Today I set out early on an odyssey. I planned to walk to Charlestown, have lunch, then find my way home via circuitous means.
As I do every trip, I wanted to walk the Fernleigh Track. I got an early start, and walked the couple of kilometers from here to the start of the track. The temperature had dropped significantly today, but was still about 30 C, and I was quickly very sweaty.
I’m still a bit croaky in the AM from my cold, and discovered that humming seemed to help. This led to singing, out loud, the song Planet Earth as I strolled through Adamstown. Since I wasn’t sure of the words, I had to make them up:
“Look now, look all around,
there’s no sign of life.
What they said and how they sound,
I can’t hear them now…
The track itself was as quiet as I’ve ever seen it, probably because of yesterday. I saw only a couple of cyclists as I headed to Kahibah, and this meant the birds and lizards were quite active.
That cockatoo was holding a sprig of gumnuts in his left foot. He was quite interested in me, dancing and bobbing on his branch as I walked below. A bit later on the track I saw, from a distance, a large lizard (a monitor, I think) walk across the path. He was gone before I got the camera ready, so here is an artists impression:
I left the track at Burwood road. My original intention was to deviate onto a bush walk which would come out near one of our old homes, but the only path I found was overgrown and quickly petered out.
So I walked through the streets of Kahibah. We used to live in this suburb, and there was much nostalgia as I explored the familiar landmarks. At the end of Murrakin Street (where we once lived) I found a better path leading into the woods:
These are the paths we used to walk as kids! It’s now part of ‘The Great North Walk’, but it’s essentially identical to 20 years ago. It was a pleasant breezy walk through the bush, although if you’re bothered by flies you may have been a bit uncomfortable!
I was a bit surprised to see the path continue into ‘the quarry’ (and yes, I’m using specific language in this post that probably only me and Bernard will understand). This was mostly new, and in parts nicely made:
A little bit later, a right turn, a walk through a wide open gate and I was (surprisingly) inside my primary school, Saint Joseph’s Of Charlestown! Here’s a shot for Bernard:
Charlestown Public pool was a place of many firsts. First Pac-Man, first Xevious, first Centipede, first Galaga. It looks much smaller than it did when I was half my height:
Pacific Highway Charlestown held many firsts of its own – Exedexes, Ghosts’n’Goblins, Kung-Fu Master – all in the cramped quarters of two long-gone fish and chip shops. The area is now dominated by the truly massive Charlestown Square mall, and most of the shops around the mall have closed. Once again, so many memories (Snow Brothers, Pang, Street Fighter 2) come from this area.
Having been walking for over two hours I was hungry when I reached the square, and enjoyed this ambrosial lunch:
Not surprised, are you?
What about this then: the pet store was well stocked with ‘Mexican Walking Fish’ of all colours. I found this guy quite charming:
The Square has an arcade now, under the food court. It was very busy, and mostly ticket redemption and driving games. Amusingly it’s still called Timezone, like that arcade of 1989 that was also in the Square and holds so many fond memories such as Black Dragon, Narc and Thunder Force. Today I played only pinball machines: Transformers and AC/DC.
Then it was the 100 bus to Mayfield to check the used book stores. I once caught the same bus to University back in 1990-3, so again it was nostalgic. The bus was mostly empty today, and the trip went quickly. Newcastle University is almost unrecognizable to me now.
If I were to use two words to describe Mayfield they would be ‘age’ and ‘graffiti’. At least the stencils are still impressive:
Good to see Sonic The Hedgehog is anti-fracking, as its called in the US.
The bookstores yielded nothing, so I meandered on, pausing briefly to make a note of an event I’ll sadly miss since I’ll be back in the US:
Before I left Mayfield I also stopped into an arcade game store. Why isn’t there one of these in Albany?
It was mid afternoon now. I’d been out for hours, spending over five of them walking in the sun. I was still over an hour from home when I snapped this shot:
I look miserable but it was, in truth, a great day. I’ve got another epic stroll planned for Friday. Lets hope it’s as successful.
