These moving dunes in the Worimi Conservation Lands run for 32km and reach more than 30 metres high. The easiest way in with kids is a 4WD tour with sandboarding, a camel ride or a horse ride; your own 4WD needs a permit. National Parks says the beach here is unsafe for swimming and has no lifeguards, so save the swim for a patrolled beach.

Opened in 1935, these are the largest ocean baths in the Southern Hemisphere, and they're free and open all year. Kids get a swim without the waves, with ice creams and coffee close by. The baths close all day every Thursday for cleaning.

In the museum's Supernova science centre, kids can lift a car with a lever, make their own tornado and play with magnets. A five-metre lit globe hangs over it all, and general admission is free. It opens 10am to 5pm Tuesday to Sunday, plus Mondays in the NSW school holidays.

The fort was built on the headland in 1882, and its guns fired during the shelling of Newcastle in 1942. Volunteers lead tunnel tours several times a day, with tickets from the fort shop; the narrow stairs rule out prams. It opens 10am to 4pm, Wednesday to Monday, and the fort suggests allowing 90 minutes.

Kids can bottle-feed baby farm animals, have a go at cow milking, pat a koala and ride a tractor-trailer around the park. Splash Bay water park is part of the visit too. Oakvale, at Salt Ash, is 30 minutes from Newcastle and opens 10am to 5pm daily, with last entry at 4pm.

Fighter World is the RAAF Williamtown aviation heritage centre, 20 minutes' drive north of Newcastle, with military aircraft in two hangars. Kids can climb into the Mirage and Macchi cockpits, try the virtual reality simulators and watch fighter jets come and go from the observation deck. It opens 10am to 4pm every day except Christmas Day.

The summit walk is 2.2km return and climbs to 161m above the entrance to Port Stephens; allow up to two hours. It's steep, and the paved parts get slippery when wet. Whales pass between May and November, and on the way down you can see World War II gun emplacements.

Fingal Beach is one of three Port Stephens beaches patrolled by lifeguards and surf club volunteers. There are barbecues near the sand, and surf school runs group lessons for beginners here. Swim between the red and yellow flags.

At low tide you can walk into the sea caves at the southern end of the beach. Council lifeguards patrol from the September–October school holidays to April, 9am to 5pm, and the surf club lends a beach wheelchair in season. There are toilets, showers, barbecues and a kiosk.