Friday 19—Tuesday 23 June
It’s Friday and we woke to another sunny day helping us to easily settle into pack up mode. All hitched up and ready to go except for the wet ground being very slippery which added 15 minutes to our departure. Finally we were on the road heading to Tenterfied Showground and of course we again had a side trip courtesy of Google maps. We managed to pull over and get a photo of a group of Texas Long Horn cows (Dwyer Ridges Rd) who like to be sociable. After a longer trip than normal we settled into the showground beside Tenterfield Creek and were looking forward to our 4 nights stay.
On Saturday we drove to the Visitor Information Centre (VIC) and we had a talk with one of the enthusiastic volunteers who had some great ideas on what to do while in town. Dean even managed to find coffee at the Courtyard Cafe. From there we headed to Jennings/Wallangarra (twin border towns) for photos. Dean explored the old train station, a beautiful and well preserved old building, where you can see 2 size tracks for NSW and QLD. Later that day, on recommendation of the lady at the VIC, we headed up to Mount Mackenzie Lookout at 1630hrs for the sunset. It was really beautiful and we managed to get some great photos. On the way back to town we had a close encounter with a large kangaroo on the road; no damage to anyone.
Sunday dawned as a very foggy morning of 0.9⁰C outside and as it dissipated the sun came through for a beautiful day. Today we watched Tea Gardens Baptist Church service online; it’s always a good service. After church we headed out to the Tenterfield Saddler Museum which was made famous by the Peter Allen’s song “Tenterfield Saddler” which tells the story of his grandfather at work. From there we drove down the street further and found the Cork Tree and it was enormous—it came from England as a seed, was planted in 1861 and is believed to be the largest in Australia. Our next stop was at the Tenterfield Railway Station Museum where we walked through lots of different carriages, saw lots of equipment used and different buildings used as barracks for workers. It was an amazing set up which we really enjoyed exploring.
Monday, the last day here and we decided to drive around finding 5 sculptures marked on the map.
- Horse—next door to us at the showground
- Woman with Fruit—mosaic creation
- A Quiet Place—wooden pioneer cottage-style shelter
- Who’s the Boss?—Cow and Dog
- Speaking Poles—a Meeting Place
We also found the Weather Rock and a rock sculpture of a girl supporting a ball with hands and feet while on her tummy. We also had a few pack-up jobs to start in preparation for leaving tomorrow for Uralla.
