Orange to Armidale road trip: Distance, time & best stops

Orange to Armidale drive: Tamworth to Bendemeer

The Tamworth to Armidale leg of the drive starts by going from Tamworth to Bendemeer. You pass close to the Botanical Gardens and Oxley Scenic Lookout before joining the New England Highway in Tintinhull.

The Moonbi Lookout, a big granite outcrop, offers fabulous views of the New England countryside further north.

Bendemeer is where the Oxley Highway joins the New England Highway, and it feels rather frozen in time. The Bendemeer Hotel is a nice spot for a beer, mind.

Armidale to Toowoomba road trip: Bendemeer to Armidale

There are more granite outcrops just south of Uralla. Captain Thunderbolt’s Rock, where a notorious bushranger was shot by police in 1863, is one of them. It’s now a photo stop and picnic site.

There’s more Captain Thunderbolt in Uralla, where he is buried in the Old Uralla Cemetery. The story is told at the McCrossin’s Mill Museum – a converted flour mill.

Elsewhere in this former gold rush town, you cantry your luck panning for gold at the Wooldridge Recreation and Fossicking Area.

Armidale is next. Things to do in Armidale include helicopter flights over the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park.