Cute but…..

Bald Rock-Tenterfield area

Bald Rock National Park is a short drive from Tenterfield and the walks are well-graded and easy. We met a bouncy five year old girl through to grandparents trekking up to see the views. Boulders placed precariously, prudently positioned, permitting the perfect path to pass beneath…..couldn’t help myself….. With recent rain, the scorched forest now thrives and bountiful regrowth is evident throughout the walk. At the top of the climb we find an astounding garden, planted by passing birds. It really looks as though it should be in Burke’s Backyard. Views from the summit extend far across the Granite Belt, ecstasy for the eyes. Finally, Mandy decided to headbutt a boulder, gotta have a hobby.

Getting back to the van I thought I smelled something. After checking my armpits, I found it wasn’t me and I needed to investigate further. A gas leak from the flex hose was the culprit. No worries, home hardware to the rescue.

Deepwater Pub

Want a country pub experience? Deepwater Pub is one not to miss. An absolute ripper, free camp, free shower, free pool table, just make sure you have a meal with them. And why wouldn’t you? The food was plentiful and priced well. Not well catered for vegetarians, however, the vego pizza on the menu exceeded expectations. It wasn’t long before we met Neil, the caretaker of the horse track, who regaled us with tales of his millionaire son from Perth. After finding the fire place, I tried the locally brewed 7.8% beer. OMG it was very nice, and very strong.

Heading out of town the car stopped in front of the bakery. What a shame, better meet the locals…it was one of the best bakeries ever. Perfect bread, perfect coffee…..perfect.

Glen Innes

We needed to sort out some dinners so a stop at Glen Innes was in order. This picturesque town made a huge impression on Mandy and I. The historic buildings, full facilities, clean streets and friendly people draw you to it. The arctic blast was on its way so we did need to rug up a bit. Reminded me a great deal of Tasmania, therefore this town is up there with the perfect place to live.

We chose a park to spend the morning, not knowing of the Celtic influence within the region. This fitting tribute to the area’s heritage is via the Standing Stones. Perhaps when the aliens inhabit the earth it will confuse them about what these stones were doing here. We were lucky enough to be there when the local bagpipe player came around and blew us a few tunes, completing the cultural audio visual experience.

Apricot chicken/chickpea, honey mustard chicken/chickpea all cooked and a week of dinners go into the freezer. The view from my kitchen is also hard to take, but someone has to do it. Thank you Glen Innes, we really like you.

We tried but failed to remove Excalibur.

Inverell -> Tamworth -> Inverell

Water issues, as in it was leaking. Bunnings was our saviour, few fittings later and all was good.

then

Upon closing the pop top, it became a stay partly up top. Bugger…many phone calls later we found the parts to fix it just down the road in Tamworth. So a day trip to the country music capital of Australia it was. Tow World saved our bacon with new bows for the fabric and Officeworks for new rubber bands. They don’t muck around down here with their guitars.

Inverell Mountain Bike Park

Inverell Mountain Bike Park is well-equipped with toilet facilities, easy to medium trails and a wonderful sweat-free experience. Even small boulder climbs, six foot jumps and a gnarly bump track. The trails are one direction and very well-signed. Good for you Inverell.

After breaking my chain, we met Dan from Dan’s bike shop. A great bloke, who is importing a recumbent frame and trying to build his own brand. Good for you Dave.

Myall Creek

A place of monumental importance to historical justice. This is one area where a massacre of indigenous people had occurred. The importance here is that it is the first time in Australian history that the Stockmen were brought to justice for their crimes. The monument was constructed by the descendants of the landowners and local indigenous people. Sadly, the local indigenous people and the settlers were living in harmony in this area and it was people from outside who performed the atrocity. Sometimes our history just sucks.

Rocky Creek Glacial Area

This is seriously old. I mean it is older than that chip that you found under the cushion in your lounge. Seriously, that old. 200 million years give or take a million. We know it is a glacier mainly because the book tells me so, but also due to the landscape being a gradual arc down to the water. If it were cut simply by a flowing river it would resemble a typical v-shaped gorge. Also the rocks are different. If you look at the second last picture, you will see the big rocks ……..ie all of them…….. are actually made up of smaller rocks, sand, clay cemented together in a fluvio-glacial conglomerate. I know right, wow.

Mandy Cooking

Yum…Mandy is using the Cobb cooker and the cast iron pot to make damper. She made 4 small dampers so we could have syrup on two for afternoon tea and then use the remaining two with our dinner. Upstairs for thinking.
It worked out very well, go the Cobb. Helinox chairs are useful for many things, including fanning fires.

Plague proportions

They look so cute. There was so many of them. Acrobatics is their forte, balancing upon long thin grass stems in an act reminiscent of Kate Miller-Heidke at Eurovision 2019.

The first night they were friendly, avoiding us and staying clear of camp doing what they do best, climbing, eating and double back flipping with a half pike prior to hitting the ground. Landing isn’t their forte. The second night however we looked a little too inviting. It was obvious that the intention was to climb into the van and they were trying to gain access. Perhaps they wanted a new home. Perhaps they wanted our food. In any case we needed to move as this company was not desirable.

There is a plague of mice through regional NSW currently so we drove from our lovely free camp to Narrabri. We’ll stay here a few days and do some day trips to Pilliga, Wee Waa and the CSIRO telescopes before heading to Warrumbungle National Park.