Finally got around to visiting Newcastle - a somewhat lengthy side-track on the way home from Hawks Nest. Newcastle is the largest coal exporting port in the world - the mining began in 1833 (wikipedia), and there are huge stacks of coal along the port as evidence. The old brick industrial buildings remind me of towns in the Midwestern United States. Unlike Sydney, the streets are nice and wide, and though there's traffic, it doesn't feel claustrophobically squeezed onto narrow neighborhood streets.
Unlike any Midwestern town (except maybe on the Great Lakes), there's a lighthouse and a nice beach for surfing. Even in the harbor crowded with cargo ships, the water seems relatively clean, and surprisingly clean considering the amount of coal sitting on its shores. Below is a seaside pool complex - in a style similar to the Cliff House in San Francisco.
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