Palegoldenrod

I had to go into work today because we were moving office (just to a bigger one on the same floor in our building). Our office is right in the CBD of Newcastle, with a nice view of the beach� – and the Pasha bulker as well, lately

From Thursday the police have blocked off key roads to Newcastle East, restricting access to Nobby’s where the ship has beached itself. That hasn’t deterred either the vehicular or pedestrian traffic in the area. We had to get past the road blocks to get in and move our office today, and its lucky we got in early. When I stepped outside to pick up lunch I was surprised by throngs of people, our street full of parked cars (even though you had to get through the road blocks to get into it – or violate a few one-way traffic signs).

Many people are still driving in and parking – well, trying to park – in the CBD so they can walk up to the ship for a final look before it is moved. Those that don’t drive in are catching the train, as the Newcastle train station is only about 10 minutes walk from the ship and there are trains directly from Sydney through the Central Coast to that station. Some of the others helping with the move know people who are coming up from Sydney for the day just to see the ship.

The funny thing is, it was only for a very short time after the ship ran aground that you could get up to the beach itself. The beach has since been fenced off – I think they have even pushed that fencing back to keep people even further away than before. The reason for this is firstly I guess to ensure the security of the ship and the beach property, but I think mostly because of the safety of the public.� The cables they are using to try and turn the bulker can snap – in the past other incidents have included people being cut in half, or having their legs amputated mid shin by these types of cables that have snapped under stress.

When you think about the lengths of the cables and the weight of the ship they are trying to move, if one of them does snap I imagine it could do damage to something quite a long distance away.

Anyway, even though this has been great for local businesses (the Newcastle CBD cafes and restaurants have probably never had so much business in such a short time!) if you are thinking of coming in I’d probably stay at home and have a peek at the webcam of the ship instead.