F&F Tour, Days 1&2 - Uralla

Waratahs reunited - from left, Graham

Frost, Andrew McNeill, Michael

Connolly and Greg Johnson

The opening two days of this tour, designed specifically to catch up with friends and family and in doing so, taking digs in places we might be familiar with but have never stayed, delivered spectacularly on all counts.

Our first night in Uralla was spent with old cricketing friends at the Top Pub in Uralla, the highly successful and locally loved business of a former team mate Matt Campbell. We had planned to gather the Waratahs Cricket Club of Armidale back in October 2020 ... but a certain pandemic caused a postponement. Unfortunately, in the interim, the worst happened when Matt died suddenly, leaving our hearts in disarray and our plans as a forgotten collateral.

The plan to reschedule meant that we would never have gathered anywhere else and walking into the pub early on the Saturday evening was like coming in after an afternoons battle on the cricket field all those years ago and being greeted by a lot of old men! That was until the time paradox provided the dawning realisation that I was one of the old men. So many old mates in the room - old in the sense of former mates from long ago - and several worthy opponents too. Of course, for many of us, this was a continuation, in person, of the contact we had persisted with for twenty years.

From left: Mike Porter, Rick Porter
& Roger Sattler

Reminding ourselves how good we were and how much better we had become in retrospect would have been quite enough but there was an added and future oriented benefit to be had from the evening. The last official Waratahs game - as far as we were concerned - was played in September 2010, at the previous reunion, where for most of us, the play was cheap but the talk was the finest quality gold and platinum. It transpires from information recently gleaned, that the last game Waratahs played as a club in the Armidale competition was at the end of the 2005-06 season. Its first was in September of 1950. Sick and tired of referring to ourselves as former players of a now dead club, we made the decision to bring the club to life, not to play in organised competition but in order to slightly formalise the types of events and contact we have been having for the past twenty years and to include both more of the former players and those who were in regular contact with the club and its activities.

Long story shortened, Waratahs rides again! 

We also had a toast to those who have left us since 2010. Age is gradually gobbling us up and many of the best of us now watch us from an ethereal pavilion, no doubt cheering us on!

On the Sunday, after I had breakfast with the remnants of Saturday night's late finish, we attended Captain Thunderbolt's Grave. The afore mentioned was a a bushranger in these parts back in the day. By all reports, a champion horseman but beyond that the reports vary: a sometimes Robin Hood type and at other times a ruthless, murdering swine. Regardless, Uralla makes great mileage from his having been shot and delivered to his maker on the outskirts of town and therefore claim him for their own. This despite his far-ranging criminal activities from the Hunter Valley to the Queensland border. We paid our respect - fairly disrespectfully - by recording our video version in song of the smash hit by Tex Queensland and the Foreheads, which told the story of his fame and his last resting place ... Thunderbolt's Lament. Follow the link. You'll thank Sue later for her outstanding work!

Sue and I embarked on a very pleasant and well organised afternoon Heritage walk, complete with humorous descriptions and information from a former teacher and resident, Kent Mayo and well signposted buildings and dwellings. Although we made use of the guide available in a mobile device format from the internet, we also met a charming member of the Uralla Historical Society, who when passing buy on her mobility scooter and noticing our interest in the buildings, offered us a printed pamphlet of the same guide from the carry bag on the back of her scooter!

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Our digs were the small but very tidy and very clean Queen St Caravan Park, set beside the spacious and well maintained Alma Park in Uralla, with Rocky Creek running quietly behind it. During the Gold Rush days of the 1850's, Rocky Creek provided all the treasure but today, the caravan park does the heavy lifting. Old but scrupulously clean amenities, community garden, very reasonable tariffs and friendly hosts. Pretty much the definition of all we want on the road.

What a great way to start a tour.