DEC 14-JAN 15

DEC-14 JAN-15

Departed Broken Head for Wooli 12th Dec , small park in small village, located between the river and the coast on a spit of land about 150m wide, the river is meters from the park and the surf just over the sand hills.Weather is a bit unsettled , we park between two permanent van setups offering some protection from the elements. The boat comes off the roof for almost daily expeditions and fishing, Wendy proves once again her supremacy in the fishing stakes catching a really nice flat head and a trevally both of which were good eating.

Wendys catch 1

catch 2

Wendy 2 Blue Zip

fishing wooli

Blue Fishes Wendy swims then catches suicidal fishes

xmas day 114

Xmas Day 14 in the wooli river

relax xmas day

Xmas Day chill out in the shade.

Folding Bikes are great for cruising. They travel on roof rack with boat.
Wooli beach behind.

tubacia markets

Tubacia (near Wooli) market day at the museum.

Tobacia station master with delivery vehicles.

minnie

This is Minnie water near Wooli. There is a free camp here but no room at this time. A good place to visit when not school holidays, maybe next time round.

We drove north to Yamba and visited old friends Bertie and Caroline, and south to Coffs Harbour visting the many coastal communities in between. Grafton is the nearest town for shopping about 40K, we drive in several times for supplies. Also drove into Lismore where we caught up with some old friends of Blues (Lynne Andrew and Alex) from his days in WA. Always nice to catch up with people after such a long time.

Head land at Yamba

Coffs Harbour lookout structure, great facility.

wendy

Coffs from the lookout

School holidays and Xmas are creating overwhelming demand and price hikes for spots in coastal caravan parks, we are secure here (Wooli) until the 29th Dec then we will see what's available.

There is no extension available beyond the 29th, we decide to get off the coast until the school hols are over and normality returns. Pack up on a rainy day (that's fun) and head over the dividing range to Glenn Innes in the highlands of new England at 1000m elevation. Good road but raining and misty obscuring the views from this elevation, we will come back when the sun shines again. After checking out several parks we settle on the Glen rest just south of town.

Gibralter range rd Grafton to Glenn Innes

Boundry falls in the Gibralter range national park

Mulligans Hut area in the Gibralter range NP camp spots available for caravans but none free today.

View from Rasberry lookout (Gibralter NP) down into the Mann river valley.

kanga

Kanga with Joey in the Mann River on the old Grafton rd near Glenn Innes.

GI country

Typical of the landscape around Glenn Innes

sheep

New Englands finest, yum

GI HOS MUS

The old Glenn Innes hospital, now an excellent historical museum.

An early chain saw, two man operation. Wouldn't want to be the offsider if the chain grabbed and the saw took off.

stones

Glenn Innes standing stones replicate those in Scotland.
There is an annual Celtic festival held each year in this park, Tartans and bagpipes abound.
stone

The stone circle said to hold many powers including transportation of folks to times past.
Wendy tried but she's still here.

We are here for two weeks, visit Emmaville, Tenterfield, Inveral, Armidale and all points between. This is an amazingly attractive area, the recent rain has broken a long dry spell, the country is lush green, creeks and rivers are flowing, locals are happy, the weather is fantastic but cooler at this elevation, could easily be back in Kiwi land. Even get frosts and snow in winter.

The Tenterfield saddlery Est 1870

tent soa

Tenterfield school of arts where Henry Parkes gave his federation speech in 1889
The building is museum and theatre, a must see if in the area.

Tenterfield station museum almost as it was in 1989 when the last train ran.There was a substantial inland rail network throughout this area which nows lies disused.

A Horse powered gear device for running various machinery, in this case a chaff cutter.First time Blue has seen one. Awesome, see the old grind stone nearby which may also have been driven with this arrangement.

sheep stand

Also a first for me, a portable sheep shearing table on a turntable with provisions for securing the animal buy each leg.
Wendy declined Blues request to demonstrate the procedure.

tenterfield from lookout

Tenterfield town to right, Qld border in the hills to left. From lookout behind the town, great view.

cave

Thunderbolt was a famous bush ranger, he used this cave near Armidale as a hide out.
Blue thinks he is still in there by the look of him

On 11th Jan we pack up and move 60K south to Guyra where there is to be a Lamb and Potato festival next week. Check into the Summit caravan park, the highest park in Australia at about 1400 m.
Again Lush green some showers about, small park, small town.

We drove from Guyra to Ebor returning to Armidale along the waterfall way visiting some of the spectacular gorges and waterfalls en route, we also stopped in at a trout hatchery run by the nsw fisheries that stocks local rivers and impoundments.

Ebor falls on a geological fault extending from Ebor to Glenn Innis

These tanks are chocka with large fish, brood stock, they can be seen through the port hole but Blue had to see from the top.

trout 2

Wendy stirs them up with some food pellets.

View from Point Lookout, a must see if in the area.
Pictures fails to capture the grandeur in these shots

Drove south to Uralla where we meet up with old mates Baz and Linda who are camping at Tamworth for the music festival and returned via tourist detour through Gostwick chapel and the Deeargee woolshed , Dangaar falls and an impressive monument to WW1 fallen erected by the locals.

This shearing sheed is said to be unique in the world, didn't get to look and see why, perhaps the sheep are pampered by imported Kiwi shearers who are reputed to have a unique raport with the animals.

Next Day we drove to Tamworth to check out the Music festival, unfortunately there was some rain about in the afternoon which slowed us down a bit however it was great to see the buskers at every convenient spot in the main street (Peel st) and performers at Pubs and stages set up around the place. Would visit the festival again especially for the last few days when it is reputed to get more upbeat.

Buskers Tamworth Blue bought their CD

Baz linda tamworth

Baz, Linda, Blue, Wendy with Slim in Tamworth.

Spent a day in Armidale while the vehicle was being serviced and took the council sponsored bus tour of the town from the info center. It is available every day and takes about 3 hours. The guide was Jennifer, an older lady with a great knowledge of the town and its history combined with great humor and wit.

This is the white family residence now part of the Armidale university. A magnificent building completed in 1888

jeniffer

Guide Jennifer demonstrating the facility for ladies to mount their horse, (side saddle) at one of the door ways of the residence.

The Guyra Lamb and Potato festival is a small local affair with around 20 stalls set up on the highway.
There are all the usual suspects with the addition of a swap meet with local bric-abrac, a car show on the last days, this was quite good with a good range of vehicles on display, a military vehicle rally drew a good number of tragics and the local masonic hall sported a model railway display. There was also a display of antique machinery and engines which Blue found captivating and engaged countless exhibitors with his interrogating.

Questions and more questions

Browning hit and miss engine, built in Australia, the only one left on the planet
and it runs

cars 1

Guyra street scenes car show old and new, an excellent cross section of makes through the years.
Very impressive for a small country town.

And if you want to see what floated Blues boat check this out. Click on this

Today is the 25th Jan , we will be breaking camp in next few days and making our way back to the coast where hopefully more relaxed demand for camping spots is now the case.