Being the thrifty (or as some would say "tight") person that I am, I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a getaway. With our public transport cards, we pay for 8 trips a week and then after that the travel is free. I felt like we should take advantage of this policy and go as far as we could with our free Friday trips.
So I looked at a map, studied the south and north train lines, and decided that we would head to the warmer north and check out Newcastle.
Newcastle is a big town compared to the ones around it. It was started as a convict settlement to mine coal, and it was basically a penal colony up until the 1820s. Since then it's basically stayed industrial, and there is a big, busy port along the coast. The steelworks closed in the 90s, and since then Newcastle has been trying to diversify its economy and attract more tourism. It's got lovely beaches and the restaurant scene is coming along, but it's still mainly an industrial city. So while it seemed there was not a ton to do besides being outside and eating, that's really what I wanted to do for a weekend anyway!
Of course, getting our true money's worth meant that we had about a three hour train trip after work on Friday. But I packed up some snacks and entertainment, and we caught the 5:45 train out of Central.
One thing that Newcastle has done to make the city more tourist-friendly is to remove the train line that cut through the city. Which meant that we had to take a bus from the station outside the city, but there was a shuttle waiting when our train arrived and dropped us off right near our hotel. Too easy!
It was pretty late by the time we checked into our cheap hotel in the city. However, I'd done my research and knew that right around the corner was a bar/cafe called The Happy Wombat. So we dropped our bags and headed out for a warm, happy meal at the cutest-themed restaurant ever!
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