Autumn in Canberra

Canberra is beautiful in the autumn.  Crisp, clear days and chilly nights with lots of colour in the deciduous trees.

We're camped at the Cotter Campground for a couple of weeks.  Peaceful with no phone or internet reception, but close enough to civilisation that we can keep in touch when necessary.  We also have our satellite phone so we're not completely in a communications black hole.  It is amazing though that we're only about 10km from suburban Weston Creek and our communications are so limited.  The Cotter was one of our favourite spots when we lived in Canberra.  The Cotter Campground is lovely with hot showers and plenty of water, however no power so we are relying on our solar panels and generator.  Although there are a limited number of sites, the campground has been pretty full most nights. Nearby is the recently completed Cotter Dam which has dramatically increased Canberra's water supply.

It's been great to catch up with family and friends and also to take in some of the sights.  We visited the National Library to see the presentation about Walter Burley Griffin and his wife, Marion Mahoney who designed our National Capital.  A display well worth the visit if you can get here before it closes in June.  A bonus was the fantastic views over the gardens and lake.

We looked after our Canberra grandkids for a few days and visited the Deep Space Tracking Station at nearby Tidbinbilla - always a favourite place and worth a visit.  Entertainment was a trip to see the Great Moscow Circus with our grandchildren.  We're all kids at heart and had a great time.

We've had a busy time here and will be making tracks towards the NSW South Coast in a few days.

More From the Armidale District

Our few weeks in Armidale are drawing to a close and Armidale is a blaze of colour.  The trees are a mass of red yellow and orange as the autumn display is in full swing.









The first 2 weekends in April saw the nearby town of Uralla celebrate a Food and Wine Festival.  We drove the short distance to Uralla and bought a "Passport to Wonderland" which gave us entry to a number of local attractions and gardens.  We had a magnificent lunch at the Eastview Winery, with the largest scotch fillet steaks we had seen.

One of the gardens had lots of exotic bantams running around the roses and Alice in Wonderland themed garden areas.

We continued to explore the local area and took advantage of the Scenic Drive leaflets we had picked up at the Information Centre.  We stopped at the privately built Dangarsleigh War Memorial.  This was built by Alfred Perrot to commemorate those who died in World War I.  His son was killed in 1917.  The symbolism of the memorial is that the circle and globe represent the World, the five pillars represent Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Canada and India, the triangle represents England, Ireland and Scotland and the octagonal spire represents the eight countries combined.





Further on we entered the National Park to see Dangar Gorge.  Unfortunately there was no water flowing over the falls; nevertheless the gorge was spectacular.















Then it was on to Gostwyck where we saw the octagonal shearing shed and the picturesque Gostwyck Chapel with its colourful windows.

Tomorrow we are back on the road continuing our journey south.

Armidale, a City of Culture and Learning

Armidale NSW, pop 25,000, is about halfway between Sydney and Brisbane on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in the New England region.  At 1,000m above sea level it has four distinct seasons and can get pretty cold in the winter.  Autumn is beautiful here.  There are many autumn trees and they are all changing colour at the moment.  There are avenues of poplar, claret and golden ash, pistacia, pin oak, japanese maple, and liquidamber, and they all look fantastic.  Armidale is home to New England University, the first university outside of a capital city when it was established as a college of Sydney University in 1938, now a university in its own right.  There are also a number of private boarding schools.  Armidale is a city of culture with many museums and active theatre groups.

We've done a bus tour of the City, a council freebie.  The Armidale City Heritage Tour is highly recommended, it's a 3 hour tour that leaves daily from the Information Centre at 10am (book in at the Info Centre) and includes a knowledgeable volunteer tour guide and morning tea.  Donations for the morning tea and tour are appreciated.  We toured the streets of Armidale and stopped off at the Art Museum (15 minutes), Railway Station (morning tea) and historic Booloominbah (30 minutes) before returning to the Information Centre at about 1pm.

The Armidale Teachers College, now a campus of the UNE, has been a prison and a lunatic asylum.  It was demolished and rebuilt using the original bricks.  Sited on top of a hill there are commanding views of the city.  The museum at the railway station was established by the railway work gangs to preserve their trades.  There is a 1/8th model of a railway bridge, complete in all details and detailed plan drawings of trains and rolling stock.

Booloominbah was built as a gentleman's residence in 1886-1888.  These days it is home to the administration of the UNE.  It has magnificent stained glass windows reflecting each room's use and wood carving.  These and the grounds and gardens kept our cameras busy while we were there.

We've had great weather so have walked around the city centre looking at the lovely old buildings and the intricate iron lacework.  The historic buildings are all well maintained in good condition.  Armidale has 2 cathedrals (Anglican and Catholic) and many churches.

One place we particularly wanted to see is the Aboriginal Culture Centre and Keeping Place.  We were interested to see that they have souvenirs and furnishings from the same fabrics we have used to furnish our caravan.

There are many scenic places near Armidale.  We're still close to the World Heritage listed Gondwana National Parks.  About 15km from the city is Gara Gorge.  There are a couple of picnic areas and some walking tracks.  Near the Blue Holes area is the dam which was part of the hydro electricity scheme which was operational here from about 1870s-1920s.  The flume line which channelled the river water to the pumping station can still be seen.

Watch this space for more on this lovely city and its environs as we continue to explore over the next week.

Farm Sitting Near Armidale

We're spending a couple of weeks looking after a farm about 10km from Armidale in NSW.  We're having a great time babysitting a dog, some chooks and a canary.  Luckily for us the cattle look after themselves.  The weather has been kind although we're finding the evenings are starting to get a bit chilly.  It's nice and relaxing and the view is stunning.

There's plenty to do here.  There's a large dam (really a small lake) stocked with trout and other fish so we've been amusing ourselves with some fishing.  Sometimes we are lucky, but mostly we're not.  We've both managed to catch a good sized rainbow trout, which were delicious!  At last the investment in our fishing gear is starting to pay us back.

We've taken the opportunity to give the caravan a spring clean and a wash so it's looking pretty spiffy at the moment.