1st – 4th October, 2012.
After spending the first night of our trip in beautiful Dorrigo, we continued on to Muswellbrook and collected the Land Rover parts and they were packed into the trailer.
Just before arriving in Muswellbrook, we passed through Scone, which describes itself not only as the “Horse Capital of Australia” but also the second largest thoroughbred and horse breeding centre in the world. Of course we then had to take bets on which is the largest in the world (Kentucky). Were you right?
Everything in Scone was suitably horsey.
Accommodation is fairly scarce around Muswellbrook because of the coal mining boom, so we continued on to stay at Bellbird, just outside Cessnock.
When I booked our accommodation at the Bellbird Hotel, I was told it was “out of town” (Cessnock), and the picture on the website, like this one, looked encouragingly rural. However, when we arrived, we found that “out of town” actually meant “in the suburbs” and our pastorally named hotel was right on the main road. If there were any bellbirds tinkling away we wouldn’t have been able to hear them for the traffic. However, the hotel had the beautiful wrought iron lace balconies and long stairways and passages that I love in these old pubs, so I was happy!
But best of all was that my friends Kate and Steve drove over from Tenambit to have dinner with us in the Bellbird Bistro. We hadn’t seen each other for a couple of years, so it was wonderful to catch up again! I can’t believe I didn’t take any photos of them – must have been too excited.
Next morning we headed back north, along the coast road this time. We stopped at Taree on the banks of the beautiful Manning River for lunch, where we were joined by some hopeful seagulls and pelicans. I have always loved photographing pelicans (there’s just so much of them to photograph), so I spent most of my lunch break following them around:
I don’t think I’ve ever been this close to a pelican.
Then we drove to Coffs Harbour, where we visited Doug and Robyn’s friends Dave and Dee. As the Burning Bush Band, we had played at their wedding at the Wivenhoe Dam, a momentous celebration we will always remember because of the torrential rain which came bucketing down while we were playing at their reception in a marquee beside the dam.
On our way to see them at Coffs Harbour, we were remembering that spectacular occasion and musing that it must have been ten or twelve years ago. We were astonished to discover that they had just celebrated their 17th anniversary.
The years seem to be going faster now – there’s still a lot I want to do.
Dave and Dee have a pond in their back yard.
Dave and Dee’s beautiful Tree Waratah Alloxylon flammeum was in flower.
Tree Waratah flower up close.
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