Newcastle

New home, new year, new computer, and now Newcastle. Everything's new! :)

I went with my flatmate-landlady Peggy on a 2-day trip 150 km up north to her home town Newcastle. Yes, there is a Newcastle in Australia too. A lot of places here have English names, but also a lot of names are taken from aboriginal languages. Such as Parramatta, Woy Woy or Woolloomooloo.

Newcastle was historically important for its steel production, and it is also a "coal city". It has the largest coal export harbour in the world, and there are always dozens of huge bulk carriers anchored in the sea waiting for permission to go into the harbour. But the city is less industrial than one might think and has some nice waterfront and beach areas as you can see on the pictures. Peggy was very proud to show me around, and her sister gave us accommodation for the night.

We've been for a morning swim to the Ocean Baths, a big and old public swimming pool right at the sea which is fed naturally at high tide by ocean water. Free entrance and hot showers -- what a nice service of the city to its citizens. A hundred years before, about 1820, a smaller swimming pool based on that same principle was constructed by order of Commandant Morisset for his own personal bathing purposes. For many years it was known as the "Commandant's Baths". Today they call it the Bogey Hole and it is also now open for free public use.