AusTour 8: Newcastle

We arrived at 3:30am in Newcastle. I knew exactly where this YHA was, and without much energy exhausted we got in and passed out. I should mention this is one of the most ‘hostel’ hostels I’ve ever stayed at. It used to be an Old Gentleman’s Club, the ceilings were high, it was spacious and the floors, banisters, windows, furniture were quaint-ornate. Overall the hostel had a very homey feel to it which was very agreeable. The next morning we slept in and practically missed breakfast. After eating we made our way down to the beeches, past the bathes and out to Nobbys’s head. One thing that made me extremely jealous was seeing a Newcastle Uni student reading his reader on the beech—something I haven’t and won’t be able to do in Melbourne. After reaching the farthest point on Nobbys’s head (used to be an island with a light house until it was joined with the mainland) we returned up the beech to the hostel to grab some body boards. The sun had rejoined us after yesterday’s debacle, and the beach was sunny and the waves clear. They were also high and strong. Simply getting out to a point where you could catch a wave was the hardest part, but the ride in was utterly rewarding—ridiculously fast and wild. The water was cold but withstandable, and the body soon got used to it. With that out of my system we headed back to the hostel for showers and a free barbeque and trivia night. I should add that during the time between body boarding and bbqing I headed up to the highest point in Newcastle to catch some pictures as the sun set. Following trivia night and getting ‘best name’ for “Thank God we Left Port Macquarie” we stayed to watch some of the bands in the local battle of the bands. One band was seriously good, but not everyone’s cup of tea, Memorial Drive. The next day we had just enough time to grab breakfast and a short walk through town and up the Queen’s Warf Tower for a look out on the port of Newcastle (‘the giant penis’) before meeting the bus at 11 to Sydney (oh and while waiting we saw Newcastle’s elusive, yet most famous, tram).
Newcastle: the Complete Review
This was a nice town, the atmosphere was relaxed and it was fairly clean. We discovered on the drive out on the bus that there was a whole end to Newcastle we never got to. We’d scheduled extra time in Newcastle for a bit of rest before Sydney, but could have easily eaten another day doing more of the things Newcastle had to offer. It might be worth noting that Newcastle Uni was one of the original placed I looked at attending—from the town, it wouldn’t have been a bad choice.

Transportation the Second

Transportation part two goes a little something like this:

a) “Trams can’t swerve”.
b) Cars don’t stop for you.
c) Roundabouts in Melbourne are just about the scariest and most wild experiences ever.

a) One of the first things we learnt when we arrived in cairns for our orientation experience was that “trams can’t swerve”. The simple solution to this problem is: don’t jump out in front of them because they won’t stop, and the cant move around you. An aussy footy player was actually hit by one not to long ago.

b) I lied. The first thing we learned in cairns is that pedestrians do NOT have the right of way. Cars will not stop for you carelessly stepping out into the street, and you’ll have to wait your turn before its your turn to cross. The only exception to this rule is when there are zebra crossings, at which point I take my time laughing to myself that I finally have the right of way—and flinching when cars stop all of 2 inches from your knees. This all leads to:

c) Outside the Village, between the village and Uni, is one giant mother of all roundabouts. Amoung its amenities are pedestrians, cars and bikes (like any other roundabout), but then the city of Melbourne decided it would be fun to run 4 trams tracks right through the center. For all parties involved this has to be one of the scariest and most spontaneous intersections ever. For example, to get from village to Uni I have to run across three sets of road (one zebra-ed and two not) and two sets of tram tracks. If you’re not awake when you leave, you sure as hell will be once you’ve successfully navigated this Melbourne deathtrap. To Melbourne’s credit I’ve never seen any accidents there, though.

Transportation

A post I’ve been meaning to get to for a while now, but like the rest of this blog suffers from extreme lethargy.I’ve talked a number of times about either the transportation system of Melbourne in general or actually using it; in sum the system is made up of trams, trains and (to a lesser extent) busses. The trams run above ground, all over Melbourne—from the outer suburbs into the city centre. They are definitively not the fastest way to get around, as they follow the roads for the most part (even though they run on rails) and therefore have to obey the traffic lights and make lots of stops. They are however incredibly useful for hop-on-hop-off errands or getting to a specific place. The trains on the other hand run underground in the city and then over ground out into the suburbs. They’re much faster than the trams (not having traffic helps), fit more people and stop less often. They’re an incredibly efficient way to get into or out of the city to anywhere. It all runs on one ticket—met cards—which come in different amounts: 2 hours, daily’s, weeks, months etc. When you combine trains and trams in any combination, it is an easy way to get around all of Melbourne for a cheap price.