Robot Claw

The last three days have been a mix of meeting friends, going on long hot walks around Newcastle, and playing games and relaxing with mum and dad.

I met up with Matthew the other day for the usual catching up, and afterwards went into town to see the beaches.

They were closed due to high winds and even the surfers were absent! Aside from a windsurfer guy the above pair was the only brave souls I saw approaching the water and even they seemed apprehensive.

Kirsten also took me swimming yesterday. Since the baths were closed we went to the public pool which even has a water slide. It was fun even if the water was frigid!

This morning Sue took me to the lake where we walked a path I hadn’t done since before leaving Oz.

The end of these trips is always seeing friends one more time; going the places I hadn’t gone; eating the foods I hadn’t yet eaten.

Adam and I met up after lunch and played the hell out of the new MTG set which was released just today! He won convincingly 🙂

It was my last day in Newcastle this trip, and tomorrow I’ll say goodbye to my parents and head for Sydney. Assuming I haven’t collapsed from exhaustion you can expect one more post before I leave Australia.

I went to Forster-Tuncurry with Sue and ‘the kids’.

That’s the famous bridge linking the twin cities, which we’d visited in our youths. The weather was clouded and cool, and the water very cold, so we didn’t swim.

But we explored all around the seaside towns, including the beaches and shopping district. The three silhouettes in the shot above are the three ‘kids’ (Sues two and her daughters boyfriend).

That’s Sue of course. This was later in the day when the weather improved. I wonder what she was looking at?

Take a look at my shoes in the top shot, specifically the soles. Those little roundels make them harder to walk in and therefore better for exercise. Who thought it was a good idea to wear them to Australia consider some days I’d be exceeding 35k steps 🙂

There was a small fair on the Tuncurry side that we visited after dinner. The lights in this guy (the photo is not altered) were brilliant against the evening sky. (Yes, two of ‘the kids’ are riding it in that photo!)

We also saw wild dolphins in the channel and offshore at the beach! Forster apparently has 250+ living there and we wanted to go on a cruise to see them closer the next morning but alas it was not running. So instead we visited an animal park called Oakvale on the way back to Newcastle.

Oakvale has all sorts of animals but of course only one mattered to me.

I was so happy to see the roos and they were equally happy to see me.

I’m certain they’ll remember me as long as I remember them 🙂

I fed a pig too. And milked a cow!

Oakvale was impressive. We had been as kids but it’s a lot more professional now and in my opinion absolutely worth the admission just for the roos alone (and especially if you have young kids).

Oh I almost forgot that on the drive back we visited Uluru…

…which had a gollywog museum/shop inside.

Only in Australia? ?

Thanks to Sue for making this mini trip north possible. Forster was cool and nostalgic and may even be visited once again in my future since that dolphin cruise looked very interesting…

Another update for the last few days…

I caught up with old friends…

Went to Sydney for the day to see Bernard off…

Caught the train home…

Walked all over Newcastle using frozen beverage energy…

Ate gourmet food…

And visited the animals at Blackbutt…

Where mosquitoes ate me alive 🙂

Right now I’m waiting for a pickup for an overnight trip to the seaside. Details in a couple of days…

Not much to say; lazy days in Newcastle visiting the usual haunts and doing the usual things.

The weather was for a few days extremely hot, but has cooled noticeably today (to 75 F) with a few showers in the area.

Bernard and I went and saw Star Wars today in a ‘gold class’ cinema. It was quite luxurious for only about the same cost as a normal cinema in the US.

Bernard’s leaving this weekend and I’ll go down to Sydney with him on Friday. I wonder what we’ll see?

I’m in Newcastle now, mostly lazing around. As such I won’t be blogging daily, but of course when something interesting happens I’ll share it.

Everyone’s here and happy despite the hellish heat today.

B and I spent the day with A playing cards (for 7.5 hours!) in a local club.

And now we’re all home watching (mostly ignoring) TV. I think I’ll draw some postcards…