We had a pleasant drive down to Newcastle and the Pacific Highway drive will be much quicker when the multiple roadworks are completed. For a city that was supposed to suffer greatly at the closure of the steel works, Newcastle appeared to us to be thriving, with beautiful beaches, lots of historic sights and a great deal of development. Although it was rainy at times we did the tourist coastal walk from Merewether Beach to the AnzAC Memorial Bridge. (John on the bridge and Chris showing she's a ''Popular Girl''. We doubt whether in this age of political correctness they could even have such a competition, listing the 4 winners. Things must have been very different in 1930!)
In the afternoon we took the Tunnel Tour at Fort Scratchley. The fort's claim to fame, as told by the volunteer guide, is that it held the only land-based gun to be fired at the Japanese in WWII. This occurred when a Japanese submarine surfaced to shell Newcstle town and the fort faught back! The tour took us underneath the fort to the powder rooms where supplies of black powder were kept at the ready. They developed ingenious procedures for supplying the numerous guns with powder and shells stored below.
