Newcastle TINA and NYWF

Well, here I am, on the ground in Newcastle, after enduring the delays of Virgin Blue, the extortionate cab fare from Newcastle airport into town, and the non-stop gabbing from a roommate at the Backpackers by the Beach where I am staying.

I had a hard time finding somewhere to eat after 9:30 pm in this town, I tell you. There is variety there but it all closes early. It opens early too, which is a relief, because my internal body clock woke 7 and 1/2 hours after I fell asleep at midnight. Why midnight you ask? Well, after not finding anything vaguely open on Hunter Street in Newcastle, I walked for a mile or more until I found Darby St, Newcastle's answer to Newtown, West End and Fitzroy. Admittedly, it is more West End than Newtown, but it's cool, it has a funky vibe and the punters are not just yobbos out for a lager, like the louts on Hunter Street.

A totally awesome Turkish dude made me the nicest vegetarian pide this side of the Hawkesbury River. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I couldn't eat wheat. At that time of the night my only other alternative would have been Maccas. So not an option.

Instead, I tucked into this pide which was so delicious it would make your mouth melt, not the cheese. He then introduced me to random artists and musicians from Newcastle who were popping in for their fix of pide from him. It lifted my spirits all right. He followed this up by giving me two freshly baked loaves of Turkish bread for my breakfast the next morning saying he had to support starving artists. Gotta love him. Bless his heart. Also couldn't really say, I don't eat wheat man. So I accepted his gift and passed it on to other starving artists this morning.

One of those was the infamous Kludi Hines, masquerading as Brendan Lindsay to pass incognito through the crowds at TINA. After all, Kludi became quite the celebrity at TINA last year....

So after a fortifying latte in bland but cheap cafe, I made my way into central Newcastle to try and cobble together some sort of routine. I signed up for Power Yoga on their $20 for ten days special and found the closest ALDI.

For those not in the know, ALDI has the cheapest Fair Trade Organic coffee on the market. At $4.99 you can't go wrong. I'm usually a Blackstar (independent roastery in Brisbane) fan, but with only the NEIS scheme to support me at present and the help of OZCO to further my writing business, I can't be as choosy as I'd like. Just political and healthy.

The other cheap thing there is the oatmeal, because despite the brekky having been cheap, I'm not going to fork out $10 every morning for eggs and bacon. (a) It is fattening and (b) I'm short on cash at present.

So there you have it peeps, my first post for TINA.

I will be checking in and microblogging from the iPhone later today, so stay posted.