Jan – May 2018

Tamworth and other Festivals

January 2018 - March 2019 Read more

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Day 19
Wednesday, January 24, 2018 at 10:36 PM
⛅ 29 °C
Altitude: 395 m
Australia Goonoo Goonoo Creek -31.1276, 150.9223831°7’39” S 150°55’21” E
Busby Marou
January 24, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
Whenever we have the chance, we catch up to Jeremy and Tom. These guys are local to where we live and we have known them for a long time.

The show was in the Goonoo Goonoo room at the Longyard Hotel. (Goonoo Goonoo is actually pronounced Gunna Goonoo.

The show was opened by Brad Butcher. He had been nominated for awards at Tamworth this year. Not bad for a nearly local Mackay boy.

Busby Marou put on another great show but surprised us all presenting is to a young Rockhampton girl who sang a song. (I will have to add more details later)Read more
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Day 20
Thursday, January 25, 2018 at 3:40 PM
⛅ 35 °C
Altitude: 412 m
Australia Hillvue -31.13061, 150.9188931°7’50” S 150°55’8” E
Troy Cassardaley at TREC
January 25, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 35 °C
One if our main paid entertainment is here at the Tamworth Regional Entertainment Centre. We are seated well ahead of time and waiting for the show. After 10 minutes about half the people are here and already seated. The show was one of the best. Two hours with 15 guests.

All outstanding performers who will take country music forward. Stand out performer was a young Finian Johnson. His voice is outstanding and I reckon he will be one to watch. We had also seen him at Bill Chambers show.

Tonight we are seeing Lee Kernaghan.Read more
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Day 20
Thursday, January 25, 2018 at 10:22 PM
⛅ 24 °C
Altitude: 388 m
Australia Bicentennial Park -31.09275, 150.9320331°5’34” S 150°55’55” E
Lee Kernaghan
January 25, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
We headed out to TREC for two shows. The earlier one was Troy. After a wait of a bit over an hour we went back in for the Lee Kernaghan experience.

Lee is one of the country legends of our time. His act is firmly pitched to the boys and gals from the bush. Utes diesel and dust. Fast cars tractors and everything country. Great show well produced with heaps of audio, (perhaps a bit much) and visual to overdose on.

There was a brief appearance from his wife. A duet with his dad and a tribute to his grandparents. There were guests and some great country music.

Tania Kernaghan dropped in to help sing the Williamson great, "A Bushman Can't Survive". Lee played the piano. I was very surprised that Lee even knew which end of a piano made the noise. :)Read more
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Day 21
Friday, January 26, 2018 at 12:00 PM
⛅ 30 °C
Altitude: 390 m
Australia South Tamworth -31.11101, 150.9225531°6’40” S 150°55’21” E
Food at the festival.
January 26, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
While the food around the Bicentennial park was quite expensive and not outstanding, the Pub group were very good. Due to a very full programme we ended up eating out a few times. While any of the Pub group had good food albeit similar, the Longyard was impressively fast service.

We ordered food there twice and each time the wait time was under 10 minutes.
The pictures are meals we had at the Pub. Service was good here as well with a very short wait time.

We were told that the pub was owned by a bloke who originally ran the funeral home. Apparently the Pub was originally one of those places. If you look up above the bar there are unusually placed rows of mirrors. These were supposed to allow a view of the departed in their coffin during the service. We never confirmed this story.

Our experience at West's League club was different. The food was quite good... When we managed order and wait quite a long time.

We went there to see Becky Cole. The shoe was good and we were getting hungry by the time the show finished. Arriving at the eatery we found an enormous crowd waiting to get a table in the very crowded restaurant. The wait was over half an hour and quite a few of the queue bailed out.

Eventually we had a table and ordered. The food took quite a while arriving but it was good and we were hungry. We splurged out and had Belgium waffles for dessert. The four of us shares two generous serves.

Tamworth is well serviced with supermarkets so the only problem was the travel time to and from the tourist park we were staying at. Arriving back late has become the norm.Read more
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Day 21
Friday, January 26, 2018 at 2:58 PM
⛅ 33 °C
Altitude: 398 m
Australia Electra Park -31.09839, 150.8967731°5’54” S 150°53’48” E
Bill Chambers sessions at The Pub.
January 26, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
Australia day 2018 at the Pub. We enjoyed one of the best shows of the trip. The highlight towards the end of the show, by now running seriously overtime was an appearance by Kasey Chambers. My postcard for this day probably sums it all up. One of the best Australia days ever. This time last year we were camped at Bethanga on our round the big paddock trip.Read more
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Day 22
Saturday, January 27, 2018 at 10:36 AM
⛅ 28 °C
Altitude: 380 m
Australia Bicentennial Park -31.09356, 150.9275531°5’37” S 150°55’39” E
The Lions Duck Race.
January 27, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
The Tamworth Lions club sell tickets for a duck in the race. After the cavalcade the ducks are let loose in the river. The first duck over the line wins its ticket holder $1000. I think my duck is still snagged in the weeds somewhere. People down the Peel River please keep a lookout for duck #1286. He might make an appearance somewhere for Easter.Read more
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Day 22
Saturday, January 27, 2018 at 12:20 PM
⛅ 30 °C
Altitude: 377 m
Australia Railway War Memorial Park -31.08781, 150.9265331°5’16” S 150°55’36” E
Round Mountain Girls Show
January 27, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
At the Albert Hotel ready to see this show. Thinking it might be load! We'll the sound check was loud.
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Day 22
Saturday, January 27, 2018 at 9:04 PM
⛅ 24 °C
Altitude: 383 m
Australia Bicentennial Park -31.09292, 150.9320431°5’35” S 150°55’55” E
The Tamworth Cavalcade
January 27, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
The cavalcade starts around 9am and takes nearly an hour for the 100 cars, floats and groups to pass by. This is one of the biggest country parades I have seen
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Day 23
Sunday, January 28, 2018 at 12:41 PM
⛅ 29 °C
Altitude: 386 m
Australia West Tamworth -31.10361, 150.9189331°6’13” S 150°55’8” E
Last Shows at Tamworth Festival 2018
January 28, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
We are seeing the Whistle Dixie band this afternoon at the Southgate tavern. We have already seen this band but they are way best this afternoon has to offer. Tonight we head to the Bicentennial Park for the closing ceremony.

{edit}
We returned back to the cabin with a decent storm hitting as we boarded the bus. We arrived back at the Tourist park just ahead of the storm but it did not last long.

Sitting around with a cuppa we decided we would not go back to the park after all. We setup the Samsung tablet to stream the live feed and enjoyed the concert from the lounge. The only bit we really missed out on was the fireworks. We were not that terribly upset by not having to wrangle our chairs on the expected crowded busses.

≠=======================≠

Those following my posts here or Pam's Facebook page will realize how many shows we have seen while we have been here. I am still catching up so come back later and I may have added some posts.Read more
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Day 23
Sunday, January 28, 2018 at 4:38 PM
⛅ 32 °C
Altitude: 376 m
Australia Jewry Street Park -31.08066, 150.9205131°4’50” S 150°55’14” E
After the Festival.
January 28, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C
The day after the Tamworth Music festival you would be hard pressed to find evidence of it having been. There must be a huge effort by the organizers to remove signs and barricades as soon as it is finished. A walk up Peel Street and you would never guess it was alive with thousands of people just one day before.Read more
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Day 26
Wednesday, January 31, 2018 at 11:06 AM
⛅ 26 °C
Altitude: 361 m
Australia Back Creek -30.03467, 150.3171430°2’5” S 150°19’2” E
Glacial Rocks
January 31, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
Glacial rocks are formed by an ancient erosion event. The result for us is interesting scenery with outlook over small waterfall.

There is a flow of water at present that makes it all very attractive. Further down the creek we're some very picturesque areas.Read more
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Day 26
Wednesday, January 31, 2018 at 1:43 PM
☀️ 25 °C
Altitude: 267 m
Australia Reynolds Tank -32.75692, 147.4670732°45’25” S 147°28’1” E
Cloud formations.
January 31, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
Driving along the highway there are often interesting clouds. There were many we saw but these were quite interesting.
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Day 26
Wednesday, January 31, 2018 at 2:27 PM
⛅ 15 °C
Altitude: 171 m
Australia Cuttabri -30.33704, 149.1691830°20’13” S 149°10’9” E
Droving in NSW.
January 31, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
When onw thinks of droving, there is the thought that this was something that happened so long ago. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. On this trip we're have passed several droves with one of them being quite a large herd of cattle.

The way cattle are droved has certainly changed a lot. The horses are gone and the motorbikes and quad bike have replaced them. The drovers have caravans and 4wd trucks. I this modern world one can only wonder at the resurgence of such an old method of moving large numbers of cattle in this huge country.Read more
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Day 26
Wednesday, January 31, 2018 at 10:01 PM
⛅ 26 °C
Altitude: 164 m
Australia Pilliga -30.35541, 148.9071130°21’19” S 148°54’26” E
Pilliga Artesian Bore
January 31, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
Tonight we are camped at Pilliga, just outside the town. This is a very popular place with people dropping in regularly for a soak in the warm waters that flow up 6-800meters from deep below the surface.

The bore has been capped and some flow allowed to run into a swimming pool. The outflow from the pool flows into the creek keeping a permanent water feature. Recent rain has increased the water in the creek making it a very pleasant walk. There are some birds but they will be more scattered with the abundant water holes surrounding.

There are claims that a regular soak in this water can cure many ailments. I found that around 20 minutes was about all the time I could stay in the warm water. Even though the temperature was quite warm I felt quite cold when I got out.

Tonight is a rare lunar show. A full lunar eclipse with bonus effects. Although the actual eclipse is a couple of hours away, the extra brightness of the perigee moon (super moon) is creating beautiful effects from behind light cloud. We are hoping the eclipse will be quite spectacular. The anticipated effect is termed a blood moon due to the increase in red light reflecting back from the earths shadow.

One last coincidence is that this month is a blue moon. In some places it is termed a gravest moon. Although this happens every year or two, the combination of 3 features is rare.Read more
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Day 27
Thursday, February 1, 2018 at 10:30 AM
⛅ 32 °C
Altitude: 179 m
Australia Coonamble -30.59285, 148.677130°35’34” S 148°40’38” E
No CSG for this farmer.
February 1, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C
Mention CSG here and you are 98.9% certain of speaking to a non supporter. No farmer sees any good to come from it and many have made huge signs from grain bins water tanks and other items.

Just about every gate is locked and displays a warning sign to trespassers. The concern is the risk of compromising the integrity of the Great Artesian Basin. This resource is essential to the inability of the many farms in the area.

Coal Seam Gas involves a process that uses toxic chemicals to fracture the rock strata and release the gas. Trouble is this toxic chemical can leech into the artesian system and the resultant outcome can not be predicted.

The only information from existing CSG projects suggest there is likely to be contamination or even breaking up and release of the subterranean water trapped in the aquifers.

Many people feel it is not worth the risks of long term losses for a short term profit.Read more
TravelerCouldn't agree more with the farmers 👎about CSG
2/2/18Reply
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Day 27
Thursday, February 1, 2018 at 11:44 AM
☀️ 24 °C
Altitude: 201 m
Australia Smith Park -30.95913, 148.3902930°57’33” S 148°23’25” E
Coonamble Water Tower
February 1, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
Silo art has been found in many areas now. Towns ha e decided to make boring and unattractive grain silos just a bit more interesting. Coonamble has taken art to jts water tower.

I am not sure how a structure like this is made into a mural, but the end result is quite good. Galahs are a common bird here but there may be some other connection. The lower section has an aboriginal theme.Read more
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Day 27
Thursday, February 1, 2018 at 12:47 PM
☀️ 25 °C
Altitude: 233 m
Australia Bill Delaney Park -31.3325, 148.4730331°19’57” S 148°28’23” E
Gulargambone
February 1, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
On the drive in and out of town are many art galahs made from cutouts of corrugated iron. Mounted high on poles to the north and south, these impressive works imply the town has made the galah its official bird.

In town there was a tidy park with decent amenities with a huge stationary steam engine at the southern end. We only stopped briefly here and drove a bit further down the road before stopping for lunch.Read more
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Day 27
Thursday, February 1, 2018 at 3:33 PM
☀️ 25 °C
Altitude: 227 m
Australia Trangie Showground -32.03128, 147.9876532°1’53” S 147°59’16” E
Goan Waterhole, Trangie
February 1, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
There are many nice spots around Australia and this is one of them. A beautiful park set beside a Lagoon called the Goan Waterhole, there is a reasonable attendance of water birds. Once again on this trip though, the birds have many more destinations due to the recent rain.

At the entry to the park is the usual boards telling of what the area has to offer and its newest artwork, the big Billy. This has been created by an artist and embodies the timeless echoes of thousands of camps that would have boiled the billy around this area over the years.Read more
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Day 27
Thursday, February 1, 2018 at 5:02 PM
☁️ 18 °C
Altitude: 212 m
Australia Albert -32.35651, 147.5086832°21’23” S 147°30’31” E
The Rabbit Trap Hotel, Albert, NSW.
February 1, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
We decided to visit this place after meeting Neville the owner at Tamworth. It took us a little off our intended course but only by a few kilometres. We will resume our mission to Junee tomorrow.

Neville's son was an entrant and finalist on the Voice TV show a few years ago. During the show Mel B and a gaggle of production descended on the quiet town and put it on the travel map for a while.

The Pub is managed by Neville's nephew and we are about to discover the spot.

The memorial park is well kept with toilets and shower available. The church looks like the services are now infrequent. In the memorial park is a building that looks like it was the old lock up. A block is Rymer street but I can't tell the reason.

Once towns like this were tricking with grain transfer and railway sidings. People to work all this lived in the town. Now trucks take the grain directly to storage closer to the populated areas. The towns are all dying. Albert still has a pub that is quite busyRead more
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Day 27
Thursday, February 1, 2018 at 5:54 PM
☁️ 18 °C
Altitude: 352 m
Australia Greenhatch Creek -30.74408, 150.7185630°44’39” S 150°43’7” E
Imperial Hotel, Manila, NSW.
February 1, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
The date on the facade say 1900. Over 117 years and this impressive hotel is still standing and quenching the thirsts of local and traditional Eller alike.

We have seen several Imperial hotels already so it would be interesting to know how many there were. These old hotels are quite interesting and usually were but to last. In Queensland many of the most impressive hotels were made from timber and succumbed to fire. Sometimes claims. Some were claimed to be revenge, insurance or just the result of some old timer smoking in bed.

It was extremely rare for a hotel to be saved from fire. These found in the colder states were more likely to be made from brick and fire seemed to be less frequent.Read more
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Day 28
Friday, February 2, 2018 at 11:27 AM
☀️ 24 °C
Altitude: 180 m
Australia Cookaburragong Tank -33.28899, 147.0937633°17’20” S 147°5’38” E
Humbug Creek, NSW
February 2, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
Nice spot with water after the floods. We were cruising along, Pam was having a drive and she thought the is area looked interesting. We dropped over the edge onto a track that was being used by the council water truck.

I title bit of direction for a small off road event and we were safely parked not far from the council pump unit. Pam was out with her camera investigating the nice waterways. This point of the creek does not flow when not in flood and is dry most if the year. For now though it is a very interesting Lagoon.

After half an hour we were back on our way. Next main stop would be Junee.Read more
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Day 28
Friday, February 2, 2018 at 1:39 PM
☀️ 22 °C
Altitude: 239 m
Australia Wyalong -33.92529, 147.2325633°55’31” S 147°13’57” E
Cooinda Park, Wetlands.
February 2, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
Wyalong was just the place to stop for lunch. We noted a wetland picnic area and figured it might be worth a look.

The local councils uses the natural watercourse supplemented by some formed dams to regulate the flood waters. The result is a picturesque area with lots of visiting and resident birds.Read more
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Day 28
Friday, February 2, 2018 at 1:51 PM
☀️ 22 °C
Altitude: 238 m
Australia Wyalong -33.92431, 147.2337833°55’28” S 147°14’2” E
Rest area, Wyalong.
February 2, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
Simulated mine and poppet head. Part of the DNA of these tows was that they often started out as mining towns. The ones that made the transition to supporting the farming have often continued on to be great country towns.Read more
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Day 28
Friday, February 2, 2018 at 3:41 PM
⛅ 26 °C
Altitude: 295 m
Australia Junee -34.86035, 147.5793334°51’37” S 147°34’46” E
2
Junee Liquorice Factory
February 2, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
A little off our track, but who could resist a detour via the Junee Liquorice Factory? We dropped in here for the first time last year when it was on our planned route and had a fantastic visit

This time a small purchase from the shop and on to get some nice coffee. Sadly (;/) the gift shop will be closed before we finish our coffee. There is always next year.Read more
Traveler where the liquorice
2/3/18Reply
Traveler If you look carefully on the teaspoon. The rest we already had eaten. :)
2/6/18Reply
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Day 28
Friday, February 2, 2018 at 5:18 PM
⛅ 26 °C
Altitude: 291 m
Australia Junee -34.8682, 147.5790334°52’6” S 147°34’45” E
Junee urban wetland walk.
February 2, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
Last year we were here. Now the reeds have done very well and grown quite thick. Any birds here have good cover but for us seeing them is difficult. It looks like a bit of rain would go well. Perhaps Junee is yet to get some heavy rainfall.Read more
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