North to the Tropics - Part One

On Thursday March 12, we picked up our camper van and left Sydney. The plan is to head North to the Tropic of Capricorn for the Equinox. We plan to drive some in the mountains and some along the coast.

We love our little camper van. Often we don’t bother putting away the bed because we can set up a table and chairs outside. The rental company persuaded us to leave our big suitcases with them, for which I am glad because we would be crowded otherwise. There is a little refrigerator and microwave which we have used, but we have not bothered to use the gas stove or the sink. We are eating fruit, yoghurt, sandwiches and salads, and occasionally eating out and warming up leftovers. We wash up in the camp kitchen where we are staying. I mentioned the difference in coffee before; well now we have discovered the difference in french fries – chips as they are known here. The minimum smallest order, which costs $3 – 3.50 (US$2 – 2.50) is two to three times bigger than a large order of McDonald’s fries. McDonalds also has what they call a McCafe with pastries and sandwiches – adapting to local tastes.

Anyway, on our first day out we got to Tamworth, the Country Music Capital of Australia, in the hills 410 kilometers northwest of Sydney. The Oasis Hotel was next door to the campground and we went over after supper to listen to the Balladeers sing such old standbys as Send Me the Pillow That You Dream On, Waltzing Across Texas, and It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels. They sang with typical country and western accents, which we also noticed listening to the radio, and did not sound like Australians. As far as we could tell, all the songs were American. However, later we did hear original Australian songs on the radio, although they still sound American when they sing.

Friday we drove North through the “mountains,” really a high plateau, to Armidale, which is a nice little college town with a pedestrian mall that stretches for several blocks. We had a picnic lunch there and then visited the Aboriginal Center and the Art Museum.

We then drove down to the coast on Waterfall Way, stopping to see Wollomombi Falls

and Ebor Falls.

The lookout area for Ebor Falls had some marvelous vegetation. Near this giant mushroom was a magical little stream which flowed through a glen just before it cascaded over the cliff, but it didn't photograph well.

We stopped at Dorrigo National Park, which is a well known rain forest preserve and walked out onto the Skyway, a platform that extends out over the edge of the mountain and over the forest canopy. We say our first walleroo – a kind of small kangaroo, except that I’m still not sure how you tell them apart. I think it is mostly a matter of size.

Unfortunately we had to continue on without taking any hikes in the park because we needed to get to our campground by 6 pm, which we just managed to do. We drove 326 kilometers this day. The campground was doing an evening wine tasting with a local winery, which along with a walk out to the beach was a pleasant way to end our day.