James Fletcher Hospital

Here are some shots from Sarah's place of employment. It ain't the North Side! The building in the foreground of the first photo, with the Cathedral in the background, is her main workplace. The lawn, with the Obelisk on the hill in the distance, is in front of the building where she works. Across the road from the driveway leading to her building is James Fletcher Park and a sweeping view of the Tasman Sea from the cliffs above Newcastle Beach. The last photo is a view at dusk from The Obelisk.

Holding the Koala

The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, about 20 minutes west of downtown Brisbane, has been a popular stop for many years for visiting dignitaries.

The gift shop walls were lined with photos of folks holding koalas, everyone from Eric Clapton and Claudia Schiffer to the Queen Mother and President Lyndon Johnson and his wife.

In the Johnson photo, Ladybird and an unidentified official are holding the critters, but LBJ is not. Perhaps that was a good thing.

Brisbane, New Farm Park treehouse

Brisbane Buildings

Brisbane's main library is in the base of the futuristic skyscraper with the multi-colored panels.

Queen Street Mall is a successful pedestrian shopping strip in the middle of downtown. I was there on a Friday just after work, and the place was swarming with students dressed in their school uniforms.

The greenish building with the vertical stripes on the upper stories is the State Library of Queensland. It's on the popular South Bank, a tourist attraction with restaurants, parks, a man-made beach, museums and performance places.

Footy and Football

Stockton Dunes

Just threw this first oasis photo in because it resembled the following watering hole at Stockton Dunes. The oasis shot is from the New York Times and I think it's in the Sahara. The Stockton Dunes shot has been enhanced to look like the sunny, blue sky oasis. In reality, it was an overcast day, as the subsequent photos show. Still, Stockton Dunes, about 20 minutes north of Newcastle, is startling and worth the trip. One of its claims to fame is that Stockton sand is regularly shipped to Waikiki Beach in Hawaii. Also, an air force base and Newcastle Airport are nearby.

Glenrock State Park

Nib Nab Tab

These logos are seen all over town. NIB is a Newcastle-based health insurer. Not quite sure what the initials stand for. NAB is National Australia Bank, and TAB stands for Tabcorp Holdings Limited, "Australia's premier gambling and entertainment group and one of the world's largest publicly listed gambling companies." It appears outside every hotel/pub, because every hotel/pub includes a room full of slot machines and a betting parlor with horse and dog races on screen all day. There are also stand-alone betting places that accommodate gambling on all sorts of sports events.

Winter in Newcastle

It's "winter" in Newcastle--trees turning yellow, Polartec jackets busting out all over, but temperatures in the 60s and lots of sunshine (it was the warmest May on record here, followed by the wettest June on record).

Easter-y Scenes in New Zealand

Christchurch Contemporary Art Museum

Cadbury Chocolate factory, in Dunedin


A luncheonette in Alexandra, between Dunedin and Queenstown