Cardiff NSW

On Monday, I decided to walk into Cardiff as I saw a used bookstore at the center of town when we drove through on Sunday. The walk was very difficult because of the heat and the hills. At one point I thought to myself "oh good...I'm going to have a heart attack on the first day I'm in Australia!"

An irregularly shaped suburb of Newcastle, Cardiff is located 8 mi west/southwest of Newcastle's central business district. Early Cardiff was a coal mining center and noted for its fruit growing, especially peaches and plums. In the early days produce was transported to Newcastle by horse and cart.

Cardiff is an older town and, like many towns in the U.S., the "downtown" area has several boarded up shops. Currently it has a post office, pub (hotel), real-estate agencies, take-away shops (take outs), tattoo studio, pharmacy, hair salon, small supermarket, a small used book store and a library.

I went into several of the shops and at the used bookstore I purchased a mystery book by a local writer. The book is set in Sydney, the Blue Mountains and Victor Harbour in South Australia.

The salesman described the author's writing as a bit dicey and wanted to warn me. I guess he thinks little old ladies can't handle "dicey". I started chuckling when he said that and thought about all the dicey authors we read at our book club. If he only knew!

I also visited the Cardiff Library where I found a book that I must look for when we visit the bookstores. It is by an author that lives in Australia and the book is not published in the U.S. Juliet tells me that they just opened a Borders bookstore in Newcastle. Whoohoo!!! You know I will have to visit there.

The main northern railway line passes through Cardiff and is located up a steep hill from the downtown area. It also has good bus service and I plan on checking that out and riding the bus somewhere. Hopefully when I do, I won't get too lost!

Climbing up the steep hills on my way home, one foot at a time, I saw a motorbike cruising down the street and then riding on the sidewalk. As I watched him, I realized he was delivering mail -he was a mail man! For some reason, I thought that was interesting.

Needless to say, I was exhausted by the time I got back home. I took a cold shower and a long nap.