Tooke Street was the fifth and final house I was to live in during my time in Newcastle for uni and that brief start of a potential career in television. It definitely had the most character and potential - at least that's what the real estate agent claimed. It was an old pile of bricks, falling down from the ground on up, mouldy to the point of potential lung diseases and filthy from whatever squatters squat there before us ('us' is the other two lovely cakes in the picture - Lucy and Clare).
In any university town, there's a period around the end of January every year, when the country kids come back to the city and need to find a place to live (or squat) before uni starts in February. It's a stressful time of year, especially when your other two country kids are still in the country and can't help out with searching, applying, being denied, and eventually cleaning the above mentioned Tooke once we were accepted. You start out the year with such high expectations of a brand new house, ocean views, dishwasher, and a vegetable patch - but end up with the Tooke.
Once you get past the thread-bare carpet, mouldy bathroom ceiling, cobwebs behind the doors, overgrown lawn, flaky ceiling plasters, and that old/dead/damp people smell, the Tooke isn't really that bad. You can make any house into a home with four important elements - housemates, furniture, knick-knacks, and baking.
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| Early morning drinking AND a Kitchen Party! What more could you ask for?! |
I know Lucy and Clare from my brief stint at International House college at the University of Newcastle. I shared a flat with Clare and Lucy lived close by, and there were many shenanigans in that semester of college life. I was not allowed back to college for the next year (very unfairly if you ask me) so after my Christmas holidays at home in Armidale, I was able to take a massive, and thus far extremely successful step and move in with Phill in a tiny flat in Newcastle's Bar Beach. That was 2008. In 2009, Phill moved home to help run the family business and I had the task of finding that elusive rental property.
The Tooke has location, location, location down pat. It was about a seven minute walk to Bar Beach, three blocks to Darby Street and two to Darby's Pies. I could walk to work at NBN in 15 minutes...or drive in two. Centennial Park and the Cooks Hill Bowlo were across the street, and Coles was an evening stroll away. And then they built an Aldi, whacko!
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| New Years Eve at the Tooke, 2009 |
There were a couple of times that city living got to us country girls. I was woken once by a girl peeing in the garden outside my bedroom window. I was woken another time by a phone that someone had dropped in same garden. I was woken yet another time by Clare running into my room screaming that there was someone at her window. There was, and his bike was still leaning against the front fence. We called the police, I guarded the door and his bike while Clare turned on all the lights. I turned for one second to make a very witty joke to Clare, and the sneaky bugger managed to swipe his bike and ride off into the darkness. We slept on the couch that night. After my time at the Tooke had ended, there were (I think?) two break-ins, a couple of computers nicked, but everyone safe and sound in the end. Home contents insurance, for those playing at home.
In the three years of the Tooke, there were multiple house mates coming and going. Lucy lasted the longest (and not just because of the alliteration), and every new housemate has different stories, different memories and possibly different lung diseases.
But it was a good time. Look how big our delicious smiles are!
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| Lucy, Clare and Kate: Tooke Street Pioneers |
Where: 47 Tooke Street, Cooks Hill, Newcastle
When: 2009
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