This morning, we had a bit of a late start, then Tony, our Happy Cabby driver, picked us up to take us to Newcastle. Newcastle is about 2 hours by Happy Cabby from Sydney, and, we later learned, about that same amount of time by train as well.

It was a bit cloudy, but that actually made for really nice driving weather, as we were able to see a lot without glasses. We arrived in Newcastle, ate a bit of lunch at the hotel, and were then picked up by Alex from the Uni of Newcastle for our city tour.  The weather had turned a bit chilly and a bit rainy, so we mainly stayed in the car, but we were able to hope out for a few snaps (Ozzie for photos), which was great! The main thing that was readily apparent was that Newcastle is much smaller than Sydney, and even smaller than North Ryde (the suburb of Sydney in which Macquarie is located). And, it’s coastal, and you know how us East Coasters love our water! There were surfers out, although the water temperature was a cool 68 F! Not bath water temp, and therefore, not swimming temp for this delicate southern flower!

We were given the late afternoon off to rest up, and I watched some fascinating Australian reality TV. I’ve found that everything is better with an Australian accent!

Dinner that night was at this AMAZING seafood restaurant called Snatchies or something like that. Fantastic! It was on the waterfront, so you knew everything was about as fresh as it comes. Alex and James from Newcastle were our hosts, and amazing hosts they are! We all had a wonderful time … and then it was off to bed.