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MOVING ON: Peter Guy in Christ Church Cathedral, with the organ pipes in the background that he has filled with musical sounds for almost 15 years. Pictures; Max Mason-Hubers

Having filled Christ Church Cathedral with heavenly music for almost 15 years, Peter Guy is seeking new challenges by studying in the Old World, but he is also leaving with a sense of disappointment at what he sees as declining standards in some areas of local music education.

Guy to seek keys to new music in Europe

Podcast: What you need to know before you vote in Newcastle

Newy Burger Co owner Ben Neil outside his restaurant in Hunter Street. Picture: Peter Lorimer

If politics is about change, then Newcastle must be a political town, with the reworking of the city's face and character in recent years, to the point that it barely resembles the place in that 1970s hit, "The Newcastle Song", but one thing that hasn't changed in more than a century is which party the voters choose to represent them in Canberra.

Why the candidates vying for the safe seat of Newcastle aren't taking anything for granted

Founder of Survivor's R Us Ann-Maria Martin outside the organisation's warehouse in Cardiff. Picture: Scott Bevan 

Flanked by the Tasman Sea and Lake Macquarie, the seat of Shortland can feel like an island, but the challenges and issues that are playing out in the lead-up to the May 21 federal election can be found in this electorate, as people contend with the rising cost of living and ever increasing property prices.

Election podcast: What's at stake in the battle for Shortland

Podcast: What the voters of Paterson are thinking in the lead up to the federal election

Shane Hamilton, businessman and the president of Maitland Business Chamber, beside the Hunter River. Picture: Jonathan Carroll 

Named in honour of the poet who created "The Man from Snowy River", along with an early colonial explorer, Paterson stretches through the Hunter, from the retirement heaven around Port Stephens to a parcel of the traditional mining - and Labor - heartland of the Coalfields, so there is much to talk about in the lead-up to the May 21 poll.

Wild ride for voters and candidates in seat of Paterson

MATES: Maroba resident Gloria Pattison adjusts the poppy she knitted, which is being worn by Alf Carpenter. Pictures: Marina Neil

Just a few days after turning 105, the World War Two veteran is travelling to Sydney to participate in the Anzac Day march, where, it's believed, he will be the oldest person involved - and while he is being provided with a Jeep, Alf Carpenter is determined to march.

Veteran Alf Carpenter marches past 105th birthday, bound for Anzac Day

Election podcast: Issues from Hunter stretch from the vines to the mines

Wine businesspeople and couple Lisa and Andrew Margan at their business near the village of Broke, in the Hunter electorate. Picture: Supplied 

After the 2019 Federal poll, the electorate of Hunter, once considered a safe Labor seat, tumbled towards marginal territory, largely because of a word that still rules in the region and at the local ballot box - coal.

From the vines to the mines, these are the issues that will decide the 2022 federal election in the Hunter

TEAM FOR TONGA: Sione Finefeuiaki, centre, with some of the volunteers helping pack containers with donated goods for the island kingdom, which was hit by a tsunami in January. Pictures: Jonathan Carroll 

He was formidable on the rugby league field, but Sione Finefeuiaki has learnt from his own family in Tonga just how destructive Mother Nature can be, which is why he has arranged for containers of goods - donated by Hunter people and businesses - to be shipped to his homeland and provide some relief from across the seas.

Containers of care for Tonga from Hunter

PUTTING WORDS IN THE MOUTH: Chef Ludovic Poyer and author Lynda Sloan inspect the fresh seafood and new book, "Port to Plate", at The Poyer's restaurant at Lemon Tree Passage. Pictures: Simone De Peak 

Port Stephens is widely known as the Blue Water Wonderland, but it is what comes out of the area's waters that shines on the pages of this new seafood cookbook, written and illustrated by members of the local community, from chefs and artists to fishers.

Port Stephens seafood the star of new cookbook, "Port to Plate"

After a loving restoration, the historic R766 steam train is back on the tracks. Picture: Jonathan Carroll

For about 16 years, Chris Richards has poured his heart, soul and a lot of money into a steam locomotive that finally hit the tracks on Friday in Maitland, carrying passengers once more, but there are concerns whether the "iconic" and historic engine will have a home in the Hunter in the future.

Photos capture an historic steam train puffing into Maitland station, but can it stay in the Hunter?