Armidale

Lightning Ridge – Armidale:  21 August [548 Km]

Wow!  We just had a night when the temperature got down to minus 1 – that was a bit of a shock after the weather we have had for the past two months.  Still, we coped with jumpers and so forth.  We got away just after 8.00 am on what would be a quite long day to Armidale.

We drove down the Great Inland Way past Stanley, the enormous emu, and then turned onto the Gwydir Highway:  again, we were driving along new roads for us.  As we turned, we passed a paddock with dozens of emus roaming around;  what an incredible sight after all our travels to finally come across a lot of emus.

Our first stop was Collarenebri for petrol:  it’s only a small town and we pressed on to Moree, where we had morning tea.  We continued along the Gwydir Highway to Inverell, where we had lunch in a lovely park by the river.

Then we turned onto Thunderbolt’s Way and drove through to Armidale along a good quality road which had little traffic on it.  We arrived at the Lewer’s home in Armidale just after 3.00 pm, so that wasn’t too bad after travelling more than 500 km.  [Question:  Who was Thunderbolt and what did he do?]

It was great to see Janene (and Milo again) again and we enjoyed some afternoon tea catching up on news.  Tim then went to the Cathedral to meet Ron and Robyn Perry, who were very busy getting papers organised for the Armidale Diocese’s Synod and other meetings, and Douglas Bucknell – the CEO of the Canberra and Goulburn Diocese’s Anglican Investment and Development Fund.  Douglas and Tim were going to talk with Armidale Diocese about the future of their development fund next day.  That evening, we enjoyed a most relaxing dinner at Rick and Janene’s home, with Ron and Robyn and Douglas.

Armidale:  22 August

After a very relaxed early morning, Tim and Rick set off for the Cathedral to meet with Ron and Douglas to discuss the prospects for the Armidale Diocese’s development fund.  Meanwhile, Janene, Robyn and Kerryn did their own wandering, with a coffee and cake stop for good measure.

After Tim had taken Douglas to the airport, Rick and Janene drove Tim and Kerryn to a lovely river nearby where we enjoyed afternoon tea.  We also tried a bit of platypus spotting without any success.  Rick then gave us a guided tour of Armidale and its environs.  He is a great advocate for his new city and, in part, that is because there seem to be some good fishing spots around. 

That evening, we had a wonderfully relaxed dinner at Ron and Robyn’s home.  It had been beaut to catch up with our friends and spend some time with them.  We relished the opportunity to exchange news on a wide range of topics and generally enjoy each other’s company.