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Published: March 22nd 2011
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High ho, high ho, it's off to Newcastle I go...
Newcastle, New South Wales that is, the one with the sunshine and beaches.
Just a 2 and a half hour train journey from Sydney and you arrive in what feels like another world. Little Newcastle with its laid-back atmosphere, beautiful beaches and quirky cafés and shops. Why don't more people come here?
Sarah and I had decided to make the journey north to do some Beckham spotting as he was in town to play against the Newcastle Jets.
The place seemed pretty empty apart from the small crowd of surfers and BMXers on the beach.
Sarah and I walked along the beach for a while and waited for the red lantern night market to start.
The market as quite small but filled with lots of little treasures such as cooling clay bead necklaces, outback jams and lots of wonderful vintage.
It was soon time to go to the match. We were told to catch a train but what we weren't told was that the train only runs once an hour. And we'd missed the last one by three minutes. So we waited for a
bus which seemed to take forever (well, half an hour). There was a man on the phone sitting behind us talking about how packed Newcastle was this weekend because of the game. Really? I wonder what it's like when it's not packed!
As we reached the stadium, we noticed that a tv crew had set up... in the car park . Filming the commentators. I think I managed to get in the background a couple of times.
Today was the first day that the stadium had ever been filled to its full capacity: 26,000.
We took our seats and we quite close to the pitch – closer than I've been before and it was strange to be able to see the players' faces and not the tops of their heads.
The match began and it was all very weird. Everyone was supporting everyone and every time Beckham touched the ball, the whole stadium cheered!
A few minutes into the match, the people in front of us took their seats and I (unsurprisingly) momentarily lost concentration just as Newcastle scored the first goal. Must pay attention from now on.
Beckham ran down the pitch and stopped right in front of us. The guy sitting directly in front of me took this opportune moment to shout “BECKHAM! Get your tits out” to which Beckham responded with a little smirk.
The game continued and LA Galaxy equalled causing the crowd to go wild. I decided to join in and support both teams too.
Half time brought the treat of cheerleaders (why?!) with it and a live performance from the potbelleez which was probably the most exciting thing (apart from Beckham's smirk) that had happened in the last 45 minutes.
The second half began and not a lot really went on... until a never-ending Mexican wave began which managed to keep going even through Newcastle's second goal.
2-1 to Newcastle in the end then some boring speeches and shirt-swapping. And then Beckham, just as he was about to leave, takes off his shirts, turns and runs across the pitch with determination in his eyes and throws the shirt directly at a girl in the crowd. No one seemed to be able to figure out why that particular lucky girl was chosen but she wasn't complaining.
We caught the bus back and the kind bus driver let us on for half fare . Two Aussies sat in front of us and started to complain about the bloody 'Pomes'.
“We're not all that bad” I say. He turned around with a sort of horrified look on his face and the best he could come up with was 'my wife's best friend in English.” Entertaining.
The next morning, Sarah and I went in search of breakfast in the wonderful Darby street. A street filled with boutiques, vintage shops and cafés. We found an affordable café and sat outside watching the people of Newcastle go by in the sunshine. Definitely worth a visit if you're in the area.
We decided to walk to the lighthouse before heading back but seemed to suffer some sort of weird illusion whereby it kept changing direction so we eventually gave up and began the journey back to Sydney.
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