Celtic Country

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We spent Christmas in our home town of Victoria Point QLD catching up with friends and attending to domestic chores ie. visiting dentist,doctors etc.We had a great time,time flew by and it's time time to hit the road again,we have about 6 weeks before we need to be in Melbourne to catch the ferry to Tassie.The coastal route will still be busy so we elect to go inland via the New England Highway taking time to stop off at some historic towns.

First stop Tenterfieild for an overnight stop, enough driving for one day.Our caravan site is in the grounds of an old pub now being used for accommodation only, a lovely old building with a wrap around veranda. Around the corner is a railway museum a reminder of how important the railway was in opening up inland Australia.Next Glen Innes a small town in the centre of Celtic Country,making our way there we are consistently reminded that we are in Celtic Country.The scenery is so reminiscent of Scotland with rolling hills and meadows, sheep and cattle fill the fields which are lush with ever green grass.The area was first settled in 1838 mainly by Scots and quickly became a place which attracted more and more settlers from the home country.Villages and towns sprung up all over these parts bringing with them names from the old country. Glencoe,Ben Lomond,Inverall,Dundee,Llangothlin,Glen Innes,Armadale to name only a few.

Glen Innes with a population of around 7 thousand is a popular tourist destination and is where the stunning Standing Stones can be found, a National Monument to honour all Celtic people who helped pioneer Australia.These standing stones comprise of 40 granite monoliths built in a circle of 24 stones representing 24 hours of the day,three central stones,four cardinal stones marking true north,east,south and west and seven stones marking summer and winter solstices,the longest and shortest days of the year.Built from granite taken from the local bush these stone where officially opened on 1 Feb 1992.The stones are home to the annual Australia Celtic Festival held on the first weekend in May and held over four days attracting visitors from all over the globe. No far away is natures own standing stones known locally as Stonehenge these stones are randomly placed by nature and date back millions of years.

Being 1072m above sea level in the New England Tablelands the area has a climate unlike much of Australia with distinctive seasons providing opportunities for a variety of industries to flourish such as cattle,sheep and agriculture.Sapphires are also found here and Glen Innes is considered to be in the centre of the worlds riches mineral diversity belt,fossicking is encouraged and no licence is required. Tourism has developed into a major industry with visitors being well catered for and offered a wide rang of accommodation and experiences.With so much history and natural beauty this area has so much to offer.

There are numerous self guided drives out of Glen Innes visiting some very picturesque small towns and villages each with their own place in history and are well worth a visit.

Time to move on but not very far only 100ks to Armidale another town steeped in history named after after a village on the Macdonald Estate on the Isle of Skye by the newly appointed commissioner of Crown lands George Macdonald made his camp here on his first visit to the tablelands.We use Armidale as a base to further explore this unique part of Australia. Surrounded by national parks and boasting some stunning scenery with walks to suit all levels of fitness this is a fabulous place to be.We also bumped into two friends we had met earlier on our travels and enjoyed swapping stories since our last meeting.Photographs will not do justice to the stunning scenery but we will post some anyway.

A small problem with our electrics in the caravan mean we need to move on earlier than we planned to find a repairer so we head off tho Tamworth.

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Photos

Glenn Innes
The standing stones

king arthurs replica
pull it out if you can

the way in

New England national park
thunderbolt look out to get a view from the to this is the only way up

view from the top