From Surgipelago, the Beach Surgery encyclopedia
The Circuit at Nobbys
For other Newcastle-based walking tours and participatory works, see Newcastle adaptations of Beach Surgery, Psychogeography and Supernovacastria.
A self-guided walking circuit around Nobbys Breakwall and Newcastle Harbour, designed as participatory meditation on Leif's doubled-eye and the Kármán line motifs from the novel. Participants follow a marked route (painted discs, signage) while listening to layered audio: field recordings of the harbour, whispered passages from the novel, meditation sequences, fragments in multiple languages.
The circuit passes the lighthouse, breakwall base, ruined fortifications, King Edward Park, a disused storage vault. Participants report temporal disorientation and heightened sensory awareness. Some leave small objects (stones, fabric, coins) at landmarks; these accumulate informally.
No official sponsorship; the circuit emerged from community discussions 2020–2021 and is volunteer-maintained. Participants occasionally report finding small mesh antennas nested in banksia tree-knots overlooking the breakwall—origin and purpose unknown. [citation needed]