Amanda's Ambling's

Exploring a local attraction, that is free general entry and is open Tuesday to Sunday 10am-5pm. Open Monday’s during NSW School Holidays. Newcastle Museum is located at 6 Workshop Way, Newcastle and is easily accessible by car, walking, and light rail.

I explored the Museum after attending the Model Newcastle Big Stories, Little Things exhibit (there is a cost to this, and runs until April 19th 2026. See previous blog post on this exhibit). Supernova is the only part of the Museum that I didn’t explore as this is mainly aimed at kids, but feel free to check it out for yourself when you go if you have kids.

The Fire & Earth Gallery focuses on the history of BHP in Newcastle. There is also a tunnel-like area that focuses on the coal side of things also. The Fire & Earth Gallery has so many stories to tell, and also has machinery that came from BHP when it closed down, that is used in the Audiovisual presentation that runs on the hour, every hour and highly recommend attending. The Audiovisual Presentation can get a bit loud, so be prepared for this if going to the Museum with young kids.

There is an exhibition celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Surfest – The City That Made Surfest which is on display until July 2026. You can also wander around and explore various items that relate to the history of Newcastle, along with video from events such as the Newcastle earthquake in 1989.

This is a brilliant exhibition currently on at Newcastle Museum, 6 Workshop Way, Newcastle until the 19th April 2026. I went along to check it out for myself today (Monday 6th April) to see if it was as good as the posts I’d seen said it was. And you know what? It is as good as everyone says it is!

When you enter the space that the exhibition is in, you are greeted with the most amazing of mechanical fishtank that was created by cartoonist Peter Lewis. It is so full of colour and very realistic. If you can be drawn away from the brilliance of the fishtank, there are other models that you can see, touch and interact with around the exhibition.

While this exhibition may be aimed at Kids, Adults can be drawn in and enchanted by all the models that the exhibtion has to offer. There is models of various types of boats, railways, puppetry and cityscapes, it is an exhibition that can be enjoyed by young and and young at heart. This is an exhibition of Models and Miniatures that celebrate Newcastle’s history, creativity and community.

The Model Newcastle Big Stories: Little Things exhibition is on at Newcastle Museum until 19th April 2026. Museum entry is free, but there is a small cost associated with this exhibition. Ticket costs: Adult – $10; Concession – $8.00; Child (5-16) – $5.00; Child (4 & under) – Free; Family Pass – $25 (2 Adults & 2 Children). Newcastle Museum is open Tuesday to Sunday 10am-5pm and Monday’s 10am-5pm during NSW School Holiday’s. While at the Museum for this exhibition, make sure you check out what the rest of the Museum has to offer!

On Friday, 6th March 2026 I went to check out the newly built and renovated Newcastle Art Gallery. The new design of the gallery is more spacious, with I think it was 9 or 10 separate Gallery spaces within the building. It incorporates both the new and old building seamlessly.

I participated in a free guided tour of the Art Gallery, which was undertaken by knowledgable Volunteer guide Sue. The guided tours run on Friday, Saturday and Sunday each week for 30 minutes at 12pm. Bookings are recommended. It was a fairly decent sized group that I did my guided tour with and we started off in the new building of the gallery, to then wind around several of the galleries to then lead into the old building and several of the galleries that it holds, before leading back into the new building again and the remaining galleries.

Iconic Loved Unexpected is the Newcastle Art Gallery’s collection in 2.5 times the space with $145 million in Art. As mentioned above, there are Free Guided Tours each week, along with Studio Weekends which are also free and run on weekends from 10am-12pm and are drop-in art-making sessions for all ages and abilities. Also, on Friday nights are Friday Night Sounds from 5-8pm, and are also free. Friday Night Sounds includes live performances from local and national acts throughout the year.

Once you’ve wandered around the Gallery admiring the vast array of Art on show, make your way back downstairs to Hilliers Cafe for a coffee and/or some delicious food. Across the hall from Hilliers cafe is the Newcastle Art Gallery Shop where you will find a vibrant array of products to peruse and purchase.

There are a variety of exhibitions on now and upcoming, both ticketed and free, throughout 2026 and 2027, head to the Newcastle Art Gallery’s website to find out more: newcastleartgallery.nsw.gov.au

Newcastle Art Gallery is located on Awabakal Country, 1 Laman Street, Newcastle 2300. Opening Hours Tuesday to Sunday, 10am-4pm, admission is free. Accessibility – wheelchair and stroller friendly.

Tower Cinemas, located at 183-185 King Street, Newcastle is Newcastle’s only city centre movie theatre, originally opening in April 1976. After being closed for 7 years, it has re-opened on Friday, 21st November 2025.

Queensland-based Five Star Cinemas purchased Tower Cinemas, and undertook an 18-month renovation to bring the cinema back to life, while also retaining the original feel of the cinema, with a few modern upgrades.

Matt and I booked tickets to the 2pm screening of 1985 movie The Goonies on Sunday, 1st March 2026. The Goonies is one of Matt’s favourite childhood movies & he was looking forward to being able to see it on the big screen for the first time.

It was great to be able to see that Five Star Cinemas have kept with the old school feel of the Tower Cinemas & haven’t made any drastic changes.

Overall, a brilliant experience that kept memories of the old Tower Cinemas alive. Matt & I both look forward to seeing more movies here in the future, both current releases and old school also.