I frequently go for a long walk early in the morning, especially at this time of year when the minimum overnight temperature is still over 10 C. My fast walk often takes about an hour and can cover something like 6 km or so - or getting on for 4 miles. Here's an example of what I often see on my walks, with the pictures taken just this morning on the last day of summer. Today is the 28th February, but with daily maximum temperatures still around 25 C (77 F) this would be counted as high summer in Britain.
The first thing that struck me as I walked along nearby Rockvale Road at dawn was the beautiful cloud formations illuminated by the rising sun.
And this is the view of Rockvale Road looking northwards.
After about 1.5 km or about 1 mile, suburbia gave way to lightly forested vegetation and I often recall seeing kangaroos in this paddock - but not today.
This part of the walk takes me past rural residential subdivisions where houses are located on large blocks of land - often about 5 ha. or c. 12 acres. Here's one of many I saw. And a little further up the hill I saw a paddock with a small dam on it to provide water for stock - sheep or cattle. However, in the past I have also seen kangaroos roaming around on this property - again, not today. I also know that koalas live in the vicinity but none were in sight.
While this is the land of rural residential properties, I walked past this entrance to a nice little residential subdivision. No, the camera isn't slanted. The hill I was walking up is quite steep.
More pasture and woodland mixed up.
I'm now out in open country and this is the first farm I came across on Blue Wren Road. Apologies for it being a little dark.
And a little later I turned off the unsealed road on to Stony Ridge Road which is also gravel and unsealed. Now I was really out in the countryside with a sweeping vista in front of me. The hill in the distance, Mount Duval, is about 1400 m high (4,600 feet) and this landscape is typical of the land around Armidale.
The view along Stony ridge Road, and again a view to the northeast in the New England High Country.
Again, this area also has hobby farms or rural residential dwellings.
And I've now turned on to Arundel Drive. The people who named this road must have come from West Sussex. The top end shown here rural residential and pretty, but the bottom end merges into Armidale's suburbs, with some new home construction going on.
A house in a nice rural setting and, below, a touch of horsey-culture with the animals wearing coats as the nights get cooler.
And, on the way back near home, I pass Ben Venue Primary School which both our daughters, Emily and Rebecca, attended when young.
And so to home, where we're infested with Corellas, who come for the seed we put out for the other kinds of parrot, magpies and crested pigeons. Armidale has thousands of these large white parrots, which we rarely saw in earlier years! They also tear branches off our trees, and these litter the ground each morning.
I love walking through this kind of country and take different route each morning - I have about 10 options. And, by the way, I saw a recent article listing something like 20 of the world's most pristine wildernesses and one was right on our doorstep - the Gondwana World Heritage Listed rain forests and uninhabited gorges lying just to the east of us. Put your hands up if you like to come and stay for a while.
AS
The first thing that struck me as I walked along nearby Rockvale Road at dawn was the beautiful cloud formations illuminated by the rising sun.
And this is the view of Rockvale Road looking northwards.
After about 1.5 km or about 1 mile, suburbia gave way to lightly forested vegetation and I often recall seeing kangaroos in this paddock - but not today.
This part of the walk takes me past rural residential subdivisions where houses are located on large blocks of land - often about 5 ha. or c. 12 acres. Here's one of many I saw. And a little further up the hill I saw a paddock with a small dam on it to provide water for stock - sheep or cattle. However, in the past I have also seen kangaroos roaming around on this property - again, not today. I also know that koalas live in the vicinity but none were in sight.
While this is the land of rural residential properties, I walked past this entrance to a nice little residential subdivision. No, the camera isn't slanted. The hill I was walking up is quite steep.
More pasture and woodland mixed up.
I'm now out in open country and this is the first farm I came across on Blue Wren Road. Apologies for it being a little dark.
And a little later I turned off the unsealed road on to Stony Ridge Road which is also gravel and unsealed. Now I was really out in the countryside with a sweeping vista in front of me. The hill in the distance, Mount Duval, is about 1400 m high (4,600 feet) and this landscape is typical of the land around Armidale.
The view along Stony ridge Road, and again a view to the northeast in the New England High Country.
Again, this area also has hobby farms or rural residential dwellings.
And I've now turned on to Arundel Drive. The people who named this road must have come from West Sussex. The top end shown here rural residential and pretty, but the bottom end merges into Armidale's suburbs, with some new home construction going on.
A house in a nice rural setting and, below, a touch of horsey-culture with the animals wearing coats as the nights get cooler.
And, on the way back near home, I pass Ben Venue Primary School which both our daughters, Emily and Rebecca, attended when young.
And so to home, where we're infested with Corellas, who come for the seed we put out for the other kinds of parrot, magpies and crested pigeons. Armidale has thousands of these large white parrots, which we rarely saw in earlier years! They also tear branches off our trees, and these litter the ground each morning.
I love walking through this kind of country and take different route each morning - I have about 10 options. And, by the way, I saw a recent article listing something like 20 of the world's most pristine wildernesses and one was right on our doorstep - the Gondwana World Heritage Listed rain forests and uninhabited gorges lying just to the east of us. Put your hands up if you like to come and stay for a while.
AS
