Back at Brad's and on her day off we went back to Stockton Sands (all 32 kms of it!) We hoped to take a 4WD adventure through the sand dunes but none of the Tin City or shipwreck ones were running. Tin City is like a squatters area made of tin shacks put up from the 1880s as shelter for ship wreck victims. It expanded into a shanty town in the depression in the 1930s and has been used as a location in a variety of films including Mad Max.
So, we did the next best thing - sand boarding! We drove to the top of the highest sand dune in a 4X4 coach. Sand board...sit on it...push off.. down you go...that was all there was to it! (or so they reckoned). Even on your bum was hard but we all mastered it in the end. On foot was another matter. I only got half way down, Gordon a bit further, and Brad all the way to the bottom. Show Off!! If you are on Face Book, go there to see video evidence! We came back in a land rover which was much more exciting coming down the dunes at 45 degrees! The driver drove us along the sands and then dropped us off for a quick dip in the sea.
It was good to cool off in the sea after all that boarding. The sand gets everywhere...and I mean EVERYWHERE!!
Claire went out to buy some Christmas presents .....and this is what she came back with! It looked excellent when up though it is still so odd to be celebrating Xmas in the heat and, more weirdly, in the summer!
On Saturday we went back into Newcastle to visit Fort Scratchley and take a tour in the tunnels. It is the only fort in Oz to have fired upon a naval enemy in the whole of the country's history. This was at a Japanese sub in 1942 - and they are still excited by the story. The 1901 guns still fire when cruise ships come in and are in perfect working order after all these years. Great tour and as it was quiet John (tour guide) came out with us and chatted a bit more about the fort. He grabbed the gun's barrel and it slid round with ease.
While we were at the top of the fort we could see as many as 30 huge ships waiting to come into dock to be loaded with coal. They load up 5 at a time and the tiny tugs guide them in and out. It was so fascinating as the ships were enormous and came through what appeared to be such a tiny gap in the breakwater. Driving around the area we often see coal trains with up to 90 trucks full of coal, often pulled by 4 engines.
And on that note here are some pictures of the open cast mines the coal comes from.
We have never seen anything so large. The digger has a bucket that is as wide as 2 carriage ways on the main road - we saw one being taken to the mines with 5 accompanying vehicles and a police escort. The dumper truck must have had wheels in excess of 10 foot in diameter.
On our last day before heading to Sydney we went for a meander through the lovely Hunter Valley. Pretty hills, rock faces, houses, brooks and vineyards. We also stopped off at our first real Aboriginal Rock Art. It was at the end of a 1.5 km dirt track and there was little or no info about it. Very interesting and we am now keen enough to see some more.
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