.... all in one day and now it is a comfortable 28 degrees C. Some thunder and lightning in the distance, but who knows what will happen next.
We arrived in Tamworth - Country Music Capital of Australia - yesterday afternoon. We had a great trip over the range, but I'll write about that later. We were able to book a powered site at Austin Tourist Park.
The park is clean, but basic. The amenities are good, but I don't think they will be adequate for the large number of people that will arrive next week. There are only a few vans here, most with dogs (dogs have to leave on the 16th before the Festival proper starts)
That is us in the distance. Not many vans here, but they put us next to a van with two dogs. They barked a lot when we got here, but were very quiet last night.
Sunset on a hot 38 degree C night - this was taken about 7.45pm.
Today we were going to go to the township of Nundle, but it was way too hot so we stayed in the van (air-conditioning!!!) until just after midday. Our first stop was the Tourist Information Centre.
Most of the information centred around the music festival. I did get a copy of the heritage drive around Tamworth, and the heritage walk - but again, way to hot to do that. We did buy some festival shirts and a festival guide that came with a CD.
Next stop was The Big Golden Guitar. Didn't look too golden - more like pine timber :)!!!
We had a look in the shop. There is a Sir Donald Bradman Collectors museum and a Wax Works Museum of country stars - we didn't go in either :)
I guess we just want the experience of being in Tamworth for the festival. 
We drove to the towns centre, and couldn't believe that at 3.30 pm the streets were deserted. We had no trouble finding a park - will be very different next week, as the city streets are closed to traffic. I did buy another pair of shoes at Rivers :).
There are a lot of heritage buildings in Tamworth and over the next few days we may visit them - all depends on the heat.
This is the Courthouse Hotel, where a number of events will take place during the festival. It was built in 1878 and has ornate iron work that was typical back then. It is in Peel Street.
We drove around the other caravan parks and the showgrounds - already filling up with vans and tents - and also the sporting fields that are used for camping during the festival. If we come again, we might use the showgrounds. We drove to the Botanical Gardens, and Marsupial Zoo, but again way to hot to do any long distance walking.
We ended up at Oxley Lookout - the top end of White Street. It looks like the cross on the mountain may light up at night.
The view was very good, and it was a little cooler - just a little - up there.
There was a plaque for Slim Dusty and his wife, whose ashes were scattered around the garden near the plaque.
We got back to the van before 5 and spent the next hour in the pool. Getting back to the van and the sky getting grey, we could hear thunder in the distance.
The wind started to pick up, so Peter started adding ropes to hold the annexe down.
We got a lot of wind and Jonnies Australia Flag flew off to the never never. We got a little rain, and the temperatures dropped to about 27C.
Maybe tomorrow we will go to Nundle :).
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