Thursday, March 27, 2014

Road Trip to Willow Tree, near Murrurundi


 It was Steve's niece, Deb's wedding last weekend at Willow Tree Inn, Willow Tree, just north of Murrurundi, so much of the weekend was spent on the New England Highway. It was a seven hour drive there and back, but driving this highway is always a pleasure, so much different to the Pacific Highway and the landscapes seem to look fresher.  This large rocky formation is just south of Tenterfield, but I forget its name.
 We stayed at Qurindi, which is about 15 minutes to the north west of Willow Tree. We had an hour or so to fill in before we needed to get ready for the wedding so we explored the town, first by heading up to Who'da Thought It Lookout, (don't ask me why it is called that) which gave a great view over the town and the mountain ranges that skirt it.
 The wedding was great (I left my phone back at the motel, sorry, so no pics) and Steve and I had a great time. But we had a big drive back to Larnook, so we started our return journey around 7.30 on Sunday morning. Much of the country was showing signs of returning to green after the rains that had fallen the week before but there were some areas around Tamworth that were still very barren, which would have yielded pretty much nothing of any sustenance to the sheep and cattle that foraged in the dirt.
 We'd spotted a bookshop in the town of Uralla (somewhere between Glen Innes and Tamworth) on the way down, but we didn't have time to stop. Coming back, I'd secured Stevie's agreement that if were open we could stop so I could do some of my own foraging. However, we both thought it unlikely that a second hand bookshop would be open in a small country town at 9.30am on a Sunday morning. Well, who'da thought it was an open bookshop on a Sunday morning!  The shop had a surprisingly good natural history section and I was able to purchase a number of books that added to my own Australian natural history collection. And Steve bought some sheet music.
Also on the outskirts of Glen Innes was a most unusual letter box.  So, selfie with a dalek.