Archive for the ‘Miscellaneous’ Category

Forster & The Macropods

Tuesday, January 16th, 2018

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…

Newie #3

Sunday, January 14th, 2018

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…

Newie #2

Wednesday, January 10th, 2018

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?

Newie

Sunday, January 7th, 2018

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…

The Gong

Friday, January 5th, 2018

The drive north saw the busiest roads we’ve yet encountered as we drove through Ulladulla, Bewong and Nowra. Eventually we reached our destination: Wollongong.

I spent several days here with Adam a few years back, but this is Bernard’s first time. The sun was high and hot as we explored the CBD and higher and hotter still at the beach.

Neither of us had sunblock on. You’d think after running out the day before we’d have thought to bought some, especially considering we’d discussed exactly this standing outside a store. But we didn’t, and therefore didn’t use any, and somehow didn’t burn.

Use sunblock kids. Don’t be fools like us!

We walked a long way on that beach; all the way to the lighthouse you see in the first photo. Then we walked back to the hotel. We walked a lot yesterday, and it’s probably not surprising I woke tired!

Today – Bernard’s birthday! – we drive the last leg of this road trip all the way to Newcastle where a certain pair are expecting us…