(2015/03/28)… everything hast to come to an end, Sydney was about 145km away now. Last turn north was to do a short visit in Newcastle. The historic Fort Scratchley, one of the first in Aussie, displayed a lot for their old guns. There was also a tour going into their tunnels with an guided tour by an old veteran. The small tour with total of 4 people was really nice and he explained very well the history about the fort and it’s rooms, development and displayed artefacts. Time has gone very fast and the short visit became a bit longer. The tour ended half an hour before 1pm, where the have an ritual 1pm o’clock gun shoot. Of course i had to stay and watch that. The fort was also a perfect lookout to see the city, the harbour, Nobbys beach and watch some big ships getting in and out. For the 1pm salut, they used 500g gunpowder in the smallest gun, which did an extreme loud explosive sound. Not to imagine how the loud these guns, especially the biggest, had been when they were in used. The guide explained that more windows where broken during the attack by the Japanse through the enormous loud sound of the guns and it shockwaves then from the projectiles which were shot form the Japanese submarine. I liked the visit because the admission at all was for free and just the good guided tour costed $12 which was acceptable.
To save some more money, i only had booked a hostel in Sydney on the 29th, so i had to stay near Sydney for the night to have almost the full day for tomorrow for sights. Of course there aren’t any free spots to stay near the city and i had to drive to an lookout at the Hawkesbury river. In the far distance i already could spot the skyscrapers of the city. I checked what else is around to discover and noticed that the Blue Mountains are just half an hour away and at least one sight is doable before it’s getting too dark. There was only time for doing the Wentworth Falls and a hike to some cool spots with views down the mountains. I have noticed that the road was continuously going slightly upwards but i couldn’t imagine that i had reached about 1000m of altitude. Back at the lookout and the spot to stay for the night, it was transformed into a show ground for people with their tuned cars, doing burnouts and other idiotic stuff on the public streets. I was okay with that, because was already warned by some comments in my app which guided me from camp spot to camp spot. At about midnight it became quieter, but with earplugs, it hadn’t disturbed me and even parked in good distance helped to find my sleep easier…