Nova Castra

I had a wonderful time in Newcastle where I visited my favourite Novacastrians, the Motyka family. My mother met Mr. Motyka, a lecturer at the University of Newcastle, in the 1970s when both happened to be in Poland. I've managed to visit them a few times over the last few years and they've always shown me such kindness. It's always a great time with them on the coast north of Sydney.

To get to the Motykas, I had to take a bus into Sydney and then a train to Broadmeadow station close to Newcastle. My train departed Sydney Central station at 16:12 which meant that I had to catch the 09:00 bus out of Canberra. If I had caught the 12:30 I would have arrived at Central at 16:00 but 12 minutes was too close a margin for me. I arrived at Central around 13:00 so I spent the time walking around Sydney's CBD. I, unfortunately, don't get much time to travel and it has been a while since I've been to that great metropolis. I caught the train at the appointed time and settled in for the 2.5 hour journey.

Newcastle is a major port and is Australia's most populous non-capital city, with a population of about 250 000, I think, making it not that much smaller than Canberra. It has recently worked hard to shed its image of a working class industrial and intellectually backward city with a sort of revitalization, which has worked. The foreshore has been upgraded with modern buildings and trendy restaurants. Newcastle is home to the NRL Newcastle Knights and was the site of Australia's most powerful earthquake in December 1989. People from Newcastle are called "Novacastrians" because "Nova Castra" is a direct translation of the Latin for "New" (Nova) and "Castle" (Castra), although castra could also mean fort, encampment, bivouac or some other fortified edifice. "Castra" is also the root cognate for "-chester/-cester/-caster" endings in English place names such as Winchester, Gloucester and Lancaster

I was picked up by Mr. and Mrs. Motyka from Broadmeadow station just before 19:00 on Friday evening. After the usual introductions we drove to their home where most of the other members were already. Mrs. Motyka's (who goes by her maiden name of Ostrowska) mother lives next door and I also had a chat with her, mostly about the dust storm that had just passed caking everything with a nice red layer. At home were also Olenka, a fellow jurist and licensed solicitor, and Danylo, while the other brother, Oleksander, was in Sydney overnight.

The next day, I got up rather late, around 11:00, having slept for nearly 11 hours, which is very unusual; I must have been very tired. This was the day of the AFL Grand Final and I was determined not to miss it. It was suggested that myself and Danylo go to the Belmont 16-Footers' Sailing Club to watch the game. The Motykas are not particularly into sport and I have to thank Danylo for battling it out and keeping me company. The game was very exciting as the St. Kilda Saints, who last won the championship in 1966 (their only win), battle it out with the Geelong Cats, making their 3rd straight appearance. Although I'm not a fan of either team really, I was cheering for St. Kilda because they really did deserve to win this year, having lost only 2 games all season. St. Kilda lead for most of the game, and the margin was hardly ever more than 10 points but finally the Cats managed to get the better of the Saints. I hope the Saints aren't finished as there's always next season.

On Sunday, I accompanied Olenka, Danylo, Oleksander and 2 of Olenka's friends on an excursion around Newcastle. Our first stop was the Farmers Market, a now weekly event where, not surprisingly, farmers get and other come together to sell their wares. Among the items Olenka bought was some saltbush-fed lamb meat that we ended up having for dinner. It was incredibly delicious. After the market we met up with some more of Olenka's friends at a pizza place in Newcastle which was having a special on for $12 designer pizzas. They were fantastic and I think I'll go again if ever I have the chance. After lunch Olenka, Danylo, Oleksander and myself climbed the Queen's Wharf Tower, perhaps Newcastle's only real attraction and then everyone met up again for desert; I had a slice of triple fudge cake. We then returned home so full that we put off dinner as long as possible.

The dinner conversation was very intellectually stimulating as we discussed various things, my favourite topic being Ukrainian community politics in Sydney. The discussion got very animated as various events and ideological divides were discussed. Here I thought that Ukrainian community politics were bad in Ottawa but Sydney dwarfs Ottawa considerably.

I was off to Canberra the following morning, having once again to catch both a train and a bus. I thanked my gracious hosts and left them with 2 CDs as a thank you for their generosity. It's always so pleasant with the Motykas in Newcastle and I hope to one day repay their kindness.

I ran into some friends on Monday evening and we went out for pizza. Just as we were thinking of heading off, I received a text message from Alice, a friend who works at the harness track. I replied if she would like a visit from myself and Jason, her boyfriend and she replied in the affirmative. After Jason packed away some groceries, he and I biked to EPIC to see the races and he seemed very keen to do so, having never really done it in the past. After talking to Alice in her office for a while we watched the races and made a few fun picks. Jason, feeling a little more daring, decided to place a few bets on and I explained how it is done. He spent $20, which in Australian terms is paltry, but ended up losing it all over the course of 2 races. To be fair, on one of his bets he won $12.00 and put that into the next race, but lost. I, in my usual cowardly way, bet nothing, though I did pick the winner of the last race. Jason had fun anyway which is what's really important.

I'm off to Melbourne tomorrow to visit some more friends. This week will be one of adventure but the next week of the break will be spent at home. It's a good thing too as I have to apply to some government positions and catch up on some reading. Still, all things considered, 2 trips in 1 break isn't too bad.