Once again we find ourselves on the outskirts of Tamworth at the Sunrise Cutting Horse Farm Stay, at Nemingha in NSW, north of Tamworth.
We meet Dianne at the Cutting Horse Farm Stay, we mentioned this place on the show last week. Dianne is a solo traveller with her dog as company and she chats with Phill about her vehicle and also about travelling on her own.
We fill you in on a few things to do around the Uralla area.
What a lovely country town in the New England Region. Phill talks us through some of the things to see and do in the area. Also this town is famous for Captain Thunderbolt.
Uralla is a town on the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. The town is located at the intersection of the New England Highway and Thunderbolts Way, 465 kilometres (289 mi) north of Sydney and about 23 kilometres (14 mi) south west of the city of Armidale.
At more than 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) above sea level, Uralla’s high altitude makes for cool to cold winters and mild summers.
Boasting a rich history, Uralla has more than 50 buildings and sites of heritage significance which can be easily explored on foot or by vehicle.[2]
The community collectively bought and restored McCrossins Mill in the 1980s and 1990s, and this is now a multi-award-winning museum, gallery and function centre still run by volunteers.[3] This is also the starting point for the heritage walk.
The legend of Thunderbolt is exhibited at McCrossin’s Mill Museum in Uralla and includes the series of nine paintings by Phillip Pomroy of the events that led to Fred Ward’s death.
Thunderbolts Way is a road that extends from Gloucester to Inverell, following much of his original route between the Hunter Valley and the North West slopes and plains. “Thunderbolt’s Trail” is a 4WD fire trail located in the Barrington Tops State Forest which follows part of his original route.
Phill meets another fellow traveller this time is Jim, at the Tara Camel and Cultural Festival at Tara in QLD. Jim is from Dalby and talks us through his 5th Wheeler. Now this 5th Wheeler is very impressive, Its a 2013 Rockwood Signature Light. It was imported from America and was $25,000 US$, but had to be converted to Australian specs which cost $5000, all up costing $50,00-. Jim spent 2 years researching the internet and it had to have a bunk room for the grandkids. Jim’s rig actually has 2 toilets.
The rig is pulled with an F350 which had also been imported from the US. Jim and his wife bought second hand. Automatic 7lt turbo. Around town its a bit heavy on fuel but on the road uses less fuel than his Nissan Patrol. Its carries 250lt of fuel on board.
Jim and his wife decided to buy a 5th wheeler after seeing someone else with a similar rig, The have plenty of room with 10foot ceilings, solar set up, and the storage underneath is amazing. There are plenty of cupboards complete with gas stove, lounge suite and also a dining suite. The slide out in the bedroom has a slide out wardrobe. Storage under the bed. They also have ducted air conditioning and gas ducted heating. A great setup for time on the road. Since being retired they don’t know how they managed to work.
Next on the show Phill meets up again with Jeff DeAth from Check Weight, and this weeks topic of discussion is “Shifting the Deck Chairs on the Titanic” Quiet an appropriate topic with all the rain.
Meaning fixing one problem but creating another problem somewhere else. EG using the portable weigh scales on the tow ball and thus moving weight from the front to the back of the van. Thus causing more problems. Its an interesting topic and something to be listened too. Occasionally it is a good idea on the road to go over a weigh bridge just to keep an idea of whats going on. Another thing to be on the look out for is changing batteries going from AGM to Lithium, remember that going from 2 down to one battery you are reducing the weight on the right side, but the left side will be heavier.
Be aware also if you move things from the van to the vehicle be conscious that this could also be causing issues.
