Committed Travellers

Breakfast at Belle Vue Cafe was surprisingly good, but the coffees were on the weak side. It advertises as a dog friendly cafe, but that is simply because there are outdoor tables on the footpath.

Anita picked up a few groceries then I dropped her back at the van for some R and R with Blue and Tilly as she didn’t want to come with me touring Warwick’s attractions. There are lots of excellent historic sandstone churches and civic buildings in and around the city.

The marble statue is of Thomas Joseph Byrnes who was Premier of Queensland for only five months in 1898 as he died from measles at age 38 years.

Warwick has many historic homes. Pringle Cottage is another sandstone building which these days is part of a museum complex but unfortunately is closed due to Covid.

I stayed out of the CBD for the rest of the day as there is so much to see around the town and further afield. Close to Pringle Cottage I passed the delightful Abbey Boutique Hotel. The Abbey was built for the Sisters of Mercy in 1891. During WW2 girls from All Hallows School were housed at the Abbey. By 1987 only three nuns lived at the Abbey so it was sold to private interests. If they were dog friendly I would love to stay here!

Parts of Warwick are subject to flooding from the Condamine River and other tributaries. The Abbey is built on high ground as are the surrounding houses, some of which are well preserved historical homes.

I drove 18kms north of Warwick to the Glengallen Homestead which is gradually being restored from almost total ruin. Once regarded as the best house in the colony, the homestead was uninhabited from 1927 and was not maintained, almost being demolished in the 1940s. In 1993 it was purchased by the Glengallen Homestead Trust Ltd and restoration work began in earnest with funding from the 2001 Centenary of Federation Fund.

This is the remains of one of the earliest flushing toilets ever installed in an upstairs bathroom. It makes a caravan cassette toilet look simple

I drove back to our caravan park via the railway station precinct and saw this fabulous example of a Victorian era hotel opposite the railway station.

The only train that runs is the Downs Explorer steam train to Stanthorpe and Wallangarra. These trips have to be booked well in advance so remains on the bucket list.

The properties to the east of the railway station are close to the Condamine River and appear to have suffered flooding in the past. I walked across the rail lines on the old pedestrian bridge.

I picked up Bluey for an outing to the off leash dog park, only to discover it has suffered recent flood damage to the fence with built up debris. Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea to build a fence so close to the Condamine River. We enjoyed a riverside walk instead.

We packed up in light rain at the Armidale Showground. Another van was waiting to take our spot. There were huge areas available but we must have chosen the best space.

The rain was negligible on the drive to Glen Innes. We stopped so Bluey and I could stretch our legs. On the main street two police officers were getting names and addresses from two boys aged about 12 years. Blue baulked at walking past the group so one of the officers moved out of the way for him.

Only a few shops were open and not many people were about so I could take photos of some of the town’s historic buildings.

There are several places close to the New England Hwy with interesting granite rock formations, but they are not generally accessible when towing a caravan. I have a geotourism map of many geological sites in NSW so will have to plan a trip to visit some.

We stopped for lunch in Tenterfield in a side street. Directly over the road was the Tenterfield Saddler building made famous by Peter Allen.

The rain returned and we considered stopping at a different caravan park near Stanthorpe, but then the rain eased so we continued on to Warwick.

We will spend two nights here on a drive-through site in a caravan park beside the highway. Tilly was being pestered by these noisy pheasants.

After setting up the awning in light drizzle, I walked Bluey around the park so he could get his bearings. We didn’t see any other dogs. We spent the rest of afternoon at home among the gumtrees, in the Bushtracker but not under any gumtrees.

Cooked breakfasts at the Goldfish Bowl Cafe were not as good as their breads and pastries. I had an OK rice pudding which Bluey enjoyed with some of Anita’s overcooked eggs.

The two people sitting at the next table were focussed on talking to each other. The man’s toddler ran out of the cafe towards the road five times, and the woman’s dog snuck out of the courtyard through the bushes. It was stressful just observing this irresponsible behaviour.

Armidale has lots of parks so we drove to some then walked around one near the centre of town. I wanted to see some of the historical buildings so we headed towards the Beardy St mall. There are many lovely buildings in this street. The Art Deco Tattersalls Hotel is impressive.

The 1852 Wicklow Hotel is opposite the Tourist Information Office where we could see this caravan up on the first floor patio. We didn’t go inside to look at it but presume it is used to make meals such as pizzas.

The J R Richardson building is a fantastic Victorian building, at least on the outside. It was originally built as a chandlery and continues to exist as a shopping arcade. The details in the tower are superb!

Tilly had time out of the van on her lead stalking the galahs that were 50m away! She hid under one of the groundsheets again until I rescued her from the ants. We took Blue to an off leash dog park but there were no other dogs to play with him.

We spent the afternoon enjoying pastries, watching the tennis, and I was alternating between knitting and crocheting. A little rain fell late in the afternoon, but so far no storms.

We left Tamworth today after farewelling our friends. We have not decided whether we will return for the delayed TCMF in April, but were assured there would be a site available for us. There are permanent residents who might be available to mind Bluey when we both want to go to events.

We stopped for morning tea in Uralla. The New England Hwy passes through Uralla, but this does not detract from this attractive village. A few years back there was no reason to stop at Uralla, but these days Uralla has several interesting cafes, craft shops, and an interesting wool shop.

Gold was discovered near Uralla and undoubtedly helped fund some of the quality historic buildings. The brickwork in this building is attractive.

The 1892 building is now a private residence with a delightful garden. The Top Pub is next door and it also has a large attractive garden.

We are staying at the Armidale Showground. A camp drafting event finished here yesterday and an extensive cleanup is continuing. The aroma of horse poo wafts in our windows!

We drove to the Goldfish Bowl Bakery for bread and other goodies. I was enjoying a slice of sourdough bread with Blue watching every mouthful. I gave him a couple of small pieces and he devoured them and the rest of his dry food.

We are glad to have been away from the Gold Coast while Omicrom affected so many people. There were cases two doors both ways from our house, and I just learnt two friends who live a couple of streets over have Covid.

On Sunday morning I put the awning away and cleaned and packed up some of our gear. Tilly was helping me pack the cargo bay.

We decided to go back to Goonoo Goonoo Station for lunch. We should have tried another restaurant as the lunch menu was the same as the dinner menu from the other night. The gardens are cleverly designed. This cactus is near the entry door.

Tilly keeps commandeering our friends’ chairs. As soon as a human leaves their chair Tilly hops in.

We had a quiet evening enjoying toasted sandwiches for dinner. Of course we have been watching a lot of the tennis.

We had planned to have breakfast at the Bell House Cafe, but it was too crowded so we settled for take away coffees and Anita cooked breakfast back at our caravan. Sonny’s Bakery had a problem with the steamer oven and our sourdough did not rise properly. We will try cutting our free loaf tomorrow if we can.

We walked around part of East Tamworth which is an older residential area. This attractive house is now used as a Veterinary Hospital.

Today I spent time hosing dried mud off our groundsheets and tidying up the cargo bay of the van. Anita washed the blankets in the critters’ crate so I gave Bluey another bath. I was wearing a cat T-shirt while drying him.

I visited the Tamworth Regional Gallery to see the exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of the TCMF – yet to happen. This denim suit was my favourite exhibit. Most of the embellishments are earthenware so it would be very heavy to wear. The library was still open so I browsed the collection of knitting and crocheting books.

Tilly continues to entertain by trying to get into other vans, or exploring the infrastructure. She was at the end of her lead trying to get into the motorhome. She found a comfortable rest area on the A-frame of the big van.

Late the afternoon we noticed an underground water leak. I reported it at the Office and the owner and his offsider have been working in a muddy hole for three hours repairing the old pipe.

We left Bluey in the Bushtracker for the first time this trip, as we were going to be in and out of shops. He was a bit crazy when we arrived home!

There are several large historic buildings along a major thoroughfare in Tamworth – Marius St. We walked past several grand buildings. The Catholic Church, Saint Nicholas, is on a large block surrounded by an impressive brick fence.

One building behind this fence is now used as the conservatorium of music. Several other buildings along Marius St are well preserved. My favourite is the Art Deco hotel opposite the railway station which is now used as a day spa. The doorway is impressive with stained glass windows.

We had breakfast at the Deco Cafe on Peel St, sitting inside the restaurant as we were dogless. The Goldfish Bowl sourdough bread was delicious. It is made in Armidale so we will be able to buy some on our trip home.

We have has a few days of cool weather, an amazing contrast to the 44°C days we experienced when we were here for the TCMF a couple of years ago. Last night the minimum temperature was 13.5°C and we had wind gusts up to 60kph. At least the mud is drying up.

Tilly spent time outdoors with me, and I have been taking her for fast walks around the park to tire her out. When she came in this evening she put herself in the crate and covered herself with the blanket. Earlier in the day she was trying to get in the driver’s door of the motorhome.

Yesterday it rained most of the day, at times it was heavy. Water and debris flowed under our awning and mud formed under our groundsheets. I used tarps to reduce the mud washing down.

I did not want Tilly or Blue to walk on the muddy areas so carried them to the grassy sections for their walks. They both spent a lot of time sleeping yesterday so it was not surprising she was active last night!

The rain eased late afternoon so we drove to Carmen’s Restaurant south of Tamworth for dinner. Anita’s motive for going to Carmen’s was ice cream – apparently it is very special but I am not a huge fan of ice cream.

Today the rain stopped and my cleanup began. I hosed mud off the tarps and folded them once they were dry. I moved our special gtoundsheets over the muddy areas as these allow the air to flow through them and the ground will be able to dry. I also washed and packed away my gumboots hoping they will not be required again while we are here.

It is much cooler today so we managed a decent walk around Tamworth. We ordered sourdough bread from Sonny’s Bakery, but it will not be ready until Saturday. We had good coffee at Sonny’s next to the Pig and Tinder Box hotel located in a magnificent former bank building.

I made sure Tilly and Blue had lots of exercise today, and they are both very tired this evening.

We farewelled Kelly who is moving on today. As rain threatened Anita and I walked along Peel St under shop awnings. During the TCMF it would not be possible to walk far along Peel St with dozens of buskers performing at their allocated sites, and large crowds at coffee shops and shops. Today it was disconcertingly quiet.

Coffee at the Deco Wine Bar and Restaurant was excellent. My croissants were ordinary but Anita enjoyed her eggs. Blue walked like a well trained dog, with no sign of his reluctance yesterday at Nundle.

Back at the caravan park Bill was busy on his latest project, so I drove Chris to town. It started pouring soon after we left. I parked near where Chris needed to go and the rain shifted up to heavy. Staff in the building told me the footpath had flooded last week and invited me to wait inside. I had left all of my masks in the car but she kindly gave me one.

The water rose quickly and was over the ramp into the building. The young man in the photo was soaked from crossing the road to move a small car away from the risk of water damage. Shortly after I took that photo he dived into the water just for fun! After the water level dropped a bit I waded across to the car and moved it forward so Chris could get in more easily.

Back at camp a huge volume of water had washed debris across our groundsheet and there was a lot of water and mud. In case further rain was coming I laid out tarps to try to deflect the water hoping it will run past our site. I resorted to wearing my gumboots.

Very little rain fell after my efforts so the diversion is still to be tested. Six of us went to dinner at Goonoo Goonoo Station, one of our favourite restaurants. We all enjoyed our main courses and desserts, and the wonderful venue. I paricularly like these garden beds.

Our short morning walk was around the lovely village of Nundle. Blue was a reluctant walker so Anita succumbed and carried him for a while.

We had breakfast and coffee at Nundle Fuel and Cafe, then walked to the Nundle Woollen Mill. This clever business opened in 2001 using locally produced wool processed on restored historic woollen mills collected from around the country. I bought several balls of wool and a colour chart so that I can order further supplies online.

Back at camp Tilly demanded time out of the Bushtracker and spent most of the afternoon on her lead, or sitting in any available chair.

Our friends cooked a BBQ dinner for our group, with others contributing salads. We had an enjoyable evening in this very quiet park. Bluey and Hugo can wander around with their leads on, and separately chase their respective balls. Hugo does not appreciate Bluey chasing him when he is chasing his ball!