Tuesday 23 June—Thursday 2 July
It’s Tuesday and as we prepare to leave Tenterfield, it’s travel day with a difference. It was -2.4⁰C outside and only 3.6⁰C inside and we have no water. Dean checked the hose connection and found it iced, so no showers this morning. We packed up, hitched up and left earlier than usual and headed to Uralla Showground. At Tenterfield we were 850m above sea level and on the trip while climbing up through the mountains we reached 1419m. Even the cats didn’t like the changes in pressure 😹 and Uralla is 1030m, so we are still up in the clouds.
Uralla is a small country town on the Great Dividing Range on the Northern Tablelands and we have really enjoyed our time here. There are many things to do while in town so I have decided to list and describe what we have done. Every morning (0900hrs) and evening (1715hrs) the Sydney Armidale service runs along the front of us (about 50m away). Dean has enjoyed looking for photo opportunities most days and on our last night he managed to get it with the sunset.
Visitor Information Centre—lots of information and handouts and staff are happy to chat.
Uralla Creek Walk—small bridge across Uralla Creek, path along the creek, quite a pretty walk.
Heritage Walk & Drive—we worked our way through the guide of 57 different historical sites. We also photographed other buildings we thought were amazing.
Barnes Vincent Memorial Lookout (Uralla Lookout)—during the day there were some clear views through the trees of the town, at sunset beautiful colours lit up the sky.
Captain Thunderbolt—a large Statue in town him on his horse, Thunderbolts Rock 6km south of town (lots of graffiti) with good views of the highway , Constable Walker Memorial plaque for the officer who killed Thunderbolt, Bushranger Motor Inn, The Bolt Inn (Thunderbolt Inn) and McCrossin’s Mill Museum has amazing displays. The town seems to have claimed Captain Thunderbolt as their own.
Lagoons—Racecourse was pretty but low on water and only a few birds; Dangars was also pretty with lots of water, birds of many sorts and lovely at sunset for amazing photos.
Gostwyck—Chapel is small and of gothic style in a beautiful country setting; Deeargee woolshed is a unique octagonal shed built in 1872 and is still in use today.
Statues/Scupltues —Fibonacci at Pioneer Park is fantastic which includes a spiral pathway, artwork by local children, mosaic picnic table and 4 spectacular columns representing Uralla’s postcode; The Glen has a display of ‘Constellations of the South’ which is a series of 8 large sculptural artworks; really good. Totem and Having a Yarn are 2 other sculptures we found.
Coffee & Food—we have visited the Uralla Bowling Club Chinese Restaurant, The Alternate Root Cafe, Café Fantastique, 53 on Bridge St, Beca Bakes and The Bolt Inn; all had good food and drink.
We have really enjoyed our stay of 9 nights in Uralla even though it has been cool. Exploring the town and area has been very informative with it’s history and we are pleasantly surprised by the pride that the people have for their town. It’s time to start packing up in preparation for travelling tomorrow to Muswellbrook Showground.
