Counting the Coal Boats

This is our first view of the Newcastle coast. Another photo below is from The Obelisk (not shown), which is on a high hump with a panoramic view of the region. It was very windy that day, and the wind was unexpectedly persistent our first few weeks here. Being next to the ocean will do that I guess.

The tankers are waiting to enter the Port of Newcastle to load coal from the Hunter River Valley. They're mostly bound for Asia. It's impossible to show the scope of the coal boat queue in one shot. We counted more than 30 ships the day this photo was taken. Another day there were 28. At one point I thought to myself, "I can't stop counting the coal boats!" Ten minutes later we drove past a house on a hill overlooking the ocean with a For Sale sign that said, "Count the coal boats from your deck." It turns out that the counting is a popular pass time here. A librarian at our neighborhood branch told me that she heard that there were 62 waiting one day. At night, when all the boats are strung with lights, they look like a line of traffic on the turnpike. It also looks like they might be having parties on board. They are a unique feature of Newcastle and a vivid example of Australia's booming natural resources industries.