If You Ever Get The Chance, Come & See The Tugboats Dance

One thing that Newcastle does well & that is we put on events that showcase the fabulous harbour location. Whether it is New Years Eve, Australia Day, the Mattara Festival & even

Truck Awareness Day is held next to the glittering jewel that showcases all the beauty of this wonderful city.

This time it was the 2009 Maritime Festival, celebrating 210 years of Newcastle being Australia's 1st commercial port & although the weather was as co-operative as it could have been, the day was still spectacular.

There were skydivers, The RAAF Roulettes Flying Team, RAAF Hornets flyovers, stunts planes,heaps of stalls, free music & heaps more to see. Of course most of the action was centered around the harbour, where you could step aboard the HMAS Parramatta or the James Craig tall ship, watch the jet ski or wakeboard racing & watch the Newcastle Port Corporation tugboats perform their very special ballet routine.

Late in the afternoon the 292 mtr, 91,373 GRT (gross registered tonnage) bulk carrier Genco

London left port bound for Taiwan fully loaded with Hunter coal. This ship is one of the largest bulk carriers that visit Newcastle & can only leave on the highest tide due to the fact that she only has 1.5 mtrs clearance under her keel, which doesn't leave much room for error! If you look closely at the attached photo, you'll notice

the fisherman in the runabout trying desperately to start their engine to get out of the way of the wash from this huge vessel.

It was a really highly entertaining day & the best part part was that most activities were free. Yep, Newcastle really knows how to turn on a special day.

Working With The Tools You Got

Although this blog is primarily for pictures taken with my good friend, my Canon 400D, there has been occasions when I've been caught out without my trusty offsider to capture the photographic opportunities that present themselves. On these occasions I've always got my Nokia 6210 Classic with its 2 megapixel in-built camera, hardly a comparison, but it is still able to capture those unexpected moments.

These moments usually happen whilst I'm out on the road at work (the Westpac Rescue helicopter at Redhead bluff for instance) & where it is usually impracticable to have my 400D sitting in the van or truck. So last Wednesday afternoon was one of those 'you shoulda had ya camera' moments.

At the last moment I was taken of my rostered shift & asked to cover another one that basically covered the western side of Lake Macquarie. I had a bit of time before I commenced the run, so I wandered down to the lake, just to get out, stretch the legs & take in the views.

Well what I saw was stunning!

There was Wednesday afternoon yacht racing, kids playing in the park, people sitting on the jetty 'wetting a line' & the most gorgeous late afternoon reflections coming off the lake.

Yep, sometimes you just can't plan photographic opportunities & it is these times that you just have to work with the tools you got.

Our Working Harbour

One of my favourite pastimes in Newcastle is to grab the camera, grab a few dollars (so I can buy a proper coffee) & head down to the harbour for a couple of hours.

People keep saying to me 'haven't you already enough pictures of coal ships?'

Perhaps

But everytime I go down there, I see that something different is happening. E.g. the picture taken above shows two coal ships, the one leaving is the Matsuura & the one entering is the Shin Sapporo Maru. Now I've never seen two coal ships, with the six attending tugs, using the port simutaneously. It was a real credit to all, including the two attending ships pilots*, that this was done without incident!

The picture below shows of of Newcastles fishing fleet returning back to the marina, accompanied by a flock of seagulls (birds, not the music from an obscure '80s band!) & pelicans. I watched as performance continued all the way up the harbour & until the boat berthed ... it was just amazing.

So even on what started as a misty Newcastle winters morning ended turning into a beautiful sun drenched afternoon, full of surprises. It made the 6hr walking trip around the harbour well worth the effort.

(* the pilots are from Newcastle Port Corp & they take control of all heavy shipping in & out of Newcastle Harbour.)