Yesterday we went on a cruise through Newcastle Harbour and up the Hunter River toward Raymond Terrace. This was our boat:
I’d never been on the harbour, not even on a ferry, so this was quite a new experience. I learned for instance that Newcastle exports 148 million tonnes a year, 142 million of which is coal. A further half a million tonnes is wood chips that are sent to Japan to make high-quality photographic paper. Yes this blog can be educational 🙂
That’s Stockton bridge, which marks the end of the Harbour and the start of the river. Do you see the silhouettes in the foreground? Here’s a better photo:
Yes, we saw dolphins! Bottlenose to be specific, apparently following a school of mullet. There were maybe half a dozen in total.
That’s Hexham bridge, about half way up the Hunter to Raymond Terrace. It’s a lift bridge, and it had to raise to let us through.
It took over two hours to get to our destination, and after a delicious lunch (and a pokey flutter) we reboarded for the return trip.
That’s a shot of some origami boats that dad, Bernard and I made on the return trip. The folds are the same, but the paper size differed. The tiniest one was made from a sheet less than a centimeter on a side.
The above was my entrant in a photo contest judged by my parents. They deemed Bernard’s shot the winner, which shows they simply don’t appreciate fine art.
I very much enjoyed the cruise, and I’m glad we did it. The same company does similar cruises including whale watches, and were I here at the right time I’d certainly take one.
In the afternoon Bernard and I went to the beach for some – you guessed it – long exposure photography!
We saw a hang glider circling low above the beach…
And watched him land right on the sand:
While Bernard was taking his snaps I watched a guy in what looked like military fatigues and wielding a speargun disappear into the surf:
I also met a talkative kiwi who was obsessively searching for octopi in the rock pools. She lived in one of the apartment buildings adjacent to the beach and told me about the dolphins and whales she frequently saw from her balcony. I was jealous 🙂
At night we played cards using new scoring rules, which resulted in wacky strategies and a lot of laughs.
It was a good final day in Newcastle.