Newcastle (Sun 4th -Thurs 8th Jan 2009) It's been a nostalgic few days in Newcastle. 22 years ago I spent a year with my family in this part of the world on a teaching exchange. I worked in a TAFE (Technical and Further education) college in Newcastle and we lived in a small town called Tanilba Bay 30 minutes north. These past few days have been spent revisiting old haunts and meeting old friends. We have been staying with Bob and Lorraine who stay in a lovely s...

Sydney (Mon 29th Dec - Sat 3rd Jan 2009) Arrived Sydney Monday lunchtime after a 3 hour Quantas flight from Auckland. After the relative luxury of our Auckland apartment we are back to slumming it. Our hostel in central Sydney is rather depressing. It's a very busy, noisy place with loud music blaring from morning to night. I wonder whose idea it was to play loud music at breakfast time. We also seem to be the only people over 25. Our room reminds me of a prison...