This place is so much bigger than I imagined. It has a regular population of 62,000 which swells to over 100,000 during the Tamworth Music Festival.
Spent yesterday checking out the local sights and also the Information centre. In front of the information centre is the replica Gold Guitar, albeit a huge version. Also in the Info centre they have a café, wax works of all of the country music legends and a giftshop. The very informative host of the Info centre told us that Tamworth is the biggest equestrian area in Australia. They have a huge Equestrian Centre that has only just opened. Over this week it is hosting a massive quarter horse event, involving riders from 7 countries.
The facilities in the area are very impressive. They have an Entertainment centre that is almost as big on the one in Melbourne. Also a very impressive amount of sporting facilities. Had nothing to do with the fact that Barnaby Joyce, Deputy Prime Minister, is the local member.
Caught up with our new favourite coffee shop and on the way out saw a lovely church in the area. Of course I had to have a look. It was St Patricks church of West Tamworth. There was a white marble icon on the front wall which looked over the area. Inside there was a fantastic leadlight image of Saint Mary Mc Killop and also a large wooden cross of jesus behind the pulpit. As we left the church Deb said to me, and the fetish continues. I have no idea what she means by that, as she then directed me to check out the restored Anglican church. I just go where I am told, maybe its not me that has a religious fascination.
The restored Anglican church was also well worth visiting though. The huge pipe organ inside is fully restored and there are some very lovely lead light windows. I thought I had better get out of there before Deb started to sing a couple of hymns.
Went out on Tuesday morning for a day of exploring the area.
Our first stop was up to the Oxley Scenic Lookout. From here you can see just how big the town is. It has new housing areas cropping up on all sides of the town. You can see the town is in 2 halves, with the original area containing the shopping centre, and then an Industrial centre with sporting facilities. A very impressive place really. Pity about the freezing cold.
After braving the bracing wind we headed to the Tamworth Marsupial Park. This place has free entry and has a couple of big caged enclosures full of beautiful birds. Got some customary snaps, with one very close up of an inquisitive galah that just wanted to get his own personal close up. Whenever I tried to get a snap of some little finches he kept getting in the way of the lens. He was pretty impressive and even started a little dance at one stage. All he really wanted I think was to have his head rubbed by Deb.
Strolled around the park and saw some of the resident kangaroos and emu's. It would have been a beautiful serene place to just relax and ponder the problems of the world, except for, you guessed it, just before we got there; a couple of school buses arrived and disgorged their screaming load of excited little savages. So much for solving the problems of the world.
Of course Deb had her hiking boots on and she set a cracking pace around the grounds. Maybe she was just trying to escape the screaming savages.
Next on the list was the Botanical Gardens. They would have been really good, as there are numerous water features in the gardens, but being on Stage 4 water restrictions up here they were all disconnected. We found a really good Bush Chapel in the Gardens and Deb could not resist getting up there behind the pulpit and giving a bit of a sermon. Very impressive reading of the days Revelations. And you thought it was me with the religious fascination.
After coffee we headed over to check out Bicentennial Park, which is just off the main shopping strip. These gardens are well worth a visit. The first stop was to check out the Country Music Hands of Fame. There are probably a couple of hundred handprints in the concrete, of country music stars from the past and present. There is one extra now as Deb couldn't resist adding hers to the display.
There are a couple of small lakes in the park, along with bronze sculptures of music legends from the past. Around the lakes there are sculptures made out of local rock with figures cut out of the rock.
And now for your History Lesson. We then had to check out the Waler Light Horse Statue. This was really well done and was a fantastic tribute to man and horse. During all of the wars that Australia has been involved in, from 1871 up to 1931, over 500,000 horses have been sent to war. Of that amount, only 1 was ever returned to this country. These horses were mostly stock horses from outback New South Wales and had the ideal temperament for what was required in a war.
We then checked out the War Memorial Display where they had 4 huge images on what looked like a slate background. It was a good memorial as there was one for the army, navy, air force and also for the nurses. Really good recognition I think.
At the entry to the War Memorial area in Bicentennial Park there are 2 big steel gates. They are called the Man O War gates and they were originally on the docks at Circular Quay in Sydney where all of the sailors and officers heading off to war had to walk through these gates. This area is a really good tribute to our past military history.
One last stroll along the main street and a walk along the walk of fame. There are plaques embedded into the footpath of all of the winners of the various categories from the Tamworth Music Festival. There is also a life size bronze statue of Country Music Legend Slim Dusty and his wife Joy Mc Kern in the main street. Slim Dusty has won more golden guitar awards than any other musician and Joy McKern won the first ever. Only natural they would eventually hitch up.
Then it was time to go back to the van and hitch up ready for an early start tomorrow. Oh, ok, maybe 9.30. We will be heading over the mountains to Coffs Harbour. We have already changed our route due to the road conditions, with the news tonight letting us know the roads were closed due to black ice today for about 8 hours. We will now be heading the long way through Port Macquarie.
That's all for now.
Barry and Deb.
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