AT Stockton Beach North of Newcastle you would be forgiven for thinking that you were at times in a desert.
This system of sand dunes comprises the largest continuous mobile coastal sand mass in the Southern Hemisphere. The sand dunes can climb as high as 30-50m. They are slowly creeping inland, changing daily with the winds and weather.
What better a place to go sand boarding?
In pictures: Taking on the sand hill
Port Stephens 4WD tours takes groups of tourists daily out to the biggest sand dune of the day and set s them up with a board and instruction.
On the day news.com.au tried it out it had started to rain gently. "Don’t worry," our friendly guide Mark Murphy said. "Rain makes it go a bit faster."
That sounds great, until you are sitting at the top of a 40m sand dune with a board under your bottom and an excited two-year-old tucked between your legs begging you to "GO mummy, GO."
So go we did, squealing all the way down the side of a pristine sand hill on the first run of the day.
With the wind in our hair and sand flying onto our legs we picked up speed and felt like we were flying. Once at the bottom there was no doubt we were going to climb that dune again. And again. And again.
Luckily, Port Stephens 4WD tours will let you stay at the dunes for as long as you like within their hours of 10am to 3.30pm.
But it sand boarding is not your style there are still other ways, more relaxing ways to take on the dunes. Like a camel ride. Oakfield Ranch Camel Rides are the camel rides that Lara Bingle rode on in the "Where the Bloody Hell Are you Ads".
The camels add to the illusion that you are in a foreign land. But it reality they take a walk across the dunes and onto the beach into the water before returning to the car park. It’s worth the cash just to see the kids' faces.
Want to take a tour of the sand dunes? Find out how at Port Stephens Tourism.
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