Winter 2014

After crossing the Hunter River by ferry from the perfectly situated Stockton Beach Holiday Park our day on foot in Newcastle is to be spent chasing our travelling needs. Newcastle is a hilly city and it throws up some interesting sights. Fuelled with fresh coffee we need a supermarket and the nearest is in Newcastle West, thanks to Google Maps we’re off along King Street and we spot an interesting looking hilly garden. Up the stairs we go. It is the old churchyard of the Christ Church Cathedral and each step bears the inscription from a long gone tombstone “Accidentally killed by musket”. The cathedral is imposing and we’re lured in by organ music. The Reverend David Campbell greets us at the door and takes us on a tour of the nooks and crannies of the church he is an Irish Presbyterian minister but along with his own local St Andrews church his role is that of duty chaplain at the cathedral. A fascinating man who has lived his life back and forth between Australia and Northern Ireland and who has a passion for politics and Aussie Rules football. We spend a fascinating half an hour or more with him and we are shown so many beautiful corners of the grand old cathedral that our heads spin. You just never know what each day will bring in this caravanning life.