Despite a lack of sleep and a definite non-lack of alcohol in my bloodstream, I got up around 9am to get another lift from Dave. He was visiting his parents then heading into Newcastle itself (via Gateshead). We stopped at a couple of signs so I could get my photo taken in this city with [...]

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The first thing to say today is another “thank you” to Rachel and Dave for being kind hosts, putting me up and for driving me from Canberra to Newcastle. It was a pretty enjoyable trip and the first time I’d seen the scenery as both times I’d used the buss between Sydney and Canberra I’d [...]

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I managed to get an early start without any help from my roomies. By which I mean there wasn’t one snorer or shouter amongst them for the first time in ages. I got a restful night and rose around 8am to start ploughing through the road atlas I got from Dymocks. Argh. Now I really [...]

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French-speaking ahoy. Today’s been a very good one. I had to swap rooms this morning, theoretically into the 10-bed I’d originally booked into as it was cheaper. Only I’m in a 6-bed instead, which is strange. It’s more cramped than the 8-bed I just left, but who cares? It’s clean and comfy. Breakfast was a [...]

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Today was stinking hot. And humid. I woke far too early and enjoyed a bacon sarnie for breakfast/lunch followed by an absolutelty divine chocolate cake laced with raspberries. Will someone please explain how Dion is not someone’s wife yet? A PhD student with a great sense of humour and the ability to bake and cook [...]

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I woke up fairly early considering the late night with Dion and the morning to early afternoon was spent chilling out and enjoying Dion’s baking and cooking. Not a bad way to while away the time! Around 3pm, two of Dione’s friends turned up and – along with her sister – we went for a [...]

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I got up early this morning to get some things done before the 10am checkout. Basically, this involved checking my email and failing to buy breakfast. Oops. Before I checked out, I handed out the usual cards and asked Anita if she would donate the value of her meal to BDCF once she had some [...]

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 Well technically, slightly more than a day but only just. I landed around 7am and left at 9am the next morning. In the meantime I’ve pretty much seen all of Sydney that I’m bothered about, including the double-decker trains which were quite a surprise.  It’s a nice enough place, but there’s just not much going [...]

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