Newcastle was our next stop- we found a treasure hunt around the city centre and then we boarded a car ferry to Amsterdam. 15 hours above the rumbling engine in bunk beds was an “experience” but the up side was we saw Minke whales, bottle nose dolphins and at least 20 different groups of harbour porpoises as the weather was perfect (calm seas and beautiful sunset) for spotting the wild life. We also saw several birds including a puffin.

Newcastle had some interesting buildings. The “slug”, the mirrored building in the photos, and a pedestrian bridge that rotated to allow ships to pass under. Unfortunately, they didn’t let you stay on the bridge while it was rotating to see who could stay on the longest. Adventure tourism has yet to hit the North!

Elise – I really enjoyed the treasure hunt we did through Newcastle. it meant that we got to see a lot of the city (without Adam getting bored.) I also enjoyed seeing lots of sea life on the ferry to Amsterdam, we saw over a hundred Porpoises as well as three Minke Whales and a pod of seven or eight bottle nose dolphins. It was awesome to see so much marine wildlife.

Adam: On the way to the Netherlands we took an overnight ferry there. On the ferry we saw lots of sea life and had an enjoyable time as the weather was perfect for seeing the sea life ( stated above)

Tessa- The treasure hunt through Newcastle was a good way to see the city while still being self guided. The ferry trip was really fun (apart from the vibrations) and I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of wildlife there actually was on the North sea. The North sea is shallow so it never gets too cold for the harbour porpoise.