Newcastle
Trip Start
Oct 16, 2007
1
33
75
Trip End
Jun 21, 2008
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Newcastle,
Australia
Monday, March 3, 2008
Mel's flat was lovely, it was so nice to have carpet under our feet, a clean and comfy bed, a TV and the freedom to just lounge about in the day and pretty much do nothing! Our first evening in Newcastle was one to remember! Jess arrived back from work and considering she had never met us and she had agreed for us to stay without Mel around we knew she had to be pretty laid back. That she was! After the introductions we sat back with a few beers/glass of wine and shared many a story about Mel, travelling, etc...we all hit it off and before we knew it we were grabbing a bottle of wine and heading into town to a BYO (bring your own) Thai restaurant.
The food was fab, a real reminder of our travels in Asia and the BYO wine certainly made the whole thing a lot cheaper. We then went on to a quiet local pub and were introduced to an entirely knew concept of a betting shop within the bar itself. Excited about such a crazy idea we took it in turns to place 1 small bet each on a dog race. Beginners luck was obviously on our side as we all won! It then materialised that downstairs there was 'Pokies' (a type of fruit machine) and so of course we felt it was only right to have a go on those as well. No jokes but from the two machines we played, we won on both! Beginners luck was definitely a hit! We decided to leave it there with good fortune in our hands and without having to take the number for 'gambling anonymous'. We wrapped up a night of fun and total uniqueness with a couple of bedtime beers.
The following day we had hoped to take a surfing lesson, however the waves were far too big, especially for the novices that we are, instead we spent the day lazing about the flat and going for a walk down to the supermarket for dinner. Jess was working late that night which left us to cook whatever we fancied. We decided on making use of the BBQ they had on the balcony and sat down to some kangaroo steaks and burgers with salad. Kangaroo by the way is delicious; just make sure it's rare.
The next morning we were catching the Greyhound bus down to Sydney where we were hoping to actually catch up with Mel as well as our friends Sam and Gareth who we had met in Pai, Thailand and were now living and working in Manly for 6months, we said goodbye to the Newcastle which had felt almost like home for a few days, ready to hit Sydney!
