We exercised our Oyster Cards on Tuesday and took a train trip up to Newcastle.
Because we are old, we can go anywhere on the trains for $2.50 a day, so the 2 1/2-hour trip to Newcastle is a bargain. The train is comfortable and the views are splendid as the route goes up north of Sydney then plunges down to cross the Hawkesbury River at Brooklyn.
Pelicans watch the diving birds and the surfers.
Newcastle is regarded as a bit dowdy, but we had fun. There are a couple of great beaches right by the city centre and lots of smart cafes and restaurants near the water. The town has some interesting old buildings, some of them a bit run down.
The baths look posh . . .
. . .until you see the back.
There’s plenty of building work going on, so the city is transforming itself.
We had a walk along the beaches watching the pelicans and the surfers. There were lots of smaller birds diving into the shallows after the fish there.
After a cafe lunch we wandered down the main shopping street and then had a look at the wharf side area.
There’s lots of history in Newcastle but a lot of it seemed to concern criminals and locking them up for a long time!
