Back at Coffs Harbour

We're now back at Coffs Harbour on the northern NSW coast, looking forward to the end of our travels around Australia. While we've been away for the last 6 months the builders were busy on our new house, it was very exciting for us to be able to see it for real instead of just in the photos they have regularly sent us.

We still don't have a hand-over date, and the thought of the Christmas break is looming larger in our minds. With all the trades shutting down for an extended period over Christmas and New Year, if we aren't in the house by mid-December then we probably won't be able to move in until February. Given Coffs is a big family holiday destination, the caravan parks here will fill with families and kids, as well as hiking their prices to stratospheric levels. Therefore if it comes to that we'll pack up and head off for a few weeks, to have one last caravan adventure before settling down.

Dubbo

 Dubbo is only about 140 km from Orange, but being out of the mountains has given us much more acceptable temperatures. Although a city of 34,000 people, it doesn't have a lot to offer the tourist, but the golf course has 27 holes so we've had 2 games to make sure we saw the whole course.

Dubbo's main claim to fame is the open range zoo, which has been showcasing Australian and exotic animals since 1977. We haven't been to a zoo for a few years so decided to have a day out with the animals. Our day started very early as we rose at 5:45 in order to join the 6:30 am guided walk. We were glad we did, as we got to see quite a bit  'behind the scenes', and it is in the morning that the animals are at their most active. The meerkat troupe definitely stole the show, they would have to be just about the cutest animals on the planet, but the giraffe with his long blue tongue would have come in a close second.

Orange

Orange is in the Great Dividing Range less than 300 kilometres west of Sydney. The city is large enough to support 3 golf courses, so naturally we couldn't resist a visit. Had we realised that the elevation makes Orange one of the coldest places in the state outside the alpine region then we mightn't have been so keen. Several nights where the temperature dropped below freezing, and days that haven't managed to struggle above 11 degrees, with a biting cold wind making it feel even lower, have rather moderated our enthusiasm!

The first couple of days we were here we took advantage of the at that stage balmy weather to do some walking. We firstly tackled the interesting town heritage walk, showcasing a large number of attractive and imposing houses in the posh end of town, and old industrial buildings (now universally converted to retail or residential spaces) and workers cottages in the less salubrious areas. There was also a memorial to the great bush poet Banjo Patterson, who was born nearby.

The following day we went to Mount Canobolas State Conservation Area, only 12 km from town, to do a bit of bushwalking. On the way we stopped at The Pinnacle, which has a sharp climb to a lookout offering fantastic views over the surrounding farmland and distant hills.

When we arrived in Orange we found that it was a long weekend here in NSW, with today being the state Labour Day holiday. Furthermore, when we went to the closest golf course to inquire about getting a game we discovered that the 3 courses run a tournament over the long weekend, with a round at each course over the 3 days. We debated the merits of entering the tournament, given the weather forecast of a cold change and rain coming on the Friday, but decided that as the rain was meant to clear away on Saturday morning we'd give it a go, stipulating late tee times on our entry form. Sure enough, on Friday afternoon the winds started to howl, the temperature dropped and the rain pelted down, 46 mm of it by the time it stopped in the wee hours of Saturday morning. We woke on Saturday to weather that was cold but clear, and congratulated ourselves on our planning. We checked the weather report again before heading off for our first round - a few showers in the morning (which never materialised), clearing to a sunny afternoon. Well someone at the weather bureau needs some remedial training, because about 3 holes into our round the skies opened and it rained pretty well the entire way round. At one stage we even had hail. We were wearing just about every possible item of clothing we have with us in the van and were still frozen to the bone. Needless to say our golf scores didn't impress. Luckily the next two afternoons were sunny, although still cool, but unfortunately our golf didn't improve enough to enable either of us to step anywhere near the winner's podium.