Day 7 Friday 20/6/2025, icy tableland to sub tropics, Uralla to Bellingen

It was a much warmer 2 degrees last night but the morning is foggy.

We’re on the road early and catch the morning traffic as we pass through Armidale. I would like to spend time in this university town as there are a lot of grand buildings with gardens to match. We always seem to be on our to somewhere else. This morning there is still a little autumn colour on the trees and it is a delight.

We turn onto the Waterfall Way and find ourselves running along the Great Dividing Range at 1340metres above sea level. There are many waterfalls just off this highway that we’ve explored on other trips. The creeks are fast running streams and the paddocks are rocky. After an hour’s drive through thick forests we break out into green cattle paddocks with tall stands of gums. It’s 11.5 degrees and sunny. The paddocks soon give way to rows of deciduous trees and fern gullies and we’re in the town of Dorrigo. It’s 14.5 degrees and we stress out trying to fit the car and van into the only rather small service station in town. Dorrigo is unique for the fact that being high up on the top of the range it is always much colder than its neighbouring town, Bellingen.

As always, we hold our breath when the road drops down the face of the range in a series of zig zags made beautiful with flowing waterfalls cascading beside the road. A few minutes later we reach flat farmlands with acres of nut orchards beside the rushing Bellinger River, and yes, it’s 6 degrees warmer.

We can’t check into the Bellingen Showgrounds until 2pm so we find ourselves a parking space and have lunch on the deck of the Federal Hotel. We’ve lost count of the number of meals we’ve had in this pub and all have been excellent. Sitting out on the warm deck surrounded by palm trees is balm for the soul. The Thai beef salad is good, really good, with tender strips of charred beef and a dressing that has a tangy bite. The deck is always a great spot for people watching but today’s entertainment is priceless. A group are enjoying lunch with their two cute dachshunds tied to the leg of an empty chair. Suddenly the cheeky pair take off like a pair of runaway horses Shetlands with the chair dragging behind them.

The showgrounds are neat, well mowed and bordered by sub topical vegetation. The manager tells us that as there will be a music festival here on Saturday night she’ll put us in a quiet spot. I’m not fussed, and Woody reckons he’ll just remove his hearing aids.

It’s time to clean the van and do a few chores. Woody fixes the water input, so that we can at least use tap water and I fix the coffee grinder. It’s warm and things are looking up. After a large lunch we have small pile of prawn toasts for dinner.

Today’s unusual name: Burying Ground Creek

Accom: $35.00, Fuel: $70.93, Towing Kms: 176Kms