Erik - Welcome. I note that you are studying Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of New England and living in Armidale. This is the same course that I did back in 1990-1993. It is an excellent course.
Another positive is your location. Spring and summer in and around the New England region does produce some wonderful thunderstorms and cloud formations as I found out when I was here. I became interested in weather and severe weather events while living here and studying this course.
With elevation and less forests and if you have your own transport, you should be able to take advantage of your location during particular weather events. It would be great to see what happens on the Northern Tablelands during spring and summer and I am always interested in the thunderstorms activity that goes on up here. I look forward to reading about the thunderstorms that may occur in this region.
Harley Pearman