As I've mentioned before Armidale is an amazing community. It's half way between Sydney and Brisbane and thus is used as a stopping point for people traveling between the two cities. Because of this, even though it's a small town it has a lot of things that would normally not be here, like a mall, tons of restaurants, pubs etc. It also has many wonderful buildings from the early days that are still in use today. Many of these have the old truly Australian look to them.
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| This building is now used as a government building |
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| Armidale Town Hall |
This is one of those schools you hear about in the movies and read about in books. It's called the Armidale School. It's a private boarding school for boys. We were told that it's one of those really prestigious schools that generations of families have gone to. Many of the wealthy land owners living in the Outback send their sons here to get educated. It's pretty posh. They have their own private lake for teaching rowing and canoeing, several feilds for learning polo and rugby. I can only imagine what it costs to send your son there.
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| Armidale School |
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| Armidale School Coat of Arms |
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| Former hotel, now law office and pub |
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| Armidale Post Office |
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| There are houses like this all over town - very Australian |
The only problem with this town and the country for that matter is it's so expensive! Right now gas is about $1.49 a liter making it about $5.63 a gallon. Crazy!! 
This is just one example of the food prices. Needless to say, we haven't made brownies since we got here. 
One interesting thing about the grocery stores and other shopping centers is their escalators. They aren't like those in the States. It's more of a ramp. This sounds good going up but imagine what it's like to bring a grocery cart down. Not to fear, the grocery carts here (which by the way all four wheels spin - strange to push around) have brakes on the back that lock in to the grid of the escalator. 
Do you recognize this logo? Someone copyrighted the name Burger King in Australia so it can't be used here. This chain of restaurants is known as Hungry Jacks but they're essentially Burger Kings. Also notice the breakfast sign. Many names are shortened and have a y at the end: breakfast - brekky; football - footy; bike gangs - bikeys. Somehow bike gangs don't sound so intimidating if you refer to them as bikeys.
Today we're heading off to the beach at Coff's Harbor, about 2.5 hours east, to attend the LDS Surf Fest (Thursday - Saturday). It started out as a YM activity but has grown to the point they have to turn down surfers. Youth come from all over the country to attend. This should be interesting given my kids have never been on a surf board. It's all about new opportunities, right?
Things I miss about the States (besides family and friends):
- Benadryl
- Swiss Miss
- Skim milk
- The Today Show
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