Doughnuts and a gym challenge may not sound like they go together at first, but a couple of Newcastle businesses have turned that old thinking on its head to raise awareness and money for R U OK?
Doughheads and Real365collective - a Wickham-based holistic health club where people can work on their mental and physical wellbeing - have joined forces in support of the well-known mental health organisation, aiming to raise $3000.
Ben Burgess, who was named Newcastle's first official R U OK? community ambassador earlier this year, owns and operates Real365collective.
He told Topics the fundraising effort had reached about halfway towards its target and donations could be made online until the end of this month.
Ben said Real365collective - which focuses on "positive mental health awareness, self care, group fitness, community, yoga and meditation" - hosted a successful team challenge day at its Wickham space on Saturday as part of the fundraising month.
Doughheads has also been donating a proportion of doughnut proceeds to the cause each day - there have also been Doughheads and Real365collective voucher giveaways as part of the effort.
Visit ruokchallengeevent.everydayhero.com/au/real365-doughheads-realtalk if you want to chip in.
Need for speed
Newcastle Police Station was a prime trackside location when the Supercars circus was in town last weekend.
Eagle-eyed Newcastle Herald photographer Marina Neil spotted some police officers on the balcony giving their radar guns a workout as race cars zipped past on Saturday - she shot the above picture.
Topics is willing to bet those officers don't often see their radar guns record numbers that high around the Hunter.
Petrol pain
Speaking of high numbers, petrol prices shot up severely across the Lower Hunter in the past week, with one Topics spy finding a price board in Newcastle showing a cost of more than $1.60 per litre for unleaded-plus-ethanol - usually the cheapest stuff.
The NRMA's weekly figures released on Monday showed that the average regular unleaded price in Newcastle jumped by 18.2 cents per litre last week, compared to the previous seven days, up to 159.1 cents per litre.
Meanwhile, it soared by a whopping 34.5 cents per litre in Maitland to 169.7 cents per litre.
There was barely any average price change in the remainder of the regional NSW locations on the NRMA's list, though the Central Coast recorded a 25.7 cent per litre jump.
That's far too expensive if you ask Topics.
We wonder whether it's a coincidence that petrol prices skyrocketed in the week the region expected an influx of visitors for the Newcastle 500.
