In Newcastle

In Newcastle

On Saturday, I left Sydney for Newcastle, a town with a vibrant music scene. I took the intercity train, but due to road construction, an ordinarily 2.5 hours trip took over 4 (we boarded a bus in the middle of the segment and then reboarded another train). During one of these transfers, I was approached by two old girls who wanted me to buy them cigarettes. They claimed that they were of age, but had their wallets stolen. It’s apparently the same everywhere.

While waiting for a bus, I met some extremely cute elderly ladies. One overheard that I was from San Diego and quipped that her sister lives in El Cajon. Her 86 year old sister was a "War Bride" who had married an American soldier during WWII. Apparently, this was a fairly common occurrence and there's even an Australian song about it!

Newcastle has some beautiful beaches, but my favorite parts of the city were the wildlife parks. The Blackbutt Nature Reserve had koalas and wombats. It is also the home to 20,000 grey headed flying foxes = bats. These cantaloupe sized bats hung by the hundreds from the trees. Even though it was day, they were still chirping loudly with each other, maybe pulling a bat all-nighter. At the Hunter Wetlands, I got to hold a Blue Tongued Skink. I learned that a skink regrows its entire tail if lost, whereas a lizard only grows a stump. I also held some amazing insects--they must have been inspiration for some horror movie out there.