Tamworth
Yes, I moved to Tamworth…. not where I expected to be 2 years ago, but you just never know how the cookie will crumble.
I really didn’t have a choice to move here, and I sincerely had reservations about whether or not I’d be able to cope.
Yes, it was difficult leaving behind ALOT of good friends in Sydney, however with the technology we have at our disposal these days, the tyranny of distance is not as painful as it once was. Plus when I do get to see my Sydney friends, its just that more special 
Once I got here and had settled into Mum & Dads place, I decided that I didn’t want to be a home hermit, I need something to keep me occupied. I decided on photography & darts.
Mum is a member of the local camera club, so I decided to join as well… and see if I couldn’t learn to use my digital camera (Nikon D80). All I wanted to do was learn about about my camera and how to take nice photos. But I couldn’t help myself, and I soon found myself on the committee, occupying the roll of Webmaster… as well as being on the sub committee for the 2012 Northern Zone Photographic Convention, which the Tamworth Camera Club is hosting in May next year. I’m enjoying being on the committee side of things, as I was with the Suzuki 4WD Club for many years.
As far as my photography skills are concerned, more on that later.
Darts was something I was passionate about many, many years ago when I played for the one of the Peachtree Hotel (Penrith) B Grade teams . I might add the Peachtree hotel of then is completely different to the current version of the Peachtree Hotel. Back then it was like a modern version of an old pub. Every Friday night there would be upwards of 30 people to play social darts…. now there is no darts and the Peachtree is more like a restaurant/nightclub, than a ‘pub’. So sad.
Anyway, so I found a phone number and was placed in a C Grade team that played out of the Joe Maguire Hotel. I also started playing social darts on a Friday night at the Tamworth Golf Club. Its there that I met good mate Andrew, who invited be to play with him in the team he was a part of… in A Grade! Who was I to knock back an offer like that.
I also offered my (hobbyist) Webmaster skills to the darts committee and built a website that can be found at tamworthdarts.com. Thankfully, I’m not on the committee, but more than happy to keep the site up to date with the latest scores.
I had a little success while with the Joe Maguires team. We came second in the comp, I was named ‘C Grade Players Player (or something like that) and I also took out the C Grade Mixed Doubles with partner Irene in the championships that follow the regular competition.
So, after 12 months I have more or less settled in Tamworth. Some aspects about living here are awesome… for instance, no traffic, no problems parking, no tolls!!!, bugger all traffic lights, nice people. The town as all the mod cons, such as… a 6 screen cinema, 90% of major stores (K-Mart, Harvey Norman, Good Guys etc).
When I sit down and think about it, all I really miss about Sydney is the people I left behind.
