Newcastle

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David here...

We got up early on our final morning with the camper van... our camper van as it had become after being our home for the last two weeks. Once packed up, with all the rubbish thrown away and the inside looking spick and span, we made our way back to Cambridge and dropped our home off and then got whisked to the airport. After a cup of coffee we boarded the flight and left Tasmania behind, again like much of this trip, with heavy hearts. We had fallen for 'little Tassie' and were already discussing coming back to do it all again. We landed in Sydney, and made our way to the Central station and onto Newcastle, three hours North along the coast. We felt that seven nights in Sydney was too much and we wanted to see more of Australia during our limited stay here. Newcastle is quite a small place, with a main shopping high street, a few bars and restaurants and not much else...oh, there is the many, many beaches of course. We had booked three nights at The Grand Hotel and were expecting a very small, drab room. What we got was a fairly small room, with an en-suite bathroom and a proper bed. After two weeks seeking showers across Tasmania and a small bed in the van, this was luxury, though it was also our 2nd encounter of cockroaches in our room (only one), which is never nice. The hotel is actually a pub and bistro with a few rooms as well.

Once refreshed, we headed out to check out the town and had done a circuit fairly quickly. We decided to try Indian and with a number of good reviews taped up in the window we went to Surtaj. The meal was alright but somehow it all tasted a little bland. Even the rice, which was evenly cooked and separated tasted of water and nothing else. Quite disappointing after the promise of great food from the reviews. Feeling full we headed back to our hotel for a nightcap... or two, and then headed to our room to settle down for the night. The next day started out with Suzanne heading out to do some shopping and I headed to a park nearby and sat and read for a few hours. Suzanne joined me with lunch and then we walked along to the beach and along the wharf area. There is lots of beach in Newcastle and it is fully used by the local swimmers and surfers, probably as there is not much else to do really. We walked, saw lots of sand and park area and that was about it. We went to Harrys de Wheels pie shop for our evening meal. They do pies with mash potato and toppings like tomato or mushy peas. It was very good for our budget and also for our taste buds. We then sat by the harbour area in a no alcohol zone drinking a bottle of red wine we had got earlier. That's us, the original rebels. After another night cap at our hotel we went to bed.

Our final day in Newcastle was spent walking, yet again. This time we headed the opposite direction from the previous day and we found... more beaches. Many more beaches actually. Newcastle and it's surrounding area has many, many beaches. It is actually a very nice coastline to look at and none of the beaches are overcrowded at all. We had planned to walk quite a way however in the sweltering sun, we gave up after a couple of hours and turned round to head back to the area we were staying. We stopped at Subway for lunch as they do $7 foot long subs (Tuna Mayo is always a winner), enough to share and so helps the budget no end. We then stumbled across an Aldi and decided to take a look to see if it was the same as the ones at home. The prices were good however all of the brands were different. Still it was interesting... and cool in there. We did buy a big yogurt to share, which was very nice. That evening we decided to eat at the bistro in our hotel. Each evening as we had gone out, we had noticed that the hotel bistro was always busy so we thought the locals must know something we don't. Suzanne had Butter Chicken and Rice and I went for the $10 steak. We also had Garlic Turkish bread with parmesan cheese as a starter. Well, our taste buds came alive at long last. The food was amazing, and the steak was one of the best I've ever had...and all for $25 (£16). We would recommend the food at The Grand Hotel... as well as the drink. We then went to a park over looking the beach and downed a few 'tinnies' before retiring to bed, ready to move on the next morning.

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Photos

Newcastle
Pie!

Newcastle
Another pie - outside Harry de Wheels