Interior of Wollombi General Store.  A working museum. 

 1920 Wollombi General Store and agent for Savings Bank.
Below: in 1913. 

June 2011,  agent for Australia Post.

For sale. Broke Village Store.
It's full on - Fuel, Beer on tap, Bottle shop, Post Office, The Willows Cafe Restaurant, Take Aways, Fruit and vegies, Clothing for the motorcyclist, newspapers.
Cigaretts are on sale which, by law, are not on display, are held in a closed cupboard, (shown in the photo) and the packets have health warnings and, I believe, pictures of deadly disease as a consequence of smoking, and soon, brand names will be banned from the packaging.  A company stated they would sue the government about the removal of the brand names and billions of dollars would be involved. Rejoice all lawyers - more business is heading in your direction. They can usually drum up litigation.
Several legal cases have been in the news recently and the cry is that the tax payer (via the government) is footing the bill.  Well, hugh legal costs are a result of the legal profession which always remains blameless. 

At least 30 garage doors of all shapes and sizes line this back street in Georgetown providing rear access to the homes there..

Pop goes the weasel!  A touch of uneasiness... ambivalence....but the child returns for more.

Preschool stories and television are all about imaginative animals that talk. There is little else. Beginning with Peter Rabbit and Winnie the Pooh who could resist the delightful stories that have captivated us all the while.
Animals are given human characteristics. Is there a hint that animals are not quite good enough just as they are?  Real life animals don't conform to story book image. Do they disappoint? What impression are children left with?
Or is it all a good means of getting in touch with nature and with biodiversity?  

Hotel 'bathhouse' of yesteryear.

Tudor Hotel Tamworth. The town has a hugh number of newish motels.  In contrast is a hotel from about 1930, high rise, with elevator - no less, which long after its heyday maintains some space for guests.  But the stock-in-trade is pub night life, food, music, pokies, weddings, parties and anything. 

All aboard at Kempsey Station. Many of these passengers were taking the train to bypass the flooded Pacific Highway which has been closed at this point for about four days.
The highway is roughly in the distance under the flood.waters which cover the cow paddocks. A viaduct crossed the high and wide river just south of Kempsey station which is on higher ground where a flood free 'suburb' has developed.
Surely it is the preferred area of development but not for the the big duopoly supermarts who have just established themselves down on the banks of the river in the original settlement. The highway is planned to bypass Kempsey township all together.
This afternoon, the New England Highway was in good enough condition except for a few patches, and pot holes were under repair near Murrurundi or thereabouts, police cars were active and the pot holes were largly all patched up in the Singleton area.
Coffs to Dorrigo and Armidale was a wonderful run,  notwithstanding narrow hairpin bends on the long steep climb through rain forests, a big semi trailer or two, several high fast waterfalls splashing the road as they thundered down and the road, which is narrow, has a very low wall between car and a vast sheer drop at several points. Not to be missed. 

I guess these gates are from the time when this property was occupied by a church school. It looks across at Saint Marys church. The entire city block, on Church street, steep, with extensive views, changed and became residential these last 10 - 20 years. 
There, the former convent was in a large double story 'Victorian' style residence, with verandah, out houses, garden and large trees. Then convent was demolished and school closed up, a new building was tried to be swept away again for development.

Saint Mary's Star of the Sea, built on the hill high above the Port of Newcastle. The interior has some wood panelling which is a little uncommon around here.  Well, it was there several years ago but things change. 

Regardless of winter chills, rain and tempest this maiden was photographed.

A yard of pipes in readiness for the work of putting a new sewerage pipe under several suburbs and over to Tighes Hill. 

Turn to virtual nightlife where old parts of the city lose the crowds.  Return to the twenties.
Some photo - not. Click to enrage enlarge.
Or is all this to deter shooting up? Fluorescent blue light use.

Harness Racing Club. Racing began at Newcastle Showground in 1949. In the eighties a 940 metre track began development along with the stadium, nextdoor. International Sports Centre was born.  To become then Energy Australia stadium then Ausgrid Stadium and Marathon stadium may have been another name.

Ausgrid Stadium, western stand, looks complete now while its management has shifted to the Office of Communities in Sydney reports The Herald 7 June.  The Hockey centre is nearby. (Not sports minded, apart from State of Origin, and lost in time, had only just caught up with the change to Energy Australia stadium.)
A shuttle bus to John Hunter Hospital has nothing to do with sports injuries. The newish hospital, several kilometers away, is a work in progress, where parking is a problem, where a hugh block of vacant land began with a pleasant, state of the art building but is growing like topsy in an ungainly manner. However, we are very very fortunate with what we have, relatively speaking.

 Newcastle International Hockey Centre (or is it Ausgrid) is hosting high school state championships  or something like that and they won't suffer heat stress. Hooray!  An episode of truly chilly winter days has arrived. It's like real weather.

Lovely warm country stream in Indonesia for swimming, fishing and washing - the family, the clothing or the 4X4.
Fish farming projects provide a supply of fresh fish for these inland Indonesians and is a very healthy alternative to imported beef. Folk might travel on the bus with a little dripping plastic bag of water with a fish in it. 

Live beef export is more than the horrors at the time of slaughter.  For years, cattle are transported to the port of Darwin by road transport over very long distances, as witnessed in the NT,  and there could be other ways of getting them there.
After the sea voyage to our northern neighbour, on reaching the wharves in Indonesia the cattle are probably loaded on trucks to endure another ride. Some roads are like 'goat tracks'. The journey to slaugher houses in distant parts of Indonesia does not bear thinking about. Admittedly this is only my guess work.

French connection.  203 Pug. Ute or whatever.

A collection of old movies has been on TV. Again. The Wild One and Easy Rider on ABC2 provide a chance to check out filming, dialogue, levels of violence and see what has changed. Was Marlon's angst unconvincing? The filming reveals very little about the motor cycle as machine.
Denis Hopper went from Easy Rider to Mad Dog Morgan (1976 Australian) with rare points and absence of neat twists and turns to gratify the viewer. Things did not end there. The French filmmakers got down to the dark minutia of life - for a change - in the Piano Teacher -  a confronting trio in sonata form.
 Stay with over-the-top and show us again Death In Venice compleate with Mahler magic.  

Stand alone butchery shops have become fewer in number in the suburbs. 

As to meat quality and live-beef export trade to Indonesia, it is unlikely that our Western dishes were traditional in Indonesia and tender grilled and fried cuts of meat were unknown in the old diet. Barbequed kebabs are popular.

Take a lump of bruised tough Australian beef of unknown cut to make the following tasty recipe. Similar to Beef Rendang?

Dry Spicy Beef Curry or Kerutuk (in Malaysian )

To prepare spice paste:
Dry-fry 100 g (1cup loosely packed) grated coconut in a wok over low heat until crisp and golden brown 6 to 8 minutes. Grind to the texture of fine breadcrumbs, then transfer to a bowl.
Put two & half tablespoons of corriander,
one & quarter tablespoons cumin, 
one & quarter tablespoons fennel in a dry wok and stir-fry over low heat 1 minute.  Grind to a powder in a spice grinder, then  add to coconut.
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in wok, add
3cm (or one and quarter inch) galangal coarsely chopped,
15 -20 dried chillies, cut in 3cm pieces (if preferred, shake out some or all of the seeds from the dried chillies to reduce the heat!),
6 shallots coarsley chopped,
5 cloves garlic coarsely chopped and fry until golden brown 2 to 3 minutes. Grind to a smooth paste in a spice grinder or blender, then add to coconut and spices, mix well.
Cut 600 g (one and quarter lb) BEEF topside in 4 x 6 cm pieces. Mix thoroughly with spice paste and marinate 30 minutes.
While beef is marinating, mix 1 tablespoon dried tamarind pulp and 125 ml (half a cup) warm water. Soak 5 minutes then squeeze and strain to obtain tamarind juice. Set aside.
Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a wok and fry 4 cardamom pods, bruised,
6 cloves,
3 cm cinnamon,
1 whole star anise, all over low heat 2 to 3 minutes. Add 1 cm fresh ginger, shredded,
3 cloves garlic, sliced,
4 shallots sliced and fry until golden brown 2 to 3 minutes.  Add beef and stir-fry 2 to 3 minutes, taking care not to burn coconut.
Add 300 ml (one and quarter cups) thick coconut milk and tamarind juce and bring to the boil, stirring. Cover wok, reduce heat and simmer until beef is tender and gravy is quite thick, one to one and quarter hours.  Adding a little water if mixture threatens to stick and burn befor meat is cooked. Season to taste with sugar and salt and serve with rice.

Cape Darnley entering the Port. A schedule may include China, Korea, Japan and Eastern Australia.   Austral Asia Line has head office in Singapore and the fleet can be found around Asia, Melanesia and Australia.

.

Up the wooden hill
to Bedfordshire
Down Sheet Lane
to Blanket Fair.

Traditional English Nursery Rhyme.

Clue: It is evening and the Wooden hill is the stair case
Prompted by: Up The Wooden Hill by S Braun, S McBratney. Published  by Harper Collins.  Update. To be more specific the book was Tell Me A Story and has same details.

A good start to the day.                                                                                                              Concerns are heard about ID theft and privacy yet, it is curious that in Europe, a war criminal has remained anonymous for years prior to capture.