We needed our car serviced and after a few attempts to get this sorted at Stanthorpe and Inverell and realising we would have to book ahead, we decided on Armidale. We had also already visited Armidale a few years ago and knew the town itself was lovely, there was a decent caravan park in town and also there were mountain bike tracks so we didn’t think we would have too much of an issue passing the time.
Armidale has a lovely central park filled with giant pine and oak trees and facing the park are two beautiful dark brick churches. Flowing out from here is a tidy town filled with tree lined streets and cottages with chimneys. The town itself is 1000m above sea level and it gets pretty cold which we experienced while we were there with the hoodies coming out most nights.
On our last trip here we spent most of our time mountain biking and were very keen to pick up where we left off. This time of course we had Griff so we had to make sure he was suitably exhausted before leaving him in his shaded bed in the back of the ute. Gone are the days where he could keep up with us on bikes, in his younger years he would have loved it! This meant to tire him out most days we went for a beautiful walk in the State Pine forest which is also where a section of the mountain bike tracks were as well.
You cannot beat the fresh smell of a pine forest. I know air fresheners have been trying to replicate it for years but nothing beats the original. Last time we were here the forest was bare of anything due to drought but this time around it was full of wild flowers, grasses and unfortunately weeds. What a difference rain makes!
Some of the mountain bike tracks in the pine forest were also a little overgrown and some completely closed which we found out was due to a tornado ripping through the area a month or so ago. Lucky we were not here for that in our camper trailer!
After completing a circuit out in the forest we were a little chuffed with ourselves as we found some of the blue tracks pretty easy in comparison to the ones in Inverell so decided it was the grading of the tracks and not our poor bike riding skills that was the issue 😂😂.
We also went and rode the uni tracks as well which we had done previously and managed those without a hitch. Well except when we went down one track which soon turned into the overgrown enchanted garden. I thought if I lost sight of Tim I might never come out!
The best thing about biking is the after ride beer and Armidale had an awesome little pub/ micro brewery called the Welders Dog which ticked all the boxes. We would have loved it to be our local. Great atmosphere and seemed to be loved by an eclectic mix of locals.
Golfing also got a look in with us playing 9 holes at the Armidale golf course. The course was in fabulous condition due to all the rain and Tim and I were in amazement walking down pine tree lined fairways and beautiful spongy greens for the grand price of $15 each. Tim absolutely smashed me. He is definitely getting his swing back faster than I was expecting/hoping 😉.
On the last trip to Armidale we drove along waterfall way out to Coffs Harbour and due to the drought the waterfalls were more of a trickle and some even non existent so we thought we would check them out again to see the difference. Hindered this time by Griff we had to be sneaky as they were all in National Parks. But we thought he would just do his usual and stay asleep in the back while we were away. This went to plan during our short walk to the first waterfall which was definitely flowing a lot more than last time.
However on the second stop he was having none of it and in the middle of the busy car park stood up and just barked at us as we were walking away. When he gets like this, nothing can make him stop other than taking him out and giving him a walk so we drove into the little town to have lunch along the river. Well Griffy must have known something because when we pulled up we had a picnic table right beside a beautiful crystal clear river and then we spotted a walk through a reserve which wound its way along the river. It was absolutely stunning and one of our favourite walks of the trip so far. The dog had redeemed himself. Especially when we went back into the park to see the second waterfall and not a peep was heard from the dog.
Our stop in Armidale was another cracker. Reginal NSW is really turning it on for us. S