Day two of my freedom from quarantine and although we are being advised to stay at home I have found a reason to go out, I need a new pair of track pants and some Antibacterial wipes. I took the long road to get to the shops, I may as well enjoy the sunshine and this fine autumn weather, you never know how long this weather will last.
Armidale is relatively quiet but there are still tradesmen going about their business and there are a few semi-trailers still hauling freight. Armidale lies on the New England Highway and is roughly half way between Sydney and Brisbane and from here you can easily head west to access the interior. 30 years ago I got a job driving trucks and I used to leave Sydney on a Monday evening and drive through the night to Tamworth, where myself and Steve would sleep for a few hours in the truck before we started our deliveries to the many clubs and pubs and almost every Chinese restaurant in the district and beyond. After spending most of the day delivering in Tamworth we would head north to Armidale and spend the night here before doing more deliveries in the morning. From here we would head to Inverell, Moree, Narrabri and onto Gilgandra and then the next day we headed to Nyngan before returning to Sydney, this was my life for nearly two years and it was great. It was not always easy but there were many good times and I got to see vast swathes of the country during fires and flood.
So now I am back in Armidale for a short time to sit out the pandemic or until such time I will be able to head north to my home. But as you can see from the pictures it’s not all bad, Armidale is a University Town and there are more millionaires per ca-pita in this area than any other part of rural Australia and it also has the highest commercial airport in Australia. It has a population of about 25.000, so I am happy to be here to enjoy the peace and quiet, to be with family and to enjoy the change in surroundings after being living in a city of 11 Million people in China, such a contrast.
