March 9 - Newcastle, Australia

Compared to Sydney, Newcastle is a small to medium size city. So far I'm impressed with how clean Australia is.

I took the Newcastle Sights excursion and we started at the Newcastle Museum. They opened up an hour early for us. It was quite eclectic. There were historical artifacts, household items from 1940s and 50s, sports memorabilia, souvenirs of the 1998 earthquake, displays of different types of local transportation and a full hands-on science room. Me and my phantom guy had our picture taken.

 



Then we drove around and saw downtown, Dragon Boat races, 


A couple of different residence type - 1 million dollar homes, heritage homes & 4 million dollar homes


Beaches

 

And as always - Cool Structures




Oh and a church, or should I say cathedral. Fun fact - if the town has a cathedral, then the Mayor is called 'Lord Mayor'. If it doesn't, then they are only called Mayor.

We headed over to the Blackbutt Reserve. It was a good thing Diana was with me as she attracted all the mosquitos and I didn't get bit. We saw;

Emus


Small Kangaroos

And my favorite, the Koala

We ended at Fort Scratchley. Yes it is a 'working' fort, see the staff. There is a cannon in working order, although it didn't work in WWII, but it scared the Japanese. The picture is of a non-working cannon. Check out our ship in the distance. 



The fort was OK, however, we came here for the views



View from the Harbor

And of course I had a Newcastle Beer (on the ship, because they were available in town) while in Newcastle. Even though it is an English beer.











Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

April 7 - Forbidden City, Beijing, China

Image
After 40 years, I finally made it to China! And I'm going to walk on the Great Wall. Wohoo! But first we are going to The Forbidden City. We ported in Tianjin, and were greeted with a heartfelt welcome from the Chinese government.  They provided entertainment, including the revered Dragon Dance (the dancers in blue), which I caught on video.  And to no surprise and they caught everything on CCTV.  As I was watching the entertainment, the drone was literally in my face. And later when I headed out on the excursion, the film crew followed me. If you see me, please forward me the link.  It was quite smoggy in Tianjin, so my pictures may be a little blurry. We found out later that the Chinese government moved all smog producing factories out of Beijing and into Tianjin, to clean up the air for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. It was a 3+ hour drive to Beijing. We were lucky that we didn't arrive yesterday as it was a day a remembrance. It is a day when all Chinese visit...
Read more

December 27 - King Neptune's Equator Crossing Cerimony

Image
We passed the equator on December 25 th ; however, King Neptune was a little busy. So, he arrived today to commemorate our Crossing of the Equator. Our Cruise Director, Joff, emceed the ceremony and welcomed King Neptune and his wife, Amphitrite, on behalf of the crew and passengers.   The line-crossing ceremony is conducted as a sort of admittance into the ‘Court of Neptune.’ This ritual is also a way of appreciating the prowess of the cruisers who are able to brave the uncertainties and dangers of the sea. A cruiser who is relatively new or has not crossed the equator is termed as a Pollywog. To be more precise with the colloquial term, the inexperienced cruisers are termed as ‘Slimy Pollywogs’ who are not yet adept with the ways of the sea. On the other hand, the cruiser who have crossed the Equator are initiated as ‘Trusty Shellbacks’ into the court of Neptune. We found out we had scoundrels on board who had crimes against the guests and Neptune's realm and they were brought fo...
Read more

September 10 - The Party is Over, Time to Head Home

Image
It's over, I'm all packed.  Hello Miami, we're back, right where we started from.  There was a great homecoming with lots of decorations and music.  And we can't forget the certificates. One for completing the Fourth Segment, and one for completing the Ultimate world cruise.  I had to laugh when I saw on Facebook the Activities Team stole the decorations and posed for us.  My Condo never looked better and my fridge and liquor cabinet was fully stocked. Which was great, because I wasn't ready to drive, yet. Two hours after arriving home, it looked like a bomb went off in my condo, as I attempted to unpack. No pictures because as of a week later, I'm still unpacking
Read more