Wallsend

Nicholas' birthday party featured a trip to a laser tag joint in the suburb of Wallsend. I took a stroll around the business district while he and his friends blasted each other with red light. The old bottles were featured among other dusty artifacts in a barber shop window. (Note that the insect repellent was manufactured in sub-tropical Brisbane.)
Like our neighborhood, Hamilton, which was originally called Pit Town, Wallsend was a coal mine site. James Fletcher made his money from coal and founded the hospital where Sarah works. There's a full-body statue of him in the park across from the hospital.

Kangaroos and Vineyards

Another trip to Morisset, to feed white bread to the kangaroos, and the Hunter Valley vineyards. A nice introduction to Australia, I think, for our friend Gina Landi, who landed in Sydney from Queens, NY, and jumped straight on a train to Morisset.

Cessnock Hotels and Heroes

Cessnock is a main gateway to the Hunter Valley vineyards. It's considered a country town and is about 45 minutes from Hamilton. Nicholas had a soccer game here a while back, and one of the modern greats of rugby league football, Andrew Johns, is a native son. He played for the Newcastle Knights, retired earlier this year, and about a month ago made a media splash when he was arrested for drug possession in London. Turns out that he had a major drug and alcohol problem throughout his career.

Springtime in Gregson Park

Spring is funny here. We learned in Port Douglas that the Aborigines mark 7 seasons, at least in Queensland--the windy season, the rainy season, etc. In Gregson Park, half a block from our house and across the street from Nick and Pete's school, trees and flowers are blooming, but a few big fig trees recently lost their leaves, spreading a yellow carpet underfoot. So spring with a dash of fall.
The photos of fig (banyan) trees, and others below, are from fall and (Australian) winter. Thought they were worth a look too. Tennis courts and club house, gardens, a playground, bowling lawns with a restaurant, bar and club ... Peter learned to ride a two-wheeler bike here and Nicholas is improving on his skateboard, which he just got for his birthday. A small all-purpose, inner-city park that Pittsburgh would do well to replicate.

Starfish

The ocean changes every day. Different wave heights, different water colors, different sea life. Last Wednesday when I picked up Sarah from work I watched a pod of perhaps a dozen dolphins playing in the waves. At one point I saw four of them lined up in a row, just beneath the surface of a roller, riding it towards the shore. Another one jumped all the way out of the water, arcing across a breaking wave.

On this particular Saturday we ventured out to Nobby's Beach for one of the warmer days of early spring. After some jogging, ball throwing and cold-water boogie boarding--water temperature is about 60 degrees--we strolled over to some rockpools. As you can see, it was starfish season. One parent said they were migrating. Some young girls were collecting them in their hats and placing them all in the same pool.

Around Town

Evidence of a fairly active Newcastle Polish community. A Sunday Polish mass at the cathedral, and every other Thursday the Polish Cultural Center sells Polish food brought in from Sydney. I cannot recommend the kishka, but the kielbasa rules.

In other photos: A former dairy converted into car dealerships; a Cooks Hill streetscape; and a fancy brick house just off the main shopping street in Hamilton.

Farewelling the Pasha

The Pasha Bulker left town a few weeks ago. It became a major tourist attraction while it was ground at Nobby's Beach, and Newcastle embraced it as the icon of the Flood of '07. However, the Newcastle Herald tried to whip up a public outcry over the final resting place of the ship's 19-ton rudder, which broke off during efforts to dislodge the ship from the sand. The Herald wanted it to be donated to the city for placement somewhere on the waterfront. The public didn't bite, however, and the boat's Japanese owners insisted on its destruction at a local scrapyard.

Shadows

Around the back deck and inside the sliding glass doors.

Masks

We bought one of these unique masks at a local circus extravaganza at the Foreshore one weekend.

Myall Lakes

We spent Australian Father's Day at Myall Lakes National Park, about 45 minutes northeast of Newcastle. Oh well ... just another eye-popping, astonishing Australian natural wonder. Sarah declared the beach at Dark Point the most beautiful one she's ever seen. The point is pictured here. In fact, Myall is listed in a book that I found in the library, "1001 Natural Wonders You Must See Before You Die." Fortunately, I've got about 998 to go.

One thing that made this part of the park so enthralling is the long walk across the sand dunes to get to the beach. You clamber up and down a couple of small dunes, first spotting islands in the distance, then the point, then at the crest of a final hill, the curved beach, dark blue water and crashing white waves.

The dunes go on and on. Nick and Pete could have gone up and down the biggest hill all day.

This part of the park is an Aboriginal Midden Site, a place where they dumped shells, bones, tools, etc.--a significant archaeological and Australian heritage location.

The creature below is a goanna. We happened upon it while doing a couple of mile loop on a rainforest trail along one of the lakes. It looked like a small fallen tree trunk when I first glimpsed it on the edge of the path. A couple of birds were harassing it, and in this shot it's headed up a tree with the likely intention of swiping a bird egg or two for dinner.