We are lucky to live right on the doorstep of a beautiful & unique wilderness beach. Stockton Bight stretches 32 kilometres to the north towards Port Stephens. The mobile hind dunes at the back of the beach are estimated to be 8,000 years old &  are up to 30 metres high. They are traveling inland at a rate of  4 metres a year.

     As the dunes move they reveal what they have devoured in the past. Huge trees that once stood in a coastal forest are now reduced to trunks as they emerge from the rear of the moving dune system. The vast expanse of beach & dunes makes up the largest continuous mobile sand mass in NSW.

     The bight's current shifting dune problem may be the result of timber clearing and track making around the dunes by farmers in the 1870's. It may have destabilized the dunes which are reported to have only stretched 50m inland from the beach in the 1870's.

     The net major impact on the bights destabilization came in the depression of the 1930's, shanties were built by those who could not afford other accommodation and these people further cleared the bushland. World War II also took its toll on the bight. The beach was heavily fortified and large concrete tank traps, many of which are still in place today, were positioned in the bushland. An explosives storage facility and bombing range were also set up in the area.

     The Stockton Beach sandscape has been featured in several movies & TV commercials. The most famous movie was Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome in the mid 80's starring Mel Gibson & Tina Turner.