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Published: October 22nd 2010
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Thankfully we had a much better night’s sleep on Saturday night but it did get very cold and was almost down to freezing. Thanks to Sarah and Darryl there is a very handy little electric fan heater in the caravan and it warmed us and Sweetie up nicely. Some places inside the caravan felt damp but the rain had been so heavy that it would have been amazing if nothing had come in. Sunday morning, although cold, was a much brighter and calmer day and we felt more confident about the journey to Armidale which was only 100 kms. We stopped for a while at Uralla and then went on to find the caravan park in Armidale. There were plenty of powered sites available although some of them were a bit soggy so we took a while to decide on one. We could have gone on a ‘drive-through’ site but we went for one that Graham needed to reverse on to. There was no-one about which was just as well as it took him quite a few attempts to get Sweetie in the right place. There is a real art to reversing with a caravan and Graham hasn’t quite got it
sorted yet! (I would be hopeless I’m sure so I was very sympathetic!) After setting up and relaxing for a while we drove into town to have a quick look round. Armidale is 1000 metres above sea level and has a reputation for cold nights and boy was it cold on Sunday night. But I had fished out the blanket and we’d put the fire on so we were nice and cosy. There was a frost so the temperature must have gone very low.
On Monday morning I wrapped up warm putting my fleece and long trousers on but Graham bravely continued with his shorts. Today we went exploring along the ‘Waterfall Way’ which was the road east out of Armidale. Our first stop was at Wollomombi Falls which is in the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park. There were spectacular views from the lookout of both the Wollomombi and Chandler Gorges and their two waterfalls - Wollomombi to the left and Chandler to the right. One of the highest falls in the State, Wollomombi Falls drops about 200 metres down a jagged cliff face. We walked further around the ridge to Checks Lookout and then did the one km
walk around the gorge rim to the Wollomombi River. By the time we had done that the day had warmed up considerably and I wished I had put some shorts on too! We had our picnic there - it was such a wonderful spot. Later on we drove to Ebor Falls which is where the Guy Fawkes River takes a spectacular plunge over basalt rock. The now extinct Ebor Volcano created the basalt rich area around Ebor more than 18 million years ago. We went to both the viewing platforms and because of all the recent rain the double tiered falls were really impressive. There are a couple more places on this route that we didn’t have enough time to do justice to and also they were some way off the main highway on dirt roads. On the way back we diverted to a tiny village called Hillgrove which now has a population of 95. We thought we might get a cup of tea there but all we could see were a few houses and a lot of signs about various shops, hotels and businesses that had once thrived there but now there was nothing where the buildings once stood.
In about 1880 gold was discovered in the area and at its peak about 3000 people lived in the town. For 10 years it was very prosperous but then declined rapidly. It was rather sad to think what was once there and how it is now. Later on that evening we had a great value roast dinner at the Armidale RSC and a stroll across the park and through the centre of the town.
On Tuesday morning we had a bit of grocery shopping to do so went into town and explored the centre more thoroughly - it is an excellent shopping area with plenty of parking and a pedestrianised area with many coffee houses. We had a quick stop back at the caravan to off-load the shopping then went off to find Dangars Gorge. We used Sat Nav to get us on the right road out of town (it’s very useful for that sort of thing) - the gorge was about 21 kms from Armidale and more than half that distance was on a dirt track that wound through several properties. After the delights of the previous day we thought that Dangars Gorge couldn’t possibly top them but
it was stunning. It was a short walk to the Gorge Lookout and a slightly longer one to the Gorge Rim Walk which took us to the very edge of the falls. We paused then to eat our sandwiches and then tackled the walk to Dangars Falls Lookout. The route included a bridge across the river and went on to Rock Wallaby Lookout. It was a wonderfully scenic walk - the only disappointment was not to see any brushtailed rock wallabies but they are not very common and don’t move around much during the day. We did see a few small lizards and a water monitor sunning itself by the river.
We drove on along the dirt road to Uralla which was further than we had expected. Along the way we came across a lovely little church right by the roadside, covered in ivy. It was the All Saints Church in the tiny hamlet of Gostwyck. The church was originally built by the widow of Major Clive Dangar. Apparently there is a service there once a month. Leading from the church to a nearby homestead was an avenue of 200 elm trees making it look very British. When we
got to Uralla the time was going on so we had ice creams and headed back to the caravan park in Armidale this time along the highway.
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