We're in the middle of the October long week-end, a 3 day public holiday when people leave town to visit friends, relatives, or places of interest. Well, Dot and I decided to go for a short drive not least because of the brilliant weather we're experiencing ... or perhaps enduring. Summer has come early and September's temperatures averaged 4 degrees C higher than average. Yesterday was no different: a top of 26 C, not a cloud in the sky, and humidity so low that distant objects were crystal clear. The air in New England has been totally pollution free - a bit like I imagine it to be in Antarctica.
Anyway, we drove 80 km westwards over the Great (Continental) Divide and along Thunderbolt's Way towards the little town of Bundarra, population 400 for a spot of lunch. It's a tiny rural service centre with few services apart from a general store, garage, pub, agricultural supplies, aged care facility, school and police station .. the sort of things one would automatically expect. But, like many such places, it is struggling to maintain its population and services as people move away from agricultural properties towards the brighter lights of Armidale, Tamworth, Sydney and the coast.
That said, many of the buildings date back to the 19th century (great antiquity by our standards) and are listed on the Register of the National Estate. Indeed, the town has been used as a film setting on those grounds. And Fred Ward (alias Captain Thunderbolt) was a famous bush ranger - the sort of guy who held up stage coaches, wild-west style. The most famous structure too obtain Register status is the five-span iron lattice truss bridge constructed in 1881. The waters It spans the Gwydir river, one of the large tributaries of the Darling River that joins the Murray before entering the sea near Adelaide some 1,600 km away by road. The pictures show the bridge and the river.
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The river, looking east upstream towards the Guyra plateau (c. 1450 m).
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And looking westwards. I've been told that platypus can be seen in the river nearby, but none was visible during our visit.
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Our return journey was via Torryburn along a single-lane but sealed road traversing some beautiful and highly productive farmland - home to a succession of large properties. I imagine Torryburn, named after a settlement on the Firth of Forth, once had a few houses and maybe a shop, but today there is nothing of the kind, only rolling farm-land.
AS
Anyway, we drove 80 km westwards over the Great (Continental) Divide and along Thunderbolt's Way towards the little town of Bundarra, population 400 for a spot of lunch. It's a tiny rural service centre with few services apart from a general store, garage, pub, agricultural supplies, aged care facility, school and police station .. the sort of things one would automatically expect. But, like many such places, it is struggling to maintain its population and services as people move away from agricultural properties towards the brighter lights of Armidale, Tamworth, Sydney and the coast.
That said, many of the buildings date back to the 19th century (great antiquity by our standards) and are listed on the Register of the National Estate. Indeed, the town has been used as a film setting on those grounds. And Fred Ward (alias Captain Thunderbolt) was a famous bush ranger - the sort of guy who held up stage coaches, wild-west style. The most famous structure too obtain Register status is the five-span iron lattice truss bridge constructed in 1881. The waters It spans the Gwydir river, one of the large tributaries of the Darling River that joins the Murray before entering the sea near Adelaide some 1,600 km away by road. The pictures show the bridge and the river.
.jpg)
The river, looking east upstream towards the Guyra plateau (c. 1450 m).
.jpg)
And looking westwards. I've been told that platypus can be seen in the river nearby, but none was visible during our visit.
.jpg)
Our return journey was via Torryburn along a single-lane but sealed road traversing some beautiful and highly productive farmland - home to a succession of large properties. I imagine Torryburn, named after a settlement on the Firth of Forth, once had a few houses and maybe a shop, but today there is nothing of the kind, only rolling farm-land.
AS
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