The Path Less Travelled
19th February, Armidale, Australia
Since Cairns, we have rarely strayed any great distance from the coast at any time, the biggest diversion being a brief jaunt up to Yungaburra and the Tablelands , just out of Cairns. Partly this is because there is rarely any need to - most of the tourist attractions are along the coast, and most of the more developed towns and cities are within a stone's throw of the water; the other reason for not venturing inland is in case we have any problems with the van and find ourselves either out of phone range or not within easy range of a rescue service. However, today we decided to break the coastal-hugging habit and see something different.
The temperatures are still high on the eastern coastline, so high that cattle are dying where they stand, and so any way that we can cool down is good. Yungaburra and the tablelands had been noticeably cooler due to the elevation (over 800 feet above sea level), and I guessed that the same would be true of Armidale, a town some 200 kilometres inland and 1000 feet above sea level. On the way to Armidale, we stopped briefly at a pretty little town called Dorrigo then continued along the Waterfall Way toward Armidale.
The route is not called Waterfall Way for nothing, and we made a couple of stops along the way taking in Newell Falls (actually impossible to miss, even though it's small, as it's right next to the highway), the impressive Ebor Falls and Wollomombi Falls. Somehow we managed to miss Dangar Falls which were just outside of Dorrigo.
Ebor Falls.
Wollomombi Gorge.
We stayed in Armidale for the evening, finding a tourist park at around 6pm. It was still hot, and we figured it would be good to get settled earlier than usual. Once the sun had hid behind the distant mountains, the temperature drop was really noticeable. Finally, Armidale was living up to its promise of offering a cooler climate (one of the postcards in reception read: "Bring a jumper with you in Armidale" and the picture was of a washing line covered in ice hanging from each and every line).
Later we headed back in to the town centre to get a better look at some of the old buildings with a view to tracking them down and snapping some photos tomorrow. It really had been too hot - for us and for the van - to go cruising around town taking photos. We ate in a place called Caz Minio's, recommended in the Lonely Planet ("If you only eat out once in Armidale then ..."), an odd-looking place if you are expecting to see a restaurant. It was more like an old-fashioned shop selling its own home-made pasta and sauces with a couple of chairs and tables thrown in as an afterthought. Still, Armidale is a small place, and there was room for us. And the pasta was delicious too.
PS - When - and if - you brush up against coral that stings, do what the guidebooks say and douse it with vinegar as soon as you can. I had done just that (brushing against the coral) just under a week ago when snorkelling around the Tangalooma wrecks, and immediately felt a burning sensation on the shoulder. I waited to see if I felt nauseous, unwell, but the sensation went away and I assumed all was well. Over the last couple of days I'd noticed a rash on the back of my shoulder and assumed it was eczema, but today the penny dropped - it was precisely where I'd touched that coral (what I now know was 'fire coral' and not really coral at all, but some other living organism that co-habits with the other coral). Time to get some cortisone cream on that rash! NB - no matter how it looks, it doesn't hurt and I'm quite alright!
Coral rash caused by brushing up against 'fire coral'.
