Pensioners Hill

The loose plan for today was to drive north from Goonoo Goonoo Station where we overnighted to the university town of Armidale … via Tamworth … the country music capital of Australia. We still got to Armidale, but we drove in a circle first.

After breakfast at the Glasshouse, we got on the New England Highway to continue north. But instead of going into Tamworth, we hung a left at the intersection and went to Gunnedah instead.

Gunnedah is a small town in what is considered the bread bowl of Australia. It is also cattle country. And coal mining, too. The brochure we had picked up described it as a “… land of plenty, of foreboding power and striking beauty, of deep chocolate soils and wispy plains of grass. Of quiet bush and deep blue lines of hills, of brilliant sunshine and soft dusk, of bustling progress and eerie vastness.”

Gunnedah, we read, was a microcosm of the Australian way of life. It is a small speck in poetess Dorothea Mackellar’s “Sunburnt Country” … in the poem “My Country” … Australia’s unofficial anthem, memorized by all adults and children … not unlike the USA’s “America the Beautiful.”

Arriving in the surprisingly bustling town, we stopped at the visitor center for some suggestions. Our experience with volunteers working in the info centers has been mixed. Some very forthcoming with suggestions … some not so much. The woman we spoke with today — a 30-year transplant from Switzerland — was great. She pulled out brochures and maps, marked them up with glee, and sent us on our way to explore … changing our plans for today … not to mention for the rest of our days on the road.Read more