the various pubs. Back at the hotel we had an afternoon siesta before showers then enjoyed our complimentary welcome drink at the hotel bar - sitting outside. It was lacking in atmosphere but otherwise just fine.
Later we had dinner at the hotel restaurant as with AccorPlus we got half-price dining. To our surprise the dinner was very good.
Monday morning - after brekkie we did a walk then drove home on the old Pacific Highway stopping at The Entrance and then Terrigal for a cafe lunch.
We arrived home around 3pm or thereabouts - unpacked, showered then had dinner at Pony which was not the greatest.