Second Day in the Hunter
Categories: work, newcastle-and-surrounds
Date: 22 May 2012 10:54:14
Thank you for all the comments and encouragement; I greatly appreciate it. And Steve: yes; going from guru to newbie gave the old pride a bit of a well-needed kick! Thank you for sharing your experience and, yes, humility goes a long way. I had to ask and re-ask a few things, but I did get started on some work in the afternoon. And I was helped greatly by my next-cubicle-neighbour who is exceptionally friendly and willing to help.
An interesting chat with one of the owners as I left today on the difference between journeys in Sydney compared to Newcastle. While in Sydney one-and-a-half to two-hour drives across town are not that uncommon to be unusual, a drive of 30 minutes up here seems to be considered long and an hour may well as be a day trip!
One thing that has shocked me is the mental exhaustion: after not working for only 4 months it seems my mind is out of practice. Another early night I think.
I was up early this morning for a walk. I wandered through some bush along a bike/walking path, and came up to Grahamstown Dam as the sun was rising behind the clouds.
As per Hunter Water website, Grahamstown Dam was constructed between 1955 and 1965 as the Hunter’s third water supply source and is the Hunter’s largest drinking water supply dam, primarily providing a sufficient volume buffer to maintain water supply in a severe drought. As my focus on zooming has given up, those things you can see in the water are ducks. Eden had my camera today and took some rather good shoots of their dog, her mum and sisters while daddy was at work and some of me packing my bag for work.
The area here is known as the Hunter, or the Hunter Valley if you wish to be more verbose. There are a number of excellent wineries, chocolate stores and cheese factories a bit inland, and it is a very popular destination. Coal has been and still remains a vital industry. The name Hunter for the region, and a major river (the Hunter), comes from Vice-Admiral John Hunter, Royal Navy Officer, who lived from August 29 1737 to March 13, 1821 and succeeded Arthur Phillip as the second governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1795 to 1800.