Nuances of Newcastle

DAY 15
Location: Newcastle
Temp: 15 C--Feels like 8 C with wind chill
Weather: Partially cloudy, raining, windy as all get out!
Activities: Newcastle ocean baths, Hunter Street Mall, West Newcastle, Civic Park, Queen's Warf Tower
Accomodation: WakeUp!

I actually did get the 4-bed dorm to myself last night! And, since it was a quiet, restful night, I didn't feel all that rushed to hurry out of the room. Having paid for some net access, I updated a few things before leisurely eating breakfast (back to my meager fruit bar ration), getting ready, packing up, and checking out. I dumped my bag in the day storage and finally walked about this unorthodox YHA. It really is like an old English school, complete with dorms, communal bathrooms and showers, fireplace commons, huge common area with pool table, computer lab, kitchen. All it needs are the classrooms. Even the furniture here screams Ye Olde English pub.

Having my fill, I walked out of the YHA and into the wind. The kind of wind that you can lean into with some force and not fall flat on your face. Mean wind.  Vengeful blustering gales. Good morning to you too, Newcastle!

I made my way to the beach and the ocean was all whitewater; just rabid with froth as the wind whipped the seas to the shore. The cloud I saw roiling in was actually saltspray. But with the sun on my back I pressed on past the empty skate park, the crumbling cliffside, and down to the ocean baths carved especially for this navy rear admiral. I didn't even know they were there and stumbled upon them while watching the furious sea pound its breakers on the rocks below. I was at least twenty feet up from the rocks, but the waves exploded up to where I was standing. I got wet. It was amazing!

My eye on the threatening rainclouds out to sea, I beat a retreat back up the coast and wandered into to town for lunch. I went up and down Hunter Street Mall in search of a bite and passed a place called One Penny Black; this coffee shop with a lot of character. I passed it twice and found I kept coming back to it. Before I could walk in though, the petite woman ahead of me commented about the clothes on the street and I remarked I couldn't afford them and she knew instantly I was foreign and extended a formal greeting. Nice lady, but she made me think of a witch. A nice witch! Is that awful? She was very kind though and we parted on good terms as I doubled back to the One Penny Black for an apple-soaked-in-blueberry danish and a moccha: $10. INSANE!

The nice thing about Hunter Street is the city provides two hours of free WiFi! So I posted several backlogged pictures of my journey to Facebook, checked mail, etc. All the my heart's content, before moving on to find the local Woolworth's for a cheap lunch and to pick up some incidentals that I'd run out of. (Floss and shampoo among them.)

It was a good twenty minute walk to West Newcastle but I walked past Civic Park, the Newcastle Council building, and a bunch of other shops. Hunting for some travel-sized goods (and finding none) I ran into the witch lady again! It's a small Australia indeed. We chatted about sports awhile, surprisingly she's a fan of some American tennis players, before parting again and I walked back to Civic Park to eat yet another bag of Caesar. A sharp whistle on my left announced  the intentions of a hungry local bird as it eyed me and my lunch. It pecked around my feet for some old chips and I watched in a removed bemusement as it hopped beneath my legs and back again. Fearless.

After lunch, I returned to Hunter Street to eat up my free WiFi minutes and this homeless guy came to sit next to me on the bench. He carried a smoke, a guitar and a drink--which I thought was illegal in Australia--drinking in public like that. And it seemed he was already drunk. He played me a song when I asked him about the guitar, something by Neil Diamond, and I played an Irish song for him and then he begged me to give him a kiss. Really? He hadn't kissed a girl in six months. Can't help you there, partner. He was extremely insistent and I took that as my sign to leave--which I promptly did. All righty then, Newcastle, what else you got for me?

I went up and over the street to the Queen's Warf Tower, found it open, and climbed up the 30 meters to get a panoramic bird's eye view of the city. It also took me out of the beating, relentless wind and I had the tower to myself for the entire time I was up there. The whole thing swayed because of the wind though, which was a bit unnerving--and probably the reason why I was the only one there! It served as my refuge for a good long while before the setting sun prompted me to come back down and start walking back to the YHA. The wind swept me right back into a chill as I walked along the harbor and finally back to the YHA.

It was a full day of walking and sights and tonight I catch the late bus to Sydney. The last!