We’ve all been up towers, on hills and lookouts with a great view of our surrounding city. This is one of the things I love to do in a new city to see how it is all laid out and where things are in relation to each other when exploring on the ground. But nothing can prepare you for seeing your own city from a low flying aircraft with a perfect view of local landmarks that you frequent.
I had this extraordinary experience today when I flew back in to Newcastle from Melbourne. I have flown out of Newcastle many times, but this was the first time we actually flew right past the city centre with good visibility at a low altitude. I was amazed at what I could see. It started by recognising a lagoon at the foot of an inner city hiking trail (Glenrock Conservation Area) to which my eyes moved to a large racecourse, Hunter Stadium, my workplace, Newcastle Harbour, Maitland and the Stockton Dunes.
We were actually really lucky on this flight. There was a delay landing so the pilot just did a few laps of the area and thankfully were sitting on the downward facing side. We had a great view out the window for about 10-15 minutes while we waited in the air. I’m not actually sure exactly what the above photo is of, but thought the patterns were very pretty from the sky.
I actually got a great view of the Stockton Dunes on the way out of Newcastle on Saturday. Another first, because while I have explored the dunes before, the sheer magnitude of them was lost on me. I even got a little excited when I saw the Sygna, a shipwreck just off the beach of the dunes because I’d never even seen it from the beach, just photos. It was one of the those ‘Oh it actually exists’ moments.
Everything just became real.
Not that living in Newcastle is perpetually surreal. It’s just that seeing everything from the air puts everything into perspective. And I mean that 100% literally, and 0% figuratively.
As a sidebar, here is a photo out the window of the plane just as we cleared the clouds. I just thought it was a cool shot because they were so close.
And here is one of some snowy mountains we saw not long before landing in Melbourne. If anyone has a clue what they are I’d be delighted to know!
I realise I sound like an excited kid in a candy store, or even like someone who has never flown before. But looking out the plane window is something I’ll never tire of because, well, I think the pictures speak for themselves.
