Tuesday 1^st July

Last night we thought was cold but it was only 0 and the sun burnt that off pretty early so it looked like being a good day.  

We didn’t have too far to go to Armidale but it is all uphill really as we’re climbing higher into the Great Dividing Range.   Not far up the road is a lookout at Moonbi, from here you look back down to Kootingal where we stopped last night and a ‘selfie’ at the lookout!

  

We got to Armidale, the highest city in Australia, the city welcome sign tells us, and the GPS tells us that that is about 1300 metres amsl.   After having a look round  and doing a bit of shopping we give our friend Simon a ring to let him know that we are on approach.

Simon and Jane live on 25 acres of beautiful land higher up in the hills to the north of the city,  the sort of property that we would like but already we can feel how cold it is and it’s still only 3 o’clock!    We squeeze the van into a sheltered part of the block next to the house and drop in for a cup of tea and a chat, we saw Simon in Perth 3 weeks ago but didn’t have a great deal of time to catch up.

We are invited to dinner in the evening, retire to the van and bed, as it is likely to be the warmest place for the next ten hours!

Wednesday 2nd July 

Our thermometer tells us that it got down to -3 last night and we really believe it, getting up is quite a traumatic exercise but once we’re up and about and the kettle’s on it’s fine.

Looking out of the window we see how the locals get the blood circulating…………

……. a few rounds of pugilistic exercise……………works for them!

We had a couple of things to do in town this morning so by the time we headed out to see the sights we were a bit behind schedule.   We had intended to go to Dorrigo but we only got as far as Ebor, where we decided it was time for lunch.   Having satisfied the inner persons, we did some sightseeing, includi ng stopping off at a trout hatchery and acquiring a couple of specimens for tea.

The next stop off is at Wollomombi Gorge and Falls where the Wollomombi and Chandler rivers meet to form the Macleay in the Oxley Wild rivers National Park.    Unfortunately, the angle of the sun makes this photo difficult to work out but the scene on the ground is really spectacular.   The gorge is 250 m deep.

 

The photo above right and the two below are taken from Point Lookout, one looking south east towards the coast and the other looking east.

  

Can you imagine being Oxley, the Surveyor General, looking out here and trying to find a way through these ranges, incredible.

At another scenic stopping off place, Banksia Point, we encountered a Lyre Bird, this one’s for you Jackie & Pete.

  

These birds have to be the greatest mimics of the natural world, being able to copy anything, not just other birds but sounds from the unnatural world, from car alarms to chainsaws, try this link www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjEOKdfos4Y

Tonight we went to ringing practice in Armidale, they normally practice on a Thursday but had kindly changed the day to suit our itinerary.   I was fortunate to have played a significant part in the project to install this lovely little eight back in 1996 but Pat had never been there before.

Thursday 3rd July

Another minus 3 night and we are ready to leave Armidale, which is a bit unfortunate as Simon and Jane are nice people and the area is beautiful but we need to head north and look forward to some lower temperatures. 

  

It is mid’ morning by the time we have extricated the van from it’s parking spot and are on the road.   We are still climbing to start with and the troopie doesn’t really warm up until we have negotiated a couple of low gear hills.   We max out at 1400 m before beginning a series of descents into warmer climes, crossing the state border into QLD at Wallangarra at lunch time.   

It was coming up one of these hills in 1993 that we first experienced Bellbirds.   Their call is a strident pinging sound and as we were grinding up the hill in low gear we kept hearing this noise and, thinking it was some to do with the camper trailer, eventually stopped to check it out.   Having got out of the cruiser it became obvious what the noise was!

  

  

It is already noticeably warmer when stop for lunch, things are looking up. We had a walk round and found this train cut out with a map of Southern Qld on it.

Warwick is our next stop for a refuel, then on to Kalbar Showgrounds where we plan to stay tonight.

Arriving around 1600 we are pleasantly surprised to see only a few vans, where the caretaker is really friendly and points us to a nice level block with power and water and we are quickly settled in.   It was 0 degrees apparently last night –  luxury!