Blogs from Armidale, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania

This morning we set out on an Armidale heritage walk using the map for the Heritage Bus Tour. We decided against the bus tour because you just cannot take decent photos from a bus! Our first stop was at Central Park right opposite our apartment. The park incorporates Armidale’s War Memorial. Across the street we found St Mary’s and St Joseph’s Cathedral which is only a block alway from St Peter’s Cathedral. Our next stop required a bit more walking to reach the Wool Wagon/McDonald Park. McDonald Park is, like the entire district, dry as a bone and the wool wagon was safely ensconced in a wire cage so neither was particularly photogenic. The Armidale School opposite is using bore water to keep its playing surfaces green so its oval was in stark contrast to McDonald ... read more

This morning we set out heading east from Dubbo on the Golden Highway on another glorious blue sky day. Chilly again to start with, but the sky was absolutely cloudless and the sun was shining. Rather than taking us into Denman to cut across to the New England Highway at Muswellbrook the SatNav suggested a minor road to Muswellbrook from Sandy Hollow. This route took us via Castle Rock which was scenic and the Muswellbrook open cut mine area which was not. What a bloody big hole in the ground that is!! We learned later at the Tourist Information Centre in Muswellbrook that the mining activity is completely unrestricted these days and the tailings are getting higher and higher. Most of the old locals have moved out of the area so there is no-one left to ... read more

Today being our first day in Tamworth, we decided to get out and about and check out a couple of places that were recommended. First up we headed to Chaffey Dam and the camp area as it was highly recommended for a future stop over for a few days. Although it's very dry in the area, the dam and the camp area still looks great and we will add this site to our increasing log of places to re-visit and stay a while. The dam camp area is an honesty system with the suggested rate of $5 per day per vehicle. The facilities are small, but clean and there are showers. A bonus. We then headed for the west side of the dam and the welcome surprise of a massive very healthy Blackberry outcrop crowing wild. ... read more

Our travels today took us to Nimbin, a town made famous in the 60’s and 70’s where the hippies moved to. It still has a lot of alternative lifestylers there selling pottery and organic food etc., with long haired weirdo’s walking around in bare feet trying to look cool! The hemp cafe stunk of weed when we walked past! Pete was even asked if he would like to buy a joint! Next stop was a Sunday market selling much of the same thing. Best part of the day was travelling through some beautiful countryside which looked so green after the last two rainy days. The town of Lismore was our stop yesterday. A quiet place but with plenty of shops, airport and a shopping mall. Bought a new Navman GPS as we were unable to update ... read more

7TH October 2012, Woke to a beautiful sunny day in Armidale. Spent the morning relaxing and catching up on blogging. The girls caught up with their homework. Met some beautiful people from all over the country, travelling around Australia. The girls don't come across too many children. They did however meet Lauren, a beautiful girl with her family that are travelling around Australia.... read more