Final day of travelling and we will soon be able to set up for our 2 week stay in Tamworth!  Really looking forward to it.  There was no rush to get on the road as we only had about 300 kms to travel.  The countryside was interesting.  A lot of pine tree country and Peter had read in the paper of partially cleared blocks in the area that were for sale!  A small percentage was cleared and the other felled!  Rules have changed in WA re clearing, so we wonder what they are in NSW?There were potholes everywhere in the road and quite a number marked for repair.   Hopefully that will happen in the not too distant future!  We were actually quite surprised at the condition of these highways in NSW.  Maybe our roads in WA are not so bad after all!  I took a few snaps while we were travelling.  They really do turn out quite well on an SLR if you put your setting on TV and increaase the Shutter Speed  to 2500.   If it is a bit dark the ISO needs to be increased as well.  Most times I have it on 800.  This info was part of a quick lesson a kind traveller gave me last year when we were at Cape Keraurdren.   He and his wife were very good photographers.  There was a number of structures over the road with a sign saying they were an 'Average Distance Speed Checker'!  This is what I have been informed by my husband. "They take a photograph of you as you pass under and then another when you get to the next one and your average speed is calculated".  We presume if you have averaged more than the 100km speed limit, then you get a speeding ticket!  We passed through Gilgandra, but were too early to take in another Museum.   It did look like it would be an interesting one too.  There were lots of windmills along the river bank and we saw our first glimpses of the Warrumbungle Range as we were approaching the town.  The ranges looked beautiful with the haze over them.  There were plenty of cows in the paddocks, but didn't see any sheep.  Gilgandra has a Coo-ee Festival and it seems this quirky idea has well and truly put the town on the map.   We headed to Coonabarabran and that became our morning tea stop.  We passed lots and lots of trucks, or they passed us!  They were coming from the north.   The Newell Highway is a very busy one and I am glad it was Peter driving as we climbed and descended the ranges!  Hence our thoughts about the condition of the road.  As we were now out of the NSW Outback, large enough pull off areas for three vans were non existent.  So it was the parking area of the Coonabarabran Information Centre that became our last spot where we would all have a morning coffee together.  I still had my water!  Weigh in this morning was really good!  So my walk each morning along the river at Dubbo has been beneficial!  Only 3 more days to go on the Neways Weight Loss Programme and I am very happy with the result.   I celebrated that night with a brandy and dry with our travelling friends. They have all been very supportive on our Tamworth journey!  My first drink of alcohol since New Years Day.  Whilst walking around the Information Centre we saw signs informing us that Coonabarabran was the Astronomy Capital of Australia.  We had seen signboards when we were coming into both Gilgandra and Coonabarabran with miniature planets and information on each of them.   We had also noticed something big and white up in the Warrumbungle Ranges about 25 kms or so from Coonabarabran.  All was to be revealed by the staff at the information centre and we would be purchasing postcards and an Activity Book for the grandchildren!  This is from the info sheet we picked up at the Information Centre:  One can launch into a drive in Central NSW on the World's Largest Virtual Solar System Drive and explore the planets as if you were hurtling through space.  You can journey through the Solar System and picturesque countryside on one or all of the five drives that lead to Australia's largest optical astronomy centre, "Siding Spring Observatory".  You can discover the 3D planet models attached to starry billboard signs, scaled 38 million times smaller than outer space - the distance between each planet is also scaled.  The Observatory is located 28 kms from Coonabarabran and is the home to 13 telescopes, which includes the impressive 3.9 metre 'Australian Astronomical Observatory', Australia's largest optical telescope.  We also looked through the Information Centre's Museum display area.   Maybe they did call it a Museum?  Anyway they had a display on the findings of a Diprotodon.  Do you know what that is grandies?  It is a marsipial and it grew to 9 metres high and 3 metres long.  Big hey!!  See the photos below.  It was back on the road again and about 11.40am we really got into cattle country!  They were well and truly grazing on the long paddock.  Well!  We were travelling on an Australian Stock Route!  Lunch was in Gunnedah, arriving in Tamworth about 2.30pm.  Just when the day was really heating up, but we are certainly getting better and quicker with the set up!  The Peel River runs through Tamworth and from the back of the caravan we look down on huge Carb fish happily swimming around.  I wonder if Gary will attempt to put the kayak in before we leave?  14 photos