A Day on the Harbour (or two)

Nothing is more impressive than a cruise ship up close

Newcastle’s harbour is compact and very accessible, which makes ship watching a passive interest for all who enjoy the foreshore.

Celebrity Millennium is one of the larger vessels to visit Newcastle, and Channel Berth at Carrington was chosen for these leviathans. Though 5km by road from the city centre, it’s just a quick trip across the harbour to the ferry wharf. A pity, too, in that a remote berth deprives Honeysuckle and The Foreshore of atmosphere and spectacle, and as a cruise destination the harbour suffers slightly.

Now the good news. Ships as big as Millennium are best rotated squarely in front of Queens Wharf - the perfect vantage. Unfortunately the pointy end was towards Stockton and we chose the city side.

Mrs Throsby and I were there on The Brewery mezzanine enjoying a quite one at the appointed time, but I was soon fully occupied chasing the action with my lens. Surprising how quickly a ship can be moved. There were few second chances during this shoot. Day One on the harbour captures the Millennium at berth, amid the to and fro of passenger shuttles, fishing runabouts, and random coal freighters drifting by.

Millennium is 300 metres long, weighs 90,000 tonnes, carries 1000 crew to serve 2000 passengers, and was launched in the year 2000. More at Wikipedia. See also Celebrity Cruises website. Passenger cruise ship visits to Newcastle are listed at the Port of Newcastle website.

Millennium’s water shuttle heads for the CBD while bulk carrier Capstone arrives.

Day Two

A happy late-lunch crowd and a perfectly normal afternoon's proceedings at Port of Newcastle. The fun starts as tugs sidle up to the giant and drag her backwards down the harbour to us. Here it is, a blow by blow record for those unable or unlikely to witness an event like this.