MICHAEL'S EXPLORATIONS

In December 2002, CRCMH enthusiast Michael and his fellow travellers produced two wonderful collections of site photography- totalling 204 images - just for you. On this page, you'll find his series of 39 night images complete with descriptions for each shot. On the next page, you'll encounter his collection of 165 daytime photographs (non-annotated), gathered during a subsequent foray.

MISSION BY NIGHT

This is a great series of 39 colour photos depicting a recent exploration of the hospital by night. These images focus on the northern half of the site and show how drastically things have changed since the footage in the Virtual Tour was produced. Click on the thumbnails to enlarge.

NOTE (July 2004) - THESE PHOTOS - AND INDEED ALL LINKS TO THEM ELSEWHERE - ARE OFFLINE AT PRESENT, AND WE'LL BE RESTORING THEM FOR YOU VERY SOON.

116kb		The kitchens - a grill perhaps. They'll just never prise that baked-on cheese off now.
94kb		The kitchens - Maybe one of those machines you get in fairgrounds with which you control a useless robotic arm to try and pick up soft toys. Well, I did say "maybe"...
62kb		The remains of a sink. But at least the tiles look hygenic.
96kb		A time-travelling commode perhaps? Oh, and some donut cooling racks. Any advances on that?
69kb		Lovely tiles indeed. Ideal for a female-oriented bathroom.
75kb		A load of 1984/1985 medical equipment catalogues - festering in floor mung (as is often the case around the CRCMH).
48kb		A lemon corridor in one of the northern wards. The carpet has seen better days. At least, I hope it's a carpet...and not a field of pungent toxic fungi.
107kb		Not exactly the world's most comfortable bed. Note the remains of an actual Tannoy® speaker box on the floor. These were originally installed in every ward.
53kb		"Echoes" - A reflection on the present state of things.
98kb		Indoors or out? The garden of a Mexican restaurant perhaps?
105kb		Are you supposed to find overgrown bathtubs indoors?
69kb		The physiotherapy gymnasium. This is actually the remains of an early exercise bench / machine just like you see in modern gyms (photo of it in use appearing here soon). Some semi-tasteful (rare) "street art" here too.
57kb		Utter mess, by night. This is the remains of the once glorious "stage room."
59kb		Ditto, only with spectral floating light ball of doom.
90kb		Physiotherapy pool - being enjoyed by its latest clients: a wooden cable spool and what appears to be a door. Strange.
103kb		Likewise. And if you didn't have fungal feet before entering the pool, you surely will by the time you get out. All this graffiti is a bloody disgrace though.
73kb		The collapsed Stage Room - once a favourite haunt of Pwürg. Note interesting bed pieces. Okay, so they're not interesting, they're just bed pieces.
141kb		Ivy-covered oil tank near the northern walkway.
113kb		A more distant shot of the same thing. Looks quite inviting does it not?
56kb		Operating instructions for a Wallace & Tiernan Hypochlorinator. Just in case you've forgotten how to get yours working properly - it's all here for you. Woohoo!
109kb		Boiler Room - lovely rich Mediterranean colours invite you to ponder the mystery of the eerie rectangle of bricks. Maybe.
134kb		Boiler Room interior with pipeline.
79kb		A spectral view of the Stage Room remains.
89kb		More of the same, only with less spectres. Believe it or not, the world famous Buxton Chair is under all that lot somewhere, as is the piano of doom.
93kb		The Stage Room again (sob, sob). It's not completely surprising that it collapsed of its own accord though, given that it was the oldest building on the site.
57kb		The caved-in Stage Room again - complete with radiators. Great for those chilly winter night explorations.
64kb		Gates at the northwest of the site. Beyond them lies, amongst other things, the location of the CRCMH mortuary. Imposing.
97kb		Ooh - it's the power switches for the operating theatres. The caretakers wouldn't have wanted to have pulled those by accident.
85kb		You wouldn't want to have to hunt for the "correct wire" in all that lot, would you?
56kb		A burnt out fusebox. Ah right - so that's why the CRCMH has no power.
45kb		Sidney Nolan's Ned Kelly emerges slowly from a Boiler Room smokestack... or so it seems.
90kb		A boiler. In the Boiler Room, funnily enough.
117kb		Interior of one of the boilers. You wouldn't want to get in there whilst it was working.
69kb		The boiler again. Some nice textures in there though. Stanley Spencer painted a lot of stuff in Tyneside that looks a lot like this.
79kb		Top of boiler. There's not much chance of getting any of those bolts undone.
67kb		The Boiler Room office. It may look like a mess but it's a proverbial goldmine. An array of indispensible plans and blueprints have been unearthed here over the years.
99kb		Plan of what appears to be the Maternity area - taken in situ where it was found in the Boiler Room office.
92kb		Who ever said that Morris Minors don't stand the test of time?
73kb		The November 2002 Exploration Team. Give 'em a round of applause Ladies and Gentlemen.

And now, to see the hospital atmospherics in (quite literally) a different light - take a look at Michael's second collection:

THE HOSPITAL BY DAYLIGHT

Thanks to Michael for letting us pass these moments of adventure on to you. We've incorporated them into The Shrine to ensure that it remains as comprehensive a resource as it can possibly be, though you can also view the above images in their original context here - and likewise, here for the subsequent daytime series.

Incidently, the photo text above is by Damon (which might go some way toward explaining its tendency to drift off into utter drivel). Perhaps Michael might be able to add some more poignant comments about the subjects of his photography here soon. In the meantime, read some of his exploration tales here.

Remember that these photographs may be subject to copyright, so if you have any questions regarding anything other than your personal enjoyment of them, please contact us and we'll happily pass any such matters on to Michael himself.