This Newcastle's five bridges now seven

Everyone knows that Newcastle (upon Tyne - the English one) has five bridges. Keith Emerson famously wrote a piece of music about that, after all.

In fact the five bridges thing was about all I did know about Newcastle upon Tyne. Except that it was supposed to be a nice place to visit. So I did.

I'm happy to report that it was indeed a nice little visit. It was a Sunday lunchtime, and there were lots of people out and about on the waterfront (Hadrian's Wall Path, it's called).

I can also report that there are now at least seven bridges across the Tyne, between Newcastle and Gateshead on the southern bank.

The original Tyne Bridge is the most iconic of course. It's often said to be the inspiration for the Sydney Harbour Bridge. In fact they were built by the same contractor at roughly the same time. The Sydney bridge was started first, but took longer to build. Mind you it is three times as long, three times as wide, and more than twice as high. Here's a nice YouTube video comparison of the two.









Newcastle's newest bridge is the Gateshead Millenium Bridge, a rather stylish pedestrian bridge.









I was surprised to find a castle in Newcastle too. Shouldn't have been really, it's called Newcastle for a reason, I guess.

Messing about on the river

On the Parramatta River, to be precise. I took the classy option yesterday for the journey into the city: the Parramatta River Rivercat.

Most of the other passengers were tourists, and didn't they just love it! None of the discomforts of train, bus or car travel, none of the uninspiring scenery of the Parramatta Road or the main western line corridor. Just  clear blue skies, clear blue water, fine views of boats, bridges, Olympic stadiums, parks and bike tracks. And some rather well positioned and expensive real estate here and there too.

The Rivercats all seem to be named after famous female athletes. I found myself aboard the Betty Cuthbert. Betty was a world champion sprinter in the 1950s and 60s. She grew up in the nearby suburb of Ermington, and is still alive and living in Western Australia.

The cabin is warm, roomy and comfortable, but the location of choice is the front deck, where the views make up for any cold winds or stray sea spray. As you approach the Harbour Bridge, everyone vies for a good position, and the selfies and group pictures all get taken. Then it's the equally scenic Circular Quay and Opera House.

One of the highlights of the trip is the first leg, from Parramatta to Rydalmere, where you negotiate a narrow passage through the mangroves. A lowlight is that at low tide the vessel - a flat bottomed catamaran - nevertheless can't actually make it through this part. The service terminates then at Rydalmere, and passengers pile onto a bus for the rest of the journey.

I understand the Parramatta-Rydalmere leg will be withdrawn altogether soon, so use it while you can.

Harbour Bridge Pylon Lookout & Museum

Lonely Planet recently spruiked the wisdom of forgoing the expensive Bridgeclimb walk over the Harbour Bridge, in favour of the somewhat more modest attraction of the lookout and museum located in the bridge's southeast pylon.

For a mere $11, against $200 or more, you get almost as good a view, you get to take all your own photographs, you get to spend as little or as long as you like there (and to spend a penny if necessary too!) You also learn quite a lot about this iconic bridge and its construction.

I've been telling my visitors all of this for a long time, and the other day I reacquainted myself with the place. It was still a nice little visitor experience.

You do indeed look down on the Bridgeclimb people for much of their journey. You get great views of Circular Quay and the visiting cruise ships. You can see the Blue Mountains far to the west. And you almost get to swing on the scary cables used by the construction workers, unencumbered by any safety harnesses or anything, while they positioned the various meccano bits together eighty years ago.