Trip – Page 128 – Robot Claw

The Cold Front

January 15, 2016

Yesterday was a monster of a day. I caught the very early train, and sitting at Broadmeadow station at 5 am I was already sweating like a dog.

I was in Sydney early, sand after dropping my stuff off at AW’s went out for a bit of shopping.

As if the heat wasn’t bad enough (40 at its peak) the humidity was drenchingly high, and just being outside was extremely uncomfortable. I did my usual rounds (Newtown, Chinatown, Kino etc) and by the time I headed back a cold front was blowing in. This led to a powerful storm, and a massive drop in temperature to the mid teens.

That’s why I’m dressed like a loony! The change brought rains which fell on Sydney most of today, and at times a collapsible umbrella just wasn’t enough.

So I prioritized indoor attractions, such as the main cathedral on Hyde Park, or the NSW Art Gallery, where the previous and following were taken:

While I looked at all the exhibits, I was particularly interested in the 19th century landscapes and they didn’t disappoint. Other works, such as the two modern pieces above, didn’t have the same appeal.

A bracing stroll through the botanical gardens took me to the opera house, where a friend posed for a photo:

Here’s another shot of the bridge from the opposite side. This was taken from the ferry I caught today.

I did other things, but I’m too tired to remember now. Well, except for this opalized dinosaur skeleton:

That’s a good time to end. I’ll try and be more awake next time I post 🙂

Never Can Say Goodbye

January 13, 2016

Today was my last day in Newcastle for this trip.

I walked all the walks.

I ate all the food.

I saw all the sights.

I felt all the nostalgia.

But most of all, I had a great time with mum and dad 🙂

Farewell once again to my home town. Sydney here I come…

The Burning Mountain

January 12, 2016

Today Sue and I visited this:

It’s a burning coal seam about 2.5 hours northwest of Newcastle. I’d learned of it via an ancient episode of Ask The Leyland Brothers and new I had to visit one day. Despite very high temperatures (upper 30s) today was the day!

The area of interest itself is over an hours walk from the (somewhat uninviting) carpark, and the walk is about 25% like the above image, but mostly like this:

It was hot and humid, but the path was mostly uphill and the higher we got the stronger the breezes. We didn’t see any mammals but there were a few birds, lizards and about five billion of these guys:

He looks bigger in that photo than he was, which was about an inch long. Sue was mindful of snakes, but if they were around they were hiding in the shade 🙂

Eventually we reached the top, which looked like this:

The smell of sulphur was strong, but we didn’t see much steam coming out of the ground. The signs said that 30 meters underground the temperature was 1700C, but if it was notably warmer at the summit it wasn’t easy to tell due to how hot it was anyway.

Ducking around the fence into the sulfurous ground made us a bit uncomfortable. There was something unusual about the place, and we quickly shuffled away.

Of course it took us another hour or so to walk back to the car. It was getting even warmer now, and the car air conditioning was welcome indeed.

On the drive back we stopped at two lakes. The first, Lake Glenbawn was ringed by a very locked fence and this sign hung on the gate:

The next, Lake Lidell had an incredibly creepy caravan park full of ancient, mostly locked up caravans that look like they’d been there since the 1970s. We drove around, disturbed by the creepiness of the place, and I doubt you could have paid us to exit the car!

There’s a story waiting to be told about that place!

Anyway Burning Mountain was fun and it was a good day trip ‘out west’. If you’re ever here, it’s worth the trip. On a cooler day 🙂