New Castle? See Change?

A sign(?) for me on a walk to a lighthouse in
Newcastle, NSW

Vermin?!

A rat?!
Yes, there is vermin out there alright, trust me

That sign I saw in Newcastle just about sums up my life at the moment, apart from bicycles maybe, and sums up well my 2016 in a metaphorical sense.

2016? Need a new castle?

Fort Scratchley

As I wrote in my last post -
My Observations of Time and Space in Port Macquarie 
that I decided to check out an Australian town that I have bypassed on my last two road-trips, Newcastle.

Newcastle's East End and Hunter Street

The main reason I wanted to visit Newcastle was one, to drive down the main street of Newcastle (Hunter Street) made famous in the hit song from my youth. 

""The Newcastle Song" was a 1975 hit for musician and comedian Bob Hudson. It poked fun at the working-class youth culture of the City of Newcastle in NSW."

Well, I like to think old
school is cool anyway

And two, to check out the beaches of Newcastle I've heard so much about over the years.

Overlooking Nobby's Beach in Newcastle
to a tanker on the horizon

So, like the Newcastle Song advises, "don't you ever let a chance go by". 

A weird Newcastle building. Tower of Babel?
Bloody big flowerpot?

They say, "a man's home is his castle" and since my divorce and having to sell my castle and move into rented accommodation, I've felt like a man without a real castle.
And with the rent being bumped up when I have to sign my new lease, it's time for me to move once more, before the year is out, so I feel rather like those people on the above #16 tarot card tumbling out of their castle/tower.

Speaking of landlords bumping up the rent
when they think they have you;-)

I also thought it was quite a coincidence that as I was piecing this post together, I decided to go through the Rune Soup podcast archive and found a podcast where Gordon interviews his mother at Christmas time. 

Gordon's mother was living in Newcastle when he was interviewing her from London in the above podcast, and at around the 23-and-a-half-minute mark Gordon recounts a Christmas while living in Newcastle where his mother had to defend him from a really big rat.

After my walk out to the lighthouse I can easily believe that one.
Funny thing is that I have never seen a live rat ever before in my entire life, apart from people with pet rats.
I've seen plenty of mice running around in my life, but never a rat, until my walk on the beach in Newcastle.

A blue tongue lizard deciding to take a walk, as well

But there are more than rats out there.

I wondered why so many people taking this walk were wearing hoodies with the hoods up.
I thought that maybe it was just a Newcastle fashion thing, until I got to the point in the walk pictured above and got blasted by shifting sands and high winds, just like the sign advised.
I had to remove the hat off my head and cover the left side of my face as I walked out to the lighthouse in order to stop the stinging sand hitting that side of my head.

I looked back to Fort Scratchley and couldn't believe how far I had walked, but when I looked to the lighthouse, I couldn't believe how far I still had to walk.

I thought to myself that this lighthouse better be worth the walk when I get to it.

And while it was a fairly pleasant walk, looking out at the choppy harbour and reading a bit of Newcastle history along the way ...

when I finally reached the lighthouse, I found a sign on the gate telling me that it's only open on Sundays. 

I noticed that the path continued on around the back of the lighthouse, so I went to take a look and see where it led me.
Then I saw this warning sign below.

The beach at the back of this lighthouse is fantastic and the best one I came across in my few hours in Newcastle that day.

 But don't go sunbathing too close to those cliffs.

The path continued on well past the lighthouse though and I thought I could see something at the end of it that may be worth a look, so out I walked.

And out there I came across some fantastic artworks.

I particularly liked this artwork and that spiral pattern on the bottle reminded me of another drink container I saw once in a movie -
The Secret of 'The Revenant'

And just to prove to me that it's the journey that's more important than the destination, when I got to my destination, it was locked.

Probably good that I didn't know the lighthouse was closed, and this thing above was locked, because I probably wouldn't have bothered taking this walk and I would have missed some great art ... and a live rat.

And I've never seen tracks in the sand quite like I did on this walk in Newcastle.

On the right track?

And while my ship my have not come in that day, I did see one going out.

My ship would come in on October 2nd, unbeknownst to me at the time, when the destination was as satisfying as my journeys, when my football team would win the grand final for the first time and I would come face to face with one of Newcastle's favourite sons, Andrew "Joey"Johns, while celebrating the win in the stands with other Shark supporters.

Me and my youngest son after the Sharks 
had won the 2016 grand final 

Andrew Johns following
Jim Maloney
around after the win

My ship finally coming in after
 years of feeling marooned;-)

My ex-cousin-in-law winning a
Newcastle jersey in Brisbane

My ex-cousin-in-law is a mad Newcastle fan and when he was a teenager playing football, he was an almost dead-ringer for Andrew Johns, which I would tell him all the time, so no wonder he became a Newcastle fan eventually.

Andrew "Joey"Johns

I just knew when I drove past customs on my way to Sydney and saw the Allianz building on my way out of Newcastle that this was the most comforting sign for me that I had seen in Newcastle since I got there, as I was heading to watch the Sharks play the Cowboys in the NRL semi-final at Allianz stadium in Sydney and hoping to see them win the grand final a week after that at the Olympic stadium ... which they did against all odds.

A sign of victory at Allianz stadium Friday night?

Sitting in my seat on Friday hoping
 for a happy birthday that night

My Happiest Birthday Ever
When I got to Sydney that afternoon, I was glad I took the time to visit Newcastle and "didn't let the chance go by".

Looking out from my motel room in
Sydney on Thursday afternoon

Cirque du Solei, Hermeticism, Kooza and Shamanism
I knew when I scored tickets to the new Cirque Du Soleil show at the last minute, which was playing behind the football stadium I would be sitting in the next night, that I was on a magical journey ... or at least magical road-trip;-)