The year following our visit to Medlow Bath, we decided to spend our anniversary weekend in the city of Newcastle, NSW. Newcastle is a pretty common town name in Commonwealth countries. In the UK, Newcastle is a port city in the north-east of England. In New South Wales, it is a port city some 160km north-east of Sydney.

It began life as a penal colony in 1804, and like its UK namesake, became an industrial city, with a steel works and other heavy industries being established at the turn of the 20th Century. The steel works were shut down at the end of the century, but its port remains a busy place, with ships docking day and night to export Hunter Valley coal to the world.

The city has a long history, hence it has a good variety of heritage buildings.

There’s currently a lot of urban renewal projects in the CBD, but I’m happy that quite a few of the old buildings have been preserved and repurposed.