Tenterfield Saddler, Weird Stones & Rain

Today we officially crossed the state border into NSW - and lost an hour in the process. We were the last to leave our campsite at Wallangarra (which turned into a two night stay) at 10am, but five minutes later when we crossed the border, our phones changed forward to 11am, daylight savings time.

We drove the short distance to Tenterfield, checking out some of the examples of historic architecture in the Main Street and then driving to one of the residential streets where there is a historic cork tree still growing, that was brought from England way back in 1861. It is thought to be one of the largest cork trees in the world.

The main item on the tourist agenda was to see the Tenterfield Saddler, the shop made famous by singer song writer extraordinaire, Peter Allen, who wrote ‘Tenterfield Saddler’ about his grandfather, who owned and worked in the shop. Today the shop is privately owned (by a mad keen Peter Allen and history buff) and run by volunteers. It houses memorabilia from Peter Allen, including a pair of his dancing shoes bought at auction, as well as original newspaper clippings, signed photos and portraits and of course plenty of leather goods that you would expect to see in a saddlery shop. There are also A.B. Banjo Paterson poems and songs (such as Clancy of the Overflow) immortalized on the walls, as he was once a customer, having married a local Tenterfield girl.

We continued our journey south, and just after lunchtime as we arrived in Glen Innes, the ominous clouds above turned black and the rain fell quite hard. We drove slowly through town, again checking out the beautiful examples of well kept heritage buildings. We decided, despite the rain, to visit the nearby Australian Standing Stones, mostly out of curiosity. The stones were built by Australians who have a Celtic background (English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh etc), many of whom came to work in the local area over the last couple of generations. They are designed to unite the local Celtic community and provide a place where they can celebrate Celtic culture and festivities in a communal manner.

The rain barely let up while we checked out the stones, and it felt weird to be putting on coats - and for me socks and runners - for the first time since the first week of our trip. We both got soaked as we walked among the circle of stones.

We continued south, but not for too long as the weather was looking worse by the minute. We stopped at the tiny town of Guyra and decided to stay the night at the local rest stop called Mother of Ducks Lagoon, alongside what looked like a swampy lagoon and a golf course. The rain continued to fall quite heavily but we managed to find a relatively level spot (there were at least another 5-6 vans, buses and motor homes alongside us) cosied ourselves inside our little home on wheels and settled in for the evening - making dinner inside and watching some TV.

Night night from the little town of Guyra, in the Northern Tablelands of NSW xxRead more