Round the New England blogging traps 9 - Hunter Valley focus

Kurt Gidley who plays for the Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League competition has shifted his blog to a new address.

On Snippets and sentiments, Gaye is, I think, still adjusting to the move into town. Despite the fact that she is renting, she has not been able to resist the temptation to start fixing up the garden! Early one morning in July and missing the Hunter Valley, she took the car and her thermos and drove back out into the Valley to explore the early morning.

Back in May, I missed it at the time, in Newcastle’s shame, newcastleonhunter mourned the violent and sudden demise of the old Palais Royale.

This is a very well written and passionate piece. Growing up further north, I never visited the Palais Royale, although I was fascinated by the building. There was certainly nothing like it in Armidale!

I remember one day on the beach at Newcastle a girl tried to pick me up with the line didn't we meet last night at the Palais!

Things must change, but I think that some of the things that have happened in and to Newcastle are a tragedy, one made worse by what I see as the loss of memory of Newcastle's broader past. To quote from the piece:      

Newcastle is a contrary and perplexing social microcosm: broadminded citizens of a global village yet disconcertingly xenophobic, parochial, even naive, to foreign visitors.

I do not fully understand Newcastle. I think that one has to live there to properly understand the place and especially the modern Newcastle. I used to know it quite well, but that was in a different era. Growing up, I just thought of Newcastle as the North's big city, a place made more interesting because it was so different. 

NEWCASTLE AU. CITY PHOTOS PLUS HUNTER VALLEY AND BEYOND continues with its regular short posts and photos on Newcastle and surrounds. I really like this gentle blog.

Craig Wilson's Media Hunter has been ranked 95 in a list of the world's top advertising blogs. More importantly, perhaps, it ranks second in the average number of pages looked at per visit. No less than 6.7 pages! That's a quite remarkable number. Crikey I feel envious! This blog presently sits on 1.5.

The writer of Saved by Psychotherapy, a new blog, grew up in Newcastle. Some of her posts contain material on Newcastle life.I found the blog a little sad, but hope that the writer continues.

Not on blogging but related, FlIckr has a Newcastle and Hunter Valley photographers group.

Finally, ric woods photography newcastle nsw australia is a new Newcastle photo blog.

I have run out of time. Time for bed.