Weather: Partly cloudy. Slight (20%) chance of a shower in the morning and early afternoon. Light winds becoming E 15 to 20 km/h in the afternoon. Daytime maximum temperatures 23 to 28.
Traffic: Delays at Raymond Terrace after a Semi trailer was involved in an accident on the Pacific Highway, near Six Mile Road. Northbound traffic is affected, with delays due to a heavy tow truck removing the vehicle.
Trains: No trackwork or delays reported on the Hunter or Newcastle lines.
Beachwatch: Persistent onshore winds and a low tide are making the surf look very poor and uninspiring for an early surf. The odd wave coming off at the open beaches though it is lumpy and mostly closing out. It can only improve later with a higher tide and as winds swing NE later and refuge can be found in the northern corners.
Morning Shot: Instagram's @geomath shared this photo of Nobby's Beach.
Hearts broken on cricket’s saddest day: One by one Australia’s cricketing elite filed out of St Vincent’s Hospital, unable to hold back their grief after saying their last goodbyes to their mate Phillip Hughes.
No New Year's Eve fireworks at midnight: THE Hunter will not have a big midnight fireworks display on New Year’s Eve for the first time in memory.
Faster rail to Sydney still decades away: Poll - Baird urged to drop plan : A FASTER train link between Newcastle and Sydney appears to still be decades away, with a target to pick up the pace of the intercity link dropped in the state’s new infrastructure strategy.
Knights will stand by Tapine as he contests charges: WITH the approval of the National Rugby League, the Knights will not stand down rookie second-rower Joseph Tapine while he defends a charge of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm.
