Holiday in Armidale.

I spent the long weekend at home. Hardly left the house. Had to seriously clean for inspection, and a the same time, varnish my chest of drawers. It was lovely to go away and know that I am returning to a tidy house. Anyway, it wasn't all work, Becky came over on Saturday for lunch and to do an op shop run with me, my flatmate and I had regular Criminal Minds breaks, and lunch at Coogee beach. And tidying is satisfying in the end. Painful and tedious, but cathartic.

I flew up to Armidale on Tuesday morning. Such a good way to go, flying, if you plan early and get cheap flights (under $60 each way). The drive is a killer, but flying takes less than 3 hours door to door, the flight itself only about one hour and includes a nice cup of tea and a cake, so you still have the whole rest of the day and plenty of energy to do stuff. The only annoying part is getting to Sydney airport. I got up pretty early and went by taxi with plenty of time to spare because I'm an anxious pre-traveller and would rather wait at the airport than fidget around the house. Flying home is easier because at the Armidale end you just drive up to the airport door and walk in and you need less buffer time.

So anyway, my friend collected me on Tuesday morning from the airport, shortly after she herself arrived on the first flight. We did a 5 km bush walk, some grocery shopping, a bit of tidying up, cooked a roast chicken...

We did jillian in the morning most days. One afternoon we did a two hour drive up to Bellingen to go to cafés and look at hippies, one of whom was walking a goat, another a ferret. I resisted buying cool dresses, due to my clothes shopping ban. But I did find, upstairs in the main emporium, a load of old handles.

And I wanted some. And happy days, I needed some! Because I finished revarnishing my chest of drawers. It's such a joy to buy something you need, and its not just from bunnings, it's unique and its from a place you went on holidays. Usefulness and memories. And also, a fun way to get a job done. And this is a lovely cafe in an antique/op shop.

That white shirt I'm wearing came to an end. It wore right out and I stuck my thumb through the back of it when I wore it to fly home. Goodbye, old friend. May you enjoy your new life as cleaning rags.

When we drove back to Armidale in the evening, the sunset was strangely pink and very pretty.

What else... It was just so relaxing. The weather was warm, we had a few jams in the school music rooms, we shared music likes, we went to several cafés like the goldfish bowl (where the hipsters live), the art gallery (NERAM) and its café, did some loads of washing at a friends house because the washing machine had disappeared, bought a new washing machine, went to a tea shop and I spent $20 on tea but it is so delicious, a peppermint herbal blend called Clarity, and a green tea chai. We had a game of chess in one cafe, and a bit of a drawing lesson in another cafe. We had pie dinner at the pub one night. We went to the folk museum. I broke my no clothes shopping rule in salvos and sprang $3 on a brownish wool jumper I didn't need but couldn't leave behind. I did some crochet outside on a picnic rug some afternoons while j did some filing and stuff. I read 2 hunger games books. We watched Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. I introduced J to the televisual delight that is Snog Marry Avoid.

One of our walks. Armidale area has lots of gorges. They look very interesting as you fly over as well.

Chess at the NERAM cafe.

The fold museum had some interesting things. Moustache cups:

Lace making display:

A restored bicycle which was a special "coronation" bike. Stylish.

J is a good person to holiday with because we are well matched in interests and energy levels. And a place like Armidale, although it has no big attractions like a beach, is so far away from Sydney that you leave normal life behind, and it is slow paced and easy to get around, and pretty, and has bushwalks and cafés and op shops to poke around. I did not want to leave.

Flying home I had a window seat, and the view of NSW was lovely. Bush fires, the sea and the lakes all down the coast, and as you come in to Sydney the small planes fly low over the city so you can literally see cars and people, it's a true bird's eye view.