When I last spoke to you, we were in the beautiful town of Coffs Harbour. We left there on Monday morning and at the time the temperature was about 19C. Makes you wonder why we left really.
The trip over here is fairly challenging. The first 80k's is to Grafton and then the next 130 is over the Gibralter Ranges. It is a pretty steep climb for probably about 30 k's of the trip, with a very narrow road winding around the top of the mountain. We got stuck behind a truck carrying cattle for about 10 kilometres, with his speed dropping to about 25 k's on the steep bits. Of course there were plenty of morons behind us that made some very risky overtaking moves to get around us. Glad to see that it is not only Victoria that has all the morons.
We arrived in Glen Innes and found a café in the main shopping area for a well deserved coffee. It is a really old town of probably about 4000 - 5000 people. The trip from Coffs took about 3 1/2 hours of pretty stressful driving so we deserved it. I must say that once again, Debs brakes took a hammering. I foolishly commented on the great view at one stage, to be reminded, with a breaking voice, that I should be watching the road. For a small town, there does appear to be an over abundance of caravan parks and motels. Probably because in the summer/spring, it is a beautiful place to visit, to try your hand at fossicking and finding your fortune.
We then settled into the Showgrounds, which will be our home for the next 3 days, before heading to the Information centre.
It was then off to check out the Standing Stones monuments just out of town. Glen Innes is known as the Celtic Capital of Australia and has a huge Celtic Festival in May of every year. So much of the heritage of the area goes back to their ancestors, who came from Scotland, Ireland and England. The festival revolves around the huge standing stones monuments. They have the appearance of Stonehenge, and all of the rocks are, I think, granite.
They are all set up in a circle to signify the hours of the day, with different stones in the exact position so as to alert the local farmers to the time of the winter and summer solstice. There are also stones to signify the 4 directions, east etc. The granite rocks are about 10 - 12 feet tall.
A bit away from the main rocks, are what I have designated as the ministers pulpit, from where I gave a bit a sermon to the peasants, as well as excalibers sword, well and truly embedded in a rock. Another area is disguised as a bbq area, but I think it is where they sacrifice a couple of maidens during the Celtic Festival.
In line with our travels, I then checked out the local St. Patricks church. You will be disappointed to hear that I could not get in to take any photos, for your enjoyment of course. There was a beautiful parrot that was posing for me so that will have to do for now.
For anyone interested, the local convent, that is currently a B & B, is up for sale.
That was enough excitement for the day and it was back to the van. Glad that we returned when we did as it started pouring with rain. It rained for the next 12 hours straight. Why did we leave Coffs Harbour??? It was also just so exciting watching the local news that night, as the weather man told us that on the Sunday night in Glen Innes the temperature got down to -6. Awesome.
Got up Tuesday morning and the area around our van was waterlogged, with lots of streams running past us. We had decided to head out to Emmaville, about 40 k's away, to check out the mining museum. The amount of water in the paddocks on the way out was just unreal. We had water over the road on several stretches but eventually we made it.
It was well worth the trip out. Most of the displays are donated, and I would say there are thousands of gemstones on display. It was just fantastic, with a lot of the gems found in the local area. The proprietor was very knowledgeable, particularly with the chances of finding gems in that area. He actually takes out small groups on fossicking expeditions, with sapphires, emeralds and topaz regularly found there. Apart from being the Celtic Capital, Glen Innes and surrounding towns are well known as being fossickers heaven. We intend to come back next year, when it is not so freezing cold and wet.
We returned to town and went to check out another attraction, actually called Stonehenge. This was really disappointing, as it was literally just a pile of rocks. The only rock of interest was called the Balancing Rock. Pretty cool and hard to see how it doesn't fall over.
After all that excitement it was back to the van for another night of tennis.
Got up Wednesday morning, after a very windy and wet night, and yes, bloody freezing. The temperature got down to 0C over night. Quite bracing really. Just so glad that I don't smoke any more, as Deb braved the rain, sleet and freezing wind on several occasions during the night, with no cover to protect her. What a brave soul. Had a bit of a spin around town today and you have no idea how cold it was. The gauge on the jeep showed 5C for the entire day. Tell me again why we left Coffs Harbour????
Located the local Anglican Church and, with your viewing pleasure in mind, tried to get in for some stimulating photos, but no luck. They appear to lock up everything around here. We then located a church that was open and I thought that I would go in and get some photos of their leadlight windows, but Deb put her foot down. You are NOT going in there. I cant see the problem, there was only a funeral taking place.
Anyway that's all for now. It is back to the van to warm up before heading off to Narrabri tomorrow.
Barry and Deb.
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