Robot Claw

A wet day today. We woke to rain, it rained all day and now as night falls it’s still raining. I needed to pack today since I’m off to Sydney tomorrow, but first I decided to fit in a walk to see the beach in the rain.

It was somewhat early when I set out – around 8:30 am – and there were few other walkers, and no one else with umbrellas like myself. The rain was weak but steady, and the temperature cool. I headed to Mereweather, dodging puddles and observing that even on such a comparatively bleak day the sky in Australia is painfully bright. The storm water drains ran quick with rainwater.

I reached Dixon Park Beach with the intent of walking to Merewether Baths but at the sea’s edge the wind was powerful and I feared it would take my umbrella. The rain down on the sand was almost parallel to the ground and I gave up trying to keep my shoes and socks try. I popped into the public loo at the Dixon Park surf club and an elderly man stood naked inside, obviously changing after a swim. It was a confronting site, and only afterwards did I think that if he had indeed been swimming he was the only one. I was getting hungry.

I had intended to take the Anzac Walk for some lofty views of rain-soaked Newcastle but the wind and a rare moment of self-preservation due to my exhaustion changed my mind. I headed back to Darby street and walked toward the city. A gaggle of lightly dressed girls ran past. Were they joggers? In this weather? I took a brief break under an awning to tighten my belt since the bottom third of my pants were now soaked and they were falling down. I was getting tired.

Darby Street is anathema to me: cafe after cafe after cafe. What city needs so many in close proximity? I crossed the street to admire the gigantic Bob Hawke mural and take another brief break under cover since the rain had now picked up. A bit further on I stopped at Cooks Hill Books and bought nothing, in part because the owner clearly disapproved of my umbrella. I own too many books anyway.

Some sort of market was happening at Civic Park. Food and craft sellers huddled in their tents as the rain lashed down. There were no customers that I could see. I stood under a tree watching a kookaburra play in a muddy puddle as I tried to remember which building adjacent to the park was used in a Superman film. I was hungry and tired.

I walked to Hunter Street and headed west, following in my footsteps from… last week? It was very wet now, everything from my knees down was sodden. I flipped a mental coin and it came up Colonel Sanders so I traipsed in and repeated an identical order from last week. The cashier was either incompetent or an idiot and needed help from two others before i received my food. I sat and ate my burger and lukewarm chips without vim, as a homeless man garbled nonsense at me and then with strange clarity called me ‘professor’. I ignored him and left.

I went to Marketown and bought chocolate and a single breadroll. My intention was to save the chocolate for the plane but I knew that would never happen. I resisted the urge to grab a frozen coke (it would just make me pee in this weather) and continued on to Beaumont Street and then back to mums. I returned about two and a half hours after I had left, with a full belly and clothes I very much hope will dry before I need to pack them.

An uneventful walk perhaps, but another very nostalgic one for me. Every day like this is a day in the life of me that never left Australia. Now and then, that’s not such a bad thing.

Yesterday Sue and I went to the Watagan Mountains to do the Gap Creek walk. This is a fairly short walk down into a gully to see a waterfall. While it’s only about a mile return, it’s a fairly strenuous walk due to the descent and return climb.

The above is a view on the way down. It’s a rainforest and Sue had warned me of leeches. Luckily we saw none! The day was overcast but the temperature pleasant, and it was an easy walk down.

The above shows the view down in the fully, with me scrambling along the rocks at the base of the waterfall. It’s rugged and uneven down there, and the rocks are very mossy. Were it damp, I think it would be a bit treacherous!

That’s the waterfall! It’s lovely, and we were there at the right moment since the water caught the morning light as it fell. We didn’t see any sign of animals or even birds during the all, although we heard scrabbling and birdsong (bell birds, whip birds and lyrebirds).

The climb back up was tiring. It’s about 160 meters, with a mix of winding path and maybe 100+ steps. If it had been a hot sunny day this would have been excruciating, so we benefited from the cooler weather. By the time we got back to the top I was starving!

Good thing a fish and chip shop wasn’t far away

Yesterday Sue and I went to more antique/op shops. A lot of you told me you enjoyed the post about op-shop triggered memories the other day, so here’s some more…

I went through a phase in primary school where I collected football cards. The above were from 1982 so may have even been from a set I collected. At the time I didn’t even watch football (and even now I don’t know what the RFL was/is) but – no doubt started by my mania for Star Wars cards – I was big on footy cards. I recall trying to trade with other kids so they must have been a popular schoolyard thing. The above set of nine cards is not arranged in number or team order, but they’re framed so must have been important to someone. I’m sure they’re not worth anything, so the shop owner is dreaming putting $75 on them.

These are money boxes featuring the mascot character of St George Bank. Bank money boxes were popular when we were kids, and the idea was you’d fill them and take them to the bank to have the contents deposited into an account. I don’t remember ever actually having a St George account (my first and only Australian bank account was at Newcastle Permanent) but I do remember using very similar money boxes as a kid, and cutting into them with scissors long before they were filled. The ones in this photo are quite new, since the logo at the bottom was only created in 2011.

We had a lot of Playmobil when we were kids, and while we didn’t own the above set ($350 at the antique shop) I believe we had some like it. We always used to call it ‘Pocket People’ which is surefire way to tell we had the Australia versions, since the local licensee (Toltoys) rebranded them here using that name. I still think Playmobil is a cool toy, and wish they’d one day get a Star Wars license!

Speaking of Star Wars, I saw the above cup last year when I was here, only now the store has a second copy in equally poor condition. It brings back many memories since we owned a few of these back in 1983 when the film came out. I believe these were obtained at cinemas if you bought a coke when you saw the film. If this had been in better condition I would have certainly purchased it, even at the $10 asking price.

I’ve mentioned Smurfs before on the blog, and the above box of them ($160 for the lot) is a window right back to 1980. They were sold in Australia at BP service stations, and I believe you could only buy them if you also bought petrol. They were a popular toy and BP stations were inundated with people when new waves were released, and I’m sure our ever-patient dad went out of his way to only buy BP petrol during those days. We had quite a few Smurfs and treasured them as everyone did during the fad, but I have absolutely no memory of what happened to them in the years afterwards.

Lest you think antique stores are magical places full of childhood memories for me, it’s worth mentioning that the vast majority of the contents are almost literally trash, and I ignored mountains of kitchenware, clothes, DVDs and children’s toys as I photographed the occasional curio. My foremost target is always a box like shown above, which are unfortunately very rare these days. Happily I found a few good examples yesterday, and maybe you may even receive one in the mail one day

Before I end, there’s one more op-shop related post coming. I actually purchased something from one of these shops that will receive a post of its own. Look for it before I leave Oz…