Art’s Farm - Day 1: Tamworth to Wellington

The long awaited and long delayed trip to my brother’s farm started mid morning.

Half of today’s leg was completed by the time we pulled into the generally well maintained Black Stump was rest area, not far north of Coolah. A few shady trees and no one else in attendance meant we could park the van in the shade - fairly important in this sport as it is legendary for flies, so even though table and chairs are provided and a hard roof cover, you don’t want to be swallowing them with you sandwiches. 

There is an amazing array of tags adorning the walls at the back of the shelter sheds and toilets and remarkably few examples of graffiti that you couldn’t show Granny. There was even some good likenesses of characters from the Simpsons.

On into Coolah and an indulgent coffee at the Coolah Bakery who make a good brew and have many a tempting treasure. We were good and just stuck to the hot drinks. Met an old couple who had been diverted during their morning drive from Tamworth when Carrol went under water. They didn’t get to Gunnedah, where the northern side of the town was covered in the dirty tide of the Mooki yet again. They complained of a lack of warnings on the radio, apparently their only means of understanding road conditions ahead of them. Sue tried to convince them they should get the Live Traffic app on their phones but the cause was lost when he said “what’s an app?” and she said “I’ve heard of apps but I have no idea where I get them from.”

How they were going to get to their destination of Forbes is anyone’s guess. It transpired they were from Lismore! You would have thought they would be a little better educated in such things. It does, however, point the deficiencies of a society that is leaving some behind in its continual reliance on technology. What if you can’t keep up?

Today's photos

After our two stage lunch, we continued south and had the choice between getting to Wellington via Gulgong or Dunedoo. It’s had to know if we made the right choice but the road after Gulgong was a nightmare of potholes and slow progress because of road works in order to repair them. We averaged 80kmh over that section of the trip and finally arrived at Wellington after six and a half hours. We’re not in a hurry but it would be nice not to constantly swerving to avoid damage.

We are staying at the Riverside Caravan Park in Wellington, on a huge grassy site right above the river and  an old stand of Red Gums. Dinner was a grazing platter in our deck chairs, watching and identifying birdies and soaking up the serenity. 

On to somewhere near Yass tomorrow.