In Moree, northwestern NSW.
The shortest day has been and gone but now in Newcastle it would be as cold as it gets by day, a wear wool type day. 

Arrive in Newcastle and on leaving the airport either feel right at home or somewhat jaded on seeing a brand new Maccas outlet. However, Lamb [ham]burgers have arrived.  Now, would they be a local phenomenon?
And the idea for the McCafe service originated in Australia, I understand.  The car park is equipped with free air to pump up the car tyres again on the traffic returning from Stockton beach and the sand dunes just down the end of the road.  Is this in competition with the service station on the other corner?  No stone unturned.

This last coffee pot is in the style that I have seen local Italians use in the past - as do many other people.

.... One aspect of Arabic life is their hospitality, and the single food with which this is expressed is coffee. 
There are certain rules to observe.  First, do not refuse a cup: to do so is an insult to the host.  
Your cup will be replenished a second time and a third, and more if you do not indicate to the host that you are satisfied.
A simple little jiggle of your empty cup from side to side indicates that you have had sufficient.
Only a small portion of coffee is served - a third of a cup is poured each time and the handle-less cups are very small.
It is always served unsweetened and flavoured with cardamom. 
Taking three cups of coffee is expected of you rather than just one...

I have no idea if this info is up to date.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Billions of Novocastrians make up the bigger picture and become incorporated into branding a hotel.

The Royal Oak Hotel Cessnock.  Large old hotels are found dominating corners around Kurri Kurri and Cessnock .  Built around 1900 to 1920. Could they become more fully utilized and integrated into the vinyard or  'wine country' scene?
If the hotels were given the right image and doings then possibilities would be created for day trippers and other tourists. Would the reality be too much for those hooked on theme parks?
Asian tourists are the future 'they' say.  Hotels like these don't exisit in China and contrast with their super cities which won't be found around here. But what's the use of travel to see more of the same?
Ni Hoa!  Try learning Mandarin, it's great. My one or two words and characters even help.
WANTED: New leader of the opposition.  Abbott clones need not apply.

Often this pub in Islington is very lively and vocal.  

Follow the red arrow!

Outer suburb. Still life with retro car, take-away - burgers, fish and chips etc (with 'non-traditional', whatever that is, shop keepers,)  and remnants of a post office site. Fish and chip shops were often operated by people of Mediterranean descent but those older generations have retired, or by Anglos. 

On the corner of Church Street, up from the courts, the once home of a member of the legal profession and family -  more of the 'old school'.

Sydney Junction Hotel vies with Hamilton Station Hotel on the far side ....of the railway crossing  (which some would close). 

Politics in the Pub is at Hamilton Station Hotel every month.

There's nothing left but to be totally virtuous after the latest 'good' news from the experts that alcohol specifically causes cancers. 

A Creamery, a road side collection point.
In past times, believe cream was produced by those who were a long way out of town and outside the official dairy system. The volume of cream was a manageable quantity as compared to milk. Doh. The farmer seperated milk into cream and low fat milk. The milk was use to raise calves and pigs and the cream was sold, most likely, for butter making. 
Nation wide network for fast internet?  In your dreams!  No distance out of town by own standards and even mobile phone coverage ceases to exist. Cow-cockeys must have much better phones that work well in the countryside. It doesn't worry me but it shows up the weaknesses in the system.
We are not very inventive. There would be certain aerials that a local could build as an active point of contact by the community of mobile phones. I guess there is money to be made in keeping non-mobile landlines in use.

Just another corner. In times past, The Carlton was a guest house for a traditional sea-side holiday, in Newcastle East, not far from the beach and the city centre. It was turned into apartments and balconies were added.

The lone store at the junction at Woodville sells fuel and a bit of everything and is an agent for Australia Post. Local kids arrive by bike after school.
The tall pine trees are dying of old age despite various efforts to preserve them.

Amazing news: Logging in old growth forests in Tasmania will end but it will take some time to achieve.
A real environmental activist knows how their work is a life time venture, it means involvement over the long haul.
Self interest motivates some other citizens. Do nothing about environmental issues until some threat looms which, for example, could marginally devalue certain property and ventures, then take to the streets in protest.
All the same, I do little for the environment except for drawing attention or supporting topics and efforts for a lighter 'footprint' wherever possible, like, questioning energy consumption. Take a look at the energy used by giant HD Televisions. LED LCD televisions use less power.

This afternoon, when it wasn't raining, the sunlight highlighted a 'ranga phenomenon!  A house is rebuilt using bright laminated lumber joists that come in 'ranga tones.
A disused (arn't they all) corner shop is altered to add to the housing stock. Demolitions are a source of hard-to-get timber in odd sizes suitable to fix any repair problems in our house.

My gross weight: 82 kg (-1kg)

In 1938, glass tiles made an appearance here and a milk bottle took shape. Dairy Farmers Corner was a landmark in Hunter Street West, Newcastle.  A car dealership is found there now probably for Mazda and Peugeot. While Klosters BMW occupies the adjacent corner.

Wanted: a brick layer! Time flies and it is 21 years since the Newcastle earthquake hit at the end of 1989. Ever since then, this house has been supported by timber posts.
But now the time is right for reconstruction. The front room is open-air and the old bricks have been cleaned and are surely ready to go again.
Old brick chimneys were damaged and removed from many dwellings.
No disrespect is intended to those in the recent massive earthquakes.

Things to do in a heatwave: Get the shopping out of the way early.
An original old shop, Adams Hair Styling, mit barbers pole, remains at The Junction. How does it compare with the salon in St Kilda here a few days ago?  Overall, The Junction has become gentrified.

Heatwave: Don't get in the shade, under the trees, if it gets windy!

High Noon in Laman Street.  Specific little illustrations warn of risk.

The artist, Margaret Olley sketched this view of Ordnance Street. From the Obelisk - as mentioned yesterday

Below: William Dobell Margaret Olley 1948. Winner of the Archibald Prize.
Oil on hardboard. Art Gallery of NSW.

Country town with the old and new.
Wot? a new style 'burger? A real bread roll is a marvelous improvement. However, it is well nigh impossible to copy a greasy juicy burger from a local, infra dig, fish and chips shop.

The Leyland Brothers from Newcastle were outback adventurers and film makers and their work was considered infra dig by some experts while many others loved them. Sadly Mike Leyland has died. A reference is made to them here in the archives 3 August 07 showing the ultimate reproduction: Uluru.

Meals on wheels

On a corner of the park in Lambton the citizens are blessed with flowers and with books in a branch of the City Library.