The drive along Waterfall Way from the coast up to Dorrigo is spectacularly pretty. At Bellingen we pulled in for coffee and cake in the sun at the beautiful Brush & Twine on Hyde Street. I spent most of the drive up the range mentally framing the view, desperately wanting to pull over and take photos of every paddock and tree lined bend of the river, every emerald green hill dotted with livestock, every waterfall running down the mountainside...so many images to capture. We made it to Dorrigo mid morning and found ourselves admiring Dorrigo National Park from the Skywalk perched on the edge of the escarpment. It was an utterly sublime spring day and the view of the Bellinger Valley seemed to stretch out for miles. After a doing one of the short walks from the Dorrigo Rainforest Centre we continued on, pulling over to the side of the road every now and then to say hello to the cows and enjoy the scenery.
I had planned to spend a bit of time exploring Armidale with the boys but neither were in the mood to eat or explore by then so it was a case of bolting my (ermagawd-that’s-AMAZING!) lunch at Seesaw Coffee Co just near Central Park and getting back on the road. I loved the vege patch and sweet, simple design of the space.
The stretch from Armidale to Tamworth seemed long so it was good to finally check back into the Best Western Sanctuary Inn by the early afternoon. We made a dash down the block to the Tamworth Regional Playground to burn off some energy for a couple of hours then grabbed some things for dinner at the grocery store on our way back and had a quiet night in. I was feeling a little bit shattered that night, my reconstructed boob was really giving me grief. I had to remind myself that I’d only had surgery six weeks before and it was no wonder I was struggling, given how much I’d packed into the past week. The next morning dawned dark and overcast. We had a long day’s drive ahead of us so we checked out early, grabbed breakfast on the run and headed south just as some much need rain started to fall.
By the time we made it to Dubbo that afternoon we had hit the, “Urgh, had enough travelling, just want to go home” phase, which inevitably happens at the end of all of our roadtrips. Unfortunately, the motel we checked into didn’t help lift the mood. The room was clean but the entire place looked like it had been overdue for a facelift twenty years prior with its peeling paint and worn out furniture. Alas, our dream accommodation run had reached its end. It was bucketing down outside so we resigned ourselves to being stuck indoors for the remainder of the afternoon. Despite feeling antsy and frustrated, the boys did pretty well being cooped up. They sketched and watched tv and read to each other. I’d booked two nights in Dubbo so that we could spend a full day at the Taronga Western Plains Zoo, but we all decided a morning at the zoo would do just as well and we’d ditch our depressing motel room for the comfort of our own beds instead.
But that’s for another post.
xx Em
