Robot Claw – Page 639 – “Life In The So-Called Space Age”

I Walked Forever

January 11, 2010

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!

They Are Not Departed Or Gone

January 11, 2010

First thing yesterday we visited the 31st annual Australian Beer Can Collector’s Cannathon! This was at Broadmeadow Basketball Stadium, and was a convention of guys that collect beer cans. For me, this was a group of otaku and I felt their otaku spirit. Ganbare can collecting old dudes!

Intriguingly, these guys don’t just collect beer cans, they collect aluminium cans of any type of drink and from any country. I spotted (and photographed) a striking set of two Korean cans emblazoned with beautiful character art promoting the CCG Aion. And the collector was about 60 years old 🙂

Yesterdays goal was the Convent Of Mercy in Singleton, about 90 minutes northwest of Newcastle. My mother was a nun there for the 5 years following her 16th birthday, and neither my brother nor I had ever been there. So this was a first, and I was really looking forward to it.

Singleton is a country town, on the border of ‘the outback’, and yesterday was a real scorcher of a day to be driving inland:

< 111 Fahrenheit

We arrived early and had a quick lunch…

And Bernard shook off some of the heat in the typical way:

< He didn’t win

We arrived at the convent in the early afternoon. Here’s what it looks like from the front:

When mum was there this place housed over a hundred nuns, but now there are only nine and much of the complex is unused. We were greeted by an elderly but pleasant nun who gave us a quick tour of the interior.

The rooms are massive and the ceilings extremely high (16 feet). There are many beautiful stained-glass windows as well as intricate crown-molding, flooring and woodwork. But it all seems very empty now, and evokes an earlier era.

The chapel was particularly beautiful.

Mum’s sitting in the seat she was assigned so many years ago as a junior nun.

It was brutally, brutally hot yesterday, into the 40s up in Singleton. The interior of the convent was cool, but even stepping out into the sun for a few seconds was punishing. Happily our car had a powerful and effective air conditioner!

Before today’s final comment, here’s a shot of Bernard sucking a banana.

As for the Lift, yesterday wasn’t so bad. Two cans, one 450 mL bottle and a drink at a pub was all I had, bringing the total to… 27.2 L

Australia is Hot in Summer

January 9, 2010

It rose to 35 C today, and believe me that is warm!

Early on I went on a bit of a mega-walk, visiting the Newcastle beaches and the streets of Cooks Hill, Merewether and Hamilton. Even as early as 8 am the heat was oppressive.

The above is Nobby’s Beach at about 9 in the morning. I’d walked along the foreshore soaking in the sights but there wasn’t much going on. Turns out everyone was at the beaches.

The left shot is another of Nobby’s (non panoramic), and the rightmost is Newcastle Beach (check Google Earth for details if you are not sure where these are). As you can see the weather was beautiful. If only you could feel the heat!

The above is a shot of the strip of rock connecting Nobby’s and Newcastle. The tide seemed low. Can you see the boats on the horizon waiting to enter the harbour?

The above is a shot of ’round the world’, also known as the ‘kiddy pool’. It’s a round (the panoramic shot distorts it a bit) pool filled by the ocean. Right now – and almost always actually – it is filled with sand. But under that sand is a concrete sculpture of a globe of the world, hence the original name. I found this out from a charming girl probably half my age who apparently knew a lot more about Newcastle beachfront history than I did! The sculpture has been there for aeons, and occasionally the city makes an effort to dredge out the sand and reveal it. But the tides bring the sand back immediately.

I saw many, many tiny crabs on the rocks today as well. Maybe it was the low tide that had them out in such numbers.

Yeah… you’ve heard of how Hollywood celebrities make ads overseas to make a fast buck, contingent on them never being seen in the USA? Even Jerry Seinfeld is not immune to the lure of quick cash apparently…

That’s a storm water drain, part of the network used to divert water to the ocean in times of heavy rain. In 2007 this network failed critically, and most of the Newcastle lowland was flooded. This one is not far from mum and dad’s place, and I couldn’t help when walking past it today but wonder if during the flood 2.5 years ago it was full of trees or cars or even animal carcasses.

Two birds. A magpie and a rosella. The first was resting by a road, but they are extremely common and can be seen everywhere. The second was in a tree at my Uncle Peter’s house. We spent the afternoon there for a barbecue.

There’s Peter himself, holding a guitar he 100% built from scratch!

And there’s mum, holding the dog Pasha (sp?), named after the ship that ran aground during the aforementioned storm.

Today I drank a whopping seven cans of Lift, in addition to a 600 mL and 450 mL bottle. This bring the trip tally to date (yes I’m updating it again) to a frankly disturbing 25.3 L. I bought a case of 24 cans when arriving in Newcastle and doubted I’d drink them all. At this rate I’ll finish them tomorrow – with five days left here…