Robot Claw

Updating this blog is hard work!

Ok, complaint aside, today Bernard and I went on a ‘big day out’! Our goals were beaches, (used) bookstores and a few other places.

We started with Dudley beach, an unpatrolled surfing beach. Last night we had an impressive rainstorm, and the weather lingered today, a bit bleak and dark. Perfect day for a beach in other words. There were a lot of surfers, but not many waves.

We then visited Redhead, a popular destination for us as kids. The beach stretches south for ever, but the surfing area is on the northern edge.

The second image is of Merewether beach, taken later in the day. The wind on the cliff from where I took this image was amazing – almost pushing me over. In the far distance we could see a guy kitesurfing, which was quite a sight. I wonder if this can be seen in the photo?

Changing tack for a second, here are photos of some of the worst (and simultaneously best) items I have ever seen for sale:

The item at right (officially licensed, obviously) is something I truly regret not buying 🙁

< Baby Ducks!

This is Christchurch Cathedral, on top of a hill overlooking Newcastle:

We walked up the tower (162 steps!) to have a look at the city. It was quite a view, if a bit windy. On the way out I snapped a shot of the precious solid-gold chalice they keep behind a plate of glass with vibration and motion sensors attached to it!

Two eating shots! The photo of dad was taken at dinner today, at a local chinese restaurant.

And here’s a shot of mum with some origami Bernard made for her:

And here’s a shot of me, with the city of my youth in the background. Today was our last day in Newcastle and I likely will not be back here for a few more years.

Tomorrow we’re off to Sydney for the last leg of our trip. I intend to make these last few days last!

The above image is the result from the DS walking software for the day I walked 27+ km. Even here, almost 12,000 km away, I can hear KLS say “There is a pegasus?!?!” 🙂

Today, my dear readers, today I did nothing! I needed a day of rest for working my 37-year-old frame to the bone the previous two days and just lazed around and went shopping with the family.

The above is for scientific purposes (I shall let someone else actually use the data). As of the end of today (Thursday, 1/13) my Lift tally is approximately equal to 33.2 Litres.

When we got back to the apartment today after lunch, this guy was inside flying around! His wingspan was about 8cm. He’s a moth btw, not a butterfly.

And this sticker was on a pole on Beaumont Street. Amazingly, the artwork is that of my favourite illustrator Shunya Yamashita, so obviously I’d love to know where the sticker comes from…

I have to cut this short because the heat has broken and right now we’re in the middle of an impressively strong electrical storm. Hopefully the rain will continue since Bernard and I are going to drive to some beaches tomorrow for a peek. And beaches are fun in the rain.

That’s a funny dinner isn’t it? So many pies!

Yesterday, Sue and I headed north up the coast to Port Stephens. Our goal was Tomaree, a mountain near the town of Shoal Bay. Tomaree has a climb with a lookout at the top. The climb wasn’t too difficult, but it was very, very hot (apparently it got to 37) so we took our time.

And it was worth it! Here are a few shots from the top:

Look at the colour of that water! (Remember you can click on the images to enlarge them). Even though it was hot at the top, there was a great breeze and we lingered a while.

On the way down, this fellow was waiting in the path:

I’d say he was about a metre long, and he was in no hurry to move out of our way!

The mountain held gun emplacements during WW2. We visited the remains of the two large guns halfway up the mountain, and then when we got to the bottom went and had a look at what was left of one of the surf guns:

The guns were there to protect Port Stephens from possible Japanese attack. They were manned by old soldiers (WW1 veterans), were never fired in anger and were put to rest shortly after the war.

Here’s a close-up of what the waters edge looked like on one of the bayside beaches (first photo of this blog shows a bay beach):

We swum at one such beach, and the water was FREEZING! As in ‘lose-your-breath-and-die’ freezing (<- slight exaggeration there). Needless to say we weren’t in the water long, but at least I can say I had a dip in the pacific 🙂

Lunch. Lunch, lunch. Lunch was maybe the worst I ever had. We ate at a restaurant called Hogs Breath, and they served me a god-damn raw fish burger. I mean how do you fry a piece of fish and have it raw (and cold) in the middle? Such an act of staggering incompetence (as Sue said, even McDonalds trains teenagers to produce edible food) must only result in utter bankruptcy for the entire chain 🙂

On the way back to Newcastle, we stopped at the very north end of Stockton Beach:

I could write an entire entry about Stockton Beach (and shattered dreams) but you can hopefully see from these images that the sand dunes are as impressive as ever. They extend more than 1 km from the water’s edge, and tower as high as small skyscrapers. Look closely in the second photo to a glint in the distance to the top-left of the car (which is not that far from the camera). That glint is the roof of a second car which is much closer to the dunes. That gives you some scale as to how massive the dunes actually are.

It was a great day yesterday! I salute you Sue, for being a great friend!

But today, after two days of intense walking, I have to admit I am fried. My feet, muscles, hands and cerebellum hurts. I don’t want to see sunblock ever again, and the most strenuous activity I have planned for today looks something like this:

Today I walked over 28 kilometres. My total time spent (just) walking exceeded 5.5 hours. Here’s a map of my path:

I first walked from mum and dad’s place to the Charlestown Square mall (about 11km) via another portion of the Fernleigh Track that we walked the other day. The day was much, much cooler than yesterday (about 24 C) and there was a nice breeze. The walk was far easier than I expected – quite pleasant actually.

This portion of the trail is a repurposed old train line like the other, and about halfway along there is a most terrible tunnel..

The tunnel is lengthy, dark and dank. It is spanned by webs as thick as your little finger, and if you allow your eyes to get accustomed to the gloom you can almost see gibbering half-human/half-slug babies crawling around on the roof. It is said that if you stop walking for even an instant in this abyssal tunnel then your next step will take you out of this world and into somewhere from which no man has ever returned…

Needless to say, I hurried through.

Near Charlestown Square I saw the following two sites:

The left is a Kookaburra on a mailbox! He was cute and fat and unafraid. The right is a rosella eating banksia pollen. There is a story about him, which I will share in a few days. In fact I will share it via video, but (apallingly) Bernard and I have eaten through dad’s monthly internet quota in 4 days and are now paying a criminal $0.15/MB for usage. So uploading the video would cost me over $8…it can wait!

Lunch was a doner kebab, which was fantastic but left a thin chalky film inside my mouth that tasted like regret. Maybe I won’t eat another this trip 🙂

After the square I walked home via Garden City (another 11 or so km) and then finished the day with a quick jaunt (about 6km round trip) into Darby Street and back. Strangely enough, despite this titanic stroll (42,000 steps on my pedometer) my legs never really got tired. My shoulder was aching though, perhaps because I’d carried a bag most of the day?

3 cans of Lift and 2 bottles today. I’ll tally again in a few days. Right now I am tired and need to sleep. I have a big day planned for tomorrow!