My Coast - Gosford

The A-Z of the Central Coast, NSW, Australia

Welcome to the seventh instalment of my fortnightly photo blog exploring my local area, the Central Coast. This week's destination is Gosford.

G-Gosford

Gosford is the regional centre of the Central Coast. It is located about 75kms north of Sydney. It is the third largest urban area in the state after Sydney and Newcastle, with a population of over 180,000. The trip to Sydney takes about an hour by car and slightly longer by train. The train route is scenic and the track winds its way down from the coast from Woy Woy over the Hawkesbury Bridge and into the northern most suburbs of Sydney.

Dramatic winter sunset at Brisbane Water

Settlement of Gosford started back in 1823 as the area was difficult to access after Governor Phillip first explored it back in 1788-89. The first point of settlement was East Gosford, which is now a bustling suburb on the road out to the coast.

Gosford city centre is made up of an old style shopping mall on the main street dating back 40 years. The shop fronts are in various stages of decay and regeneration. Gradually the city is being modernised, and is badly in need of it as the retails stores largely lose out to out of town shopping centre's like Erina and Tuggerah, which are far easier to access and park at.

Palm Tree at Gosford waterfront

There are a variety of pubs, clubs and bars in Gosford. My favourite place for date night with Tash has to be the Reviver Bar. This is a very cool spot that serves a large variety of drinks, specialising in local craft beers and world class cocktails not often seen in pubs around here. The food is tapas style and is excellent. The cheese plates are awesome and the perfect accompaniment to the drinks, served at your table by the bar staff.

Palm trees lining one side of the Central Coast stadium on the left

Towards the Brisbane Water end of the city is the main social centre, where the Central Coast Leagues Club is. This place caters for just about everything from gyms, bars, cafes and the Star buffet which is all you can eat for $25. It is definitely one of those places when you work out if your eyes are bigger than your belly! Unfortunately I seem to eat too much every time I go and say I won't do that again!

Never too young to get the kids down to the footy!

Right next to the leagues club is Central Coast Stadium, home to the mighty Central Coast Mariners football team, not quite so mighty last season as we got the wooden spoon. I am the eternal optimist and believe next season will be better. I like to go to matches when I can. It is a great place to watch football and bring the family along. It has to be one of the most scenic venues in world football as one end of the ground is lined by palm trees. This is a massive contrast to when I had a season ticket at West Ham in the English Premier League, where the ground is flanked by residential tower blocks! The stadium also houses rugby league games and other sporting and social events throughout the off season.

Cool tones of a winter sunset waiting to burst into colour

Gosford Waterfront is the nicest part of the city. This is a controversial regeneration area as the government are trying to build a tax office on prime land that locals want a performing arts centre to be built. There are new residential units being built with water views. Gosford Olympic Pool is a large swimming centre with a heated outdoor pool allowing all year round use. Nearby is the boat ramp which is busy in the mornings and evenings with fisherman and day trippers.

Poppy Park

Finishing off my tour of Gosford is the Poppy Park and War Memorial. These are located opposite Iguana Wharf which houses a couple of restaurants with the best views in town. You can enjoy your meal and look out over the water past the boats at Gosford Sailing Club and down to the south. My favourite part of Gosford is the shorefront park . The cycle track stretches all the 20+kms to Ettalong. There are children's play parks and it is the perfect spot for a picnic. We love coming here with the kids.

Thank you very much for reading. If you would like to be notified of my next post in 2 weeks time, where the destination will be Halekulani, please click the link on the right.