Williamtown is a rural suburb of the Port Stephens Local Government Area in the Hunter Region of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It is located on the main road between Newcastle

Newcastle, New South Wales

The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...

 and Nelson Bay

Nelson Bay, New South Wales

Nelson Bay is a suburb of the Port Stephens Local Government Area in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located on a bay of the same name on the southern shore of Port Stephens about by road north-east of Newcastle, its nearest rail link. At the 2006 census, Nelson Bay had a...

.

Geography

The eastern section of Williamtown is dominated by RAAF Base Williamtown

RAAF Base Williamtown

RAAF Base Williamtown is a Royal Australian Air Force base and headquarters to Australia's Tactical Fighter group. The base is located north of the coastal city of Newcastle, New South Wales in the Local Government Area of Port Stephens. The military base shares its runway facilities with...

 and Newcastle Airport

Newcastle Airport (Williamtown)

Newcastle Airport is north of Newcastle, New South Wales in Port Stephens. It is the 12th busiest airport in Australia, handling almost 1.2 million passengers in the year ending 30 June 2009, which is 107,000 more than in 2007-08.-Overview:...

 while the western section of the area is primarily semi-rural with some large-acreage residential areas scattered along Cabbage Tree Road which is a main access route to Port Stephens

Port Stephens

Port Stephens is a large natural harbour located about north-east of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. It lies wholly within the Port Stephens Local Government Area although its northern shoreline forms the boundary between the Port Stephens and Great Lakes LGAs...

 from the Pacific Highway

Pacific Highway (Australia)

The Pacific Highway is a major transport route along part of the east coast of Australia and is part of Australia's national route 1.It is 960 km long and links Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, to Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, along the coast, via Gosford, Newcastle, Taree, Port...

. To the south Williamtown reaches Fullerton Cove, a large cove

Cove

A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often inside a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are often considered coves...

 at the Hunter River. The south-eastern corner of the area reaches the Tasman Sea

Tasman Sea

The Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia and New Zealand, approximately across. It extends 2,800 km from north to south. It is a south-western segment of the South Pacific Ocean. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, the first recorded European...

 on Stockton Beach and access to the beach is possible at this point for off-road

Off-roading

Off-roading is a term for driving a vehicle on unsurfaced roads or tracks, made of materials such as sand, gravel, riverbeds, mud, snow, rocks, and other natural terrain.-Off-road vehicle:...

 vehicles via Lavis Lane. After reaching the beach a popular destination is the wreck of the which lies just off the beach approximately 3.6 kilometres (2 mi) south-west.

Tomago sandbeds

Most of Williamtown sits atop the Tomago sandbeds (an aquifer that is a critical source of water for the lower Hunter Region). The sandbeds are replenished primarily by rain as well as any water that leaks from Grahamstown Dam in nearby Ferodale. Water from the sandbeds and the dam is treated in Tomago

Tomago, New South Wales

Tomago is a combined industrial/semi-rural suburb of the Port Stephens Local Government Area in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located just north of the Hunter River and west of the body of water known as Fullerton Cove...

.