Newcastle Winter Solstice

A Jeffrey Smartesque image of my wife pushing the buggy

Leap of Faith - fishing off Nobbys

Apparently their beak can hold more than their belly-can

Cowrie Hole - the nestle of homes facing the ocean

Newcastle Baths - with mushroom pumphouse

Apartments in Newcastle Beach #1

Apartments on Newcastle Beach #2

Apartments on Newcastle Beach #3

And this little fellow fell off his mother's back - he's been taken to the RSPC

Merewether Baths Surf House

 SOME LOCAL SECRETS are worth sharing.  Just underneath Surf House at Merewether Beach is a pizza and fish and chip casual eats spot where you can feed a family of four for under fifty dollars. 

Once I got a taste we ate here every week for about six weeks straight - so we enjoy a nod from the waitstaff and know where to sit to catch the perfect nor-easter on a Friday afternoon.

The new walkway takes you effortlessly to Surf House from the Ocean Baths, so it has become an established habit for use to trudge up with sand between out toes and eat.

There is a relaxed friendliness about eating pizza with your hands whilst the kids scuttle about over the rockpools and drip ice cream on themselves.

Here's a sentimental image of the baths changerooms - slated for demolition/removal in 2014, we will probably miss the mustard ugliness and awkward design of the building. 

Big Beach Challenge

Imagine setting yourself a walking goal of bettering your own existing record...

This event has been a long time coming but has the potential to become a classic sand running/walking event in Australia. The event was trialed by a group of enthusiastic ladies (see pics below) in 2009 (their record was 7 hours and 48 minutes) and this year we are opening the event to the general running and walking public. The event will happen in 2010 and will include a run/walk course starting from Birubi Beach in Port Stephens and finishing at Stockton Beach. This is 32kms of sand. There will also be a 16km out and back walk from Stockton Beach for those who think 32km is too far. This is called the Sight the Sygna 16 and will head 8km out to the Sygna ship wreck and back. Also not for the faint hearted.

Each year we plan to change the direction of the event, heading in 2011 from Stockton to Birubi.

Our official charity for the event is the Harry Meyn Foundation, who have just established Harry's House in Stockton. Harry's House has been established to allow families of sick children who need to travel to Hunter based medical facilities the opportunity to stay close to treatment and or seek a retreat to enjoy the beautiful Stockton beaches and township. Competitors in the event will be encouraged to seek sponsorship for Harry's House over their Big Beach Challenge.

The Big Beach Challenge will be held on Saturday, 21 August 2010.

Last Day of Summer?

Spent the afternoon at Dixon Park for a change.  Of course Merewether Baths are closed for cleaning on a Monday.  Loved the thigh blaster walk through the dunes, and the total emptiness of the beach, just an older couple and two kids with their mother. 
Dixon Park has that vast expanse where the weight loss monkeys plough through the dry sand, and if you lay down a certain way it is easy to imagine there is no civilisation nearby.
Amazed at my little 10 month old who crawls through the sand like a pink bulldozer.  Once we put her down she is busy crawling knees and palms through the sand, oblivious to us until she gets a few metres away.
Similarly, the 34 month old runs to the middle distance without raising her head, engrossed in the meditation of jogging along the lines of the quad bikes.
Overcast, small surf, tepid water, empty beach with warm grey skies - perfect autumn day at the beach.