Sunny Saturday in Newcastle

Am away early as the sun has finally arrived in Sydney and I wonder for how long. Today is my day to go to see Jean at Soldiers Point, one hour north of Newcastle, so as I have left early I decide to take the early train to Newcastle and see if there is a bus from there to Soldiers Pt, I think there will be.

After some nice porridge made by bro and a good post-mortem of a fine lunch put on by him yesterday for my birthday, he is on to his very busy schedule and I to mine. Tomorrow I also have my Gosford Woy Woy visit to make. The holiday is moving fast along with inevitable changes happening along the way.  One must always be flexible.

An early coffee at Central Station

Blues skies show fine day for travellers..

The old Customs House Cafenear the now desolate Newcastle Station. 

Have taken time for a mocha at this quaint relic of Newcastle's past. A beautiful gracious building on the foreshore, opposite the now defunct railway station which was recently reduced to empty uselessness since the cessation of trains only in the last six months. The rail track lies empty and wasted, running the three or four kilometres from Hamilton to the city which was once the hub of this once grand town. Hunter Street now seems more empty than ever, the halcyon days of mining Newcastle well and truly past. At least the air is clear,  and the sun shines fruitfully on to the glistening harbour. Along this entrance to the great mining fields and dairy farms of the Hunter Valley are now million dollar apartment buildings, inhabited by the quite rich, while the poor, who once inhabited the cottages in Wickham and Parkville, are now driven well out into the outer suburbs. 

Newcastle has a history of great times and bad times, and now it seems it just doesn't really know where it's going. It's in a fabulous geographical position, right at the entrance to the beautiful Hunter Valley, and boasting the best beaches in world some say, but there lies the rub. It has no real industry and only the wealthy can afford the luxury of a seaside apartment.

It's where I wanted to live until something more important intervened in my life. So be it, I am happy to   return to my beloved Wellie where I hope to be making my future life.