After 9 days at the Tamworth Country Music Festival for me and Chaffey Dam for Allen, we are now back on track to continue our travels.

The festival was great and it was terrific to catch up with my sister and friend Annie who travelled from Perth to meet me there. It was extremely hot for the first 4 or 5 days and air conditioned clubs and pubs were the order of the day. Our tent was still hot when we got back at night and we slept with the door open to try to cool down. My feet and ankles swelled up and looked like elephants feet! I dont know if it was the walking or the drinking or maybe a combination of both. Allen missed me and felt a bit lonely. He didnt even feel like fishing! He did take the boat out though - for a run on the dam to look around.

Allen picked me up on Sunday 26th and we went back to Chaffey Dam for me to have a couple of days rest after Tamworth. What a lovely place Chaffey Dam is! We loved it there. We had cows grazing at our van and at the back of the car. They moved through the campers regularly back and forth to the dam. It was quite a unique camp area. We were there for the Australia Day long weekend and the area became crowded for those three days then lovely and peaceful again when they all left.

29-01-2014

Today we moved on to Uralla, which is not that far from Chaffey Dam but we had to go to Tamworth to do a couple of things and so didnt really want to do too much driving. We stayed at a place called Uralla Fossicking Area. It was near a billabong and we all went to paddle our feet. Amazing area! The water and sand has gold glittering all through it! It was gorgeous. Unfortunately it doesnt show up in photos. The camp area wasnt that even so we decided only to stay one night. I talked to some other campers who are from Perth and they said they had been out on the road for three and a half years and will be doing at least another two and a half in the eastern states. There are so many people who have been travelling for many years.

30-01-2014

Today we travelled to the highest city in Australia - Armidale NSW. It is a really nice place but too big for me, we didnt stay long. After we had our lunch we travelled on to Guyra to a free camp spot called 'Mother of Ducks Lagoon'! It is in the town near the golf course and walking distance to the main street so we walked down town for a coffee. The town looks really dead. So many empty shops. It is a shame to see these smaller towns struggling. We will be moving on tomorrow but I dont know where yet......watch this space!!!