Your Place Or Mine - Episode ONE - NEWCASTLE (Oz)

Sarah Kendall, Iszi Lawrence, Shaun Keaveny, Your Place Or Mine, BBC Sounds — Iszi Lawrence and Shaun Keaveny outside the Studio post recording (Hence pink ears from the cans)

Episode one is out! Always exciting releasing a new podcast and seeing how it is received. Fingers crossed you enjoy it!

Recording this episode was a doddle, not just because I got to drink beer and eat vegemite and tim tams (not together, I’m not a heathen) but because Sarah Kendall is such a breeze to interview.

To be fair she did a terrible job selling Newcastle as a place to visit, pointing out the horrific journey and sizzling weather, while only really dipping lightly into the cafe culture and ocean baths. She also failed to mention the amazing museum with a working ‘steelworks experience’ where light displays and clanging through a stereo system replicate the actual steel works that used to operate in the town a couple of hours north of Sydney.

Despite its obvious set backs Shaun Keaveny was tempted to visit. Presumably because he is northern and has an affinity to coal (Newcastle is the world’s largest exporter of coal by tonnage). But I was surprised how much of what we discussed didn’t make it past the edit. There wasn’t time to tempt Shaun with the secret pink wet caves about an hour south of the town… seriously, they are just off the coast and magical. Get your mind out the gutter.

After researching the earthquake it was fantastic to speak to a survivor, and I don’t care what Shaun says, the place is too hot to live there full time. Though as everything seems to be called Nobby for no obvious reason, it is a tempting prospect.

Do please tell us what you thought of the show - and if you enjoyed it, leave a review and share it with your friends.

Listen on bbc Sounds