"On the road again" - we seem to have used that saying a few times!! So, now we have the beginning of 'chapter 2' of our 'Aussie Adventure'. A bit different this time as we are travelling in a clockwise direction, first across NSW and then heading west.

We left our home in Brisbane after a rainy few days and headed towards Tamworth with our first overnight stop at a freecamp just north of Glen Innes. The next morning we were pulled up by the police doing a breathalyser test in Glen Innes, but Alf passed with flying colours!!

Arriving in Tamworth, we decided on a stay in a caravan park so that we could cool down in a pool (as it was about 35 degrees!) as well as being walking distance to all of the action for the Country Music Festival. We visited the 'golden guitar' and had a walk around the town listening to buskers and enjoying the atmosphere, although a lot of people had packed up and left already as it was the last day of the festival. We had seen a stream of caravans heading north on our way south. In the afternoon, our friends, Marianne & Lance arrived to camp next to us (they had been travelling along the Murray and now heading north), and we had a great time catching up on our travels. Their 'houseboat' always provides a point of conversation with fellow campers.

In the evening, there was a free concert in the park with a few different artists followed by a lovely fireworks display. A great but very late night

We left Tamworth, Alf's birthplace, on Australia Day and headed towards Coonabarabran, where we turned off to spend a couple of nights at a great freecamp at the little town of Binnaway. The residents here have really made an effort to encourage people to stay in their town and hopefully they will spend money there. We met our friends, Bob & Val here (they have also been travelling around the Murray and heading north), so it was great that our paths crossed. Initially, it was very hot again, but then we were treated with a stormy, thundery, rainy cool day where you just want to snuggle up in bed with a good book! Their dog, Brandy wasn't very impressed with the thunder! We had a great day catching up and then it was 'goodbye' again for each of us to go our separate ways. The morning we left, Alf unfortunately slipped off the wet step and grazed his shin badly on the door edge, even leaving a dent in the edge!! Thankfully he has his own nurse, but it'll take a while to heal up as it's a pretty nasty wound