Newcastle Preview

As a rule Newcastle comes in for some bad press.  We will sail up here soon. Our next stop, in fact! It seems to suffer the same PR problems as Portland in Victoria. People get locked onto the idea that they are horrid places full of 'smelters and industry', yet some of their physical attributes include breathtaking scenery. Most Novocastrians seem to agree though, that the exit from the town by BHP, while initially feared, has ended up a good thing.

A week in Newcastle was required of Lucas by his work. Surely, being located by now, a mere 2 hours by car from Newcastle we'd be able to align our program. So we hired a car in Brookvale, just off the Pittwater Road. We could have got there by Dinghy, Ferry and Bus, however Peter and Debbie were going that way and kindly dropped us off and so cut out the Ferry and Bus elements. A Tonton option with the car came in handy as we wound our way about some northern Sydney suburbs to get to the Pacific Motorway. The Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park and associated gorges and waterways (which we've lately been enjoying) present a formidable obstacle only 24km out of the CBD. Traveling mid-week and in the middle of the day meant lighter traffic volumes and the trip was an easy and spectacular one with a special reward at the end.

Father and son reunion... and then came the Scotch!

 

Finding things to do while our boy was at work was no problem. The weather gifted a crisp and sunny sky to explore with. We headed to the beach and the ANZAC Memorial Walk which had only just been opened this year on 25th April. No better way to take in the views.

Storyboards along the walkway reveal the names of the fallen and recall famous battles.

 

The Trig. point at the top of the headland, overlooks the city, port and Hunter River to the West.

The Bloke got another workout today....Check out all those steps!

The Ocean Baths at Merewether

 Scoop, scoop, scoop!

Taken through the car windscreen, this shot shows one of the many scoops that load from the stockpiled 'coal mountains' onto the waiting ships in the port. Combined with the dozens of ships anchored off Newcastle, it's not hard to understand that more coal is shipped from this port than anywhere else on the planet. When we finally sail up, we'll just need to dodge the 'parked' and waiting cargo vessels as well as the whales. I forgot to mention that their migration is in full swing and we witnessed several whales breaching etc off shore. Too many treats!