A new look at Newcastle

 

It was back-to-Newcastle day for me yesterday. That is, I realised it was nearly 8 years since I last visited the place. (The local one. I visited the slightly smaller UK Newcastle a couple of years ago.) See here: 2013 post  and here: 2019 post

Since I was last there they've torn up the rail line into the city proper, and replaced the last bit of the journey with a tram.

It's a nice tram, and it works very smoothly. I'll give it that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nobbys Beach is still looking good. It was full of kiteboarding birdmen.

 

 

 

And marauding ravens.

One negative change, I thought, was the demise of the Hunter St pedestrian mall. Maybe it comes to life at night. But it was pretty dead yesterday afternoon. Lots of very serviceable cafes seemed to have sprung up elsewhere though.

And then there are all the fine looking parks and open spaces. And the particularly fine looking old railway station. It's become a quiet spot to hang out, and it's filling up, or trying to, with art galleries and boutique arty shops and things.

Here's the old Customs House - now a hotel.

Melbourne's modern bits

The previous post may have given the impression that nothing ever changes in Melbourne. Well that's not quite true.

Since I left the place four decades back they've stuck up lots of modern looking things, several rather tall buildings, and a roof above the old shot tower (to house a modern shopping centre).

They've also replaced most of their ancient trams with super duper new ones, and renovated several little old laneways into super-trendy nightlife haunts.

On the subject of trams again, Melbournians are so proud of their trams that they often forget that hundreds of cities around the world have excellent tramway systems. When young royals Harry and Megan dropped in the other week, Melbourne rewarded them with ........... wait for it ............. a ride on a tram!

Haunting Melbourne

 

I guess I was haunting Melbourne the other day, in that I was wandering around some of my old haunts from all those decades ago when I lived there for a while. 

Some bits of Melbourne haven't changed much. Like Flinders Street Station, the house in Hawthorn where I lived, Burwood Road at Glenferrie, and Glenferrie Road itself (though it's looking much prettier these days).

 

I was amazed also to discover tram number 981 still running! I used to drive this tram over 40 years ago. It worked out of the Kew depot and it was a museum piece even then.