Tamworth to Moree

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Last night I forgot to record the sights that we saw during dinner last night in the Italian restaurant. Bernie was looking over my shoulder at a woman with eyelashes that he kept telling me looked like bannister brushes on her eyelids. I had to wait until we left, so as not to look conspicuous checking them out, but I have to agree with Bernie that her eyelashes were ridiculously HUGE! I, on the other hand, was looking over Bernie’s shoulder straight at a guy whose shirt had ridden up and trousers ridden down to reveal the band of his underwear and his bum crack! Some things you just cannot un-see, ha, ha, ha.

This morning we went in search of the Big Golden Guitar despite the fact that we already photographed it when we drove through Tamworth in 2019. So, you would think we would know where to find it??! We drove down the main drag and we drove and we drove and meandered through all of Tamworth’s industrial estate and couldn’t find the Big Golden Guitar. The SatNav hadn’t been set because Bernie was sure he knew exactly where it was but, perhaps not?

Finally we resorted to putting it into Apple Maps and we drove all the way back along the road that we had just travelled!! Then Bernie managed to overshoot the damn thing driving in the other direction. Eventually, after a right turn (No U-turn allowed) and then a circuit around the first available roundabout we managed to pull into the car park of the Tamworth TIC where the Big Golden Guitar can be found. I cut Bernie some slack saying that on our first past he did have BP blindness after spotting the BP Servo just past the TIC and focusing on refuelling for our journey today. That didn’t happen though because it hadn’t yet opened. I have no excuse as to how/why I missed the guitar??

With our photo of the guitar secured we headed into downtown Tamworth looking for historic buildings to photograph. Imagine my delight when we arrived downtown to find that this Sunday is craft market Sunday?! We (I) had a lovely browse along the market stalls … on BOTH sides of the street. I bought some beautiful mauve NZ Merino and Silk yarn … and an $8.00 necklace from a vintage/secondhand stall. On the other side of the street I purchased a charm necklace. Instead of being attached to a chain necklace, a round container is suspended from a chain and the charms are secured inside the container. Bernie was very patient as I selected the charms that would hold the most meaning for me.

And as for the photos of old buildings? Tamworth is rather devoid of beautiful old buildings. The Post Office was photo worthy BUT they had it barricaded off due to work being done on the clocktower from a cherry picker!!! We are unsure whether Tamworth bulldozed all of its original old buildings in the name of progress or if they never had beautiful old buildings like Wagga Wagga, Bathurst and Mudgee??

From the centre of town we drove up to the Oxley Lookout for a panoramic view over Tamworth. We were lucky that it was a beautiful sunny morning for a clear view. At the lookout they had a board about 10 Things To Do In Tamworth. Included on the board was the silo art at Barraba. Ooh, definitely need to check where that is in case we can fit it in on the journey to Moree.

As we drove back down the hill I Googled silo art. As anticipated the silo at Barraba popped up but, what’s this, there is water tank art at the Oxley Lookout. What? We’ve just been there and there was NOTHING about the water tank. I read a bit further and, apparently, you have to climb a very steep 200 metre gravel path to reach the tank. It even admitted that the water tank is the most difficult silo/water tank art to access!!

We found a BP Servo that was open and topped up the tank before heading off on Fossikers Way to Manilla. We stopped for lunch in Manilla and enjoyed two bacon and egg rolls at the Warm Discussions Café. While we waited for the rolls I browsed the wares in The Manilla Folder next door - a shop selling antiques, second hand books and other collectibles. I ‘could’ easily have spent a couple of hundred dollars, but Bernie dragged me out to eat my lunch before I could open my wallet.

The Barraba silo art could not be missed. It was right on the side of the road with a small lay-by area to park and and take photographs. The silo art, completed in April 2019, is by Sydney artist Fintan Magee and is called The Water Diviner. Barraba and its surrounding areas have a long history of employing water diviners to find water, particularly in times of drought.

We continued north and I thought that we would travel all the way through to the Gwydir Highway and then head west to Moree. Syri had other ideas (again!) taking us on the shortest route without regard for the road conditions! We turned off onto Horton Road which wasn’t too bad … until the bitumen ran out. It’s just as well we are in a vehicle designed to go off-road as it does cope better with the gravel surface than the average car. Says me from the comfort of the passenger seat!

Back onto the bitumen, we travelled for a short while along Killarney Gap Road before we turned off onto the road to Terry Hie Hie. More unmade road, lots of causeways and floodways (thankfully dry) and cattle grazing in the long paddock! Talk about the road less travelled. I think perhaps the road is meant for local travel only and it was a bit terrifying at one stage to encounter (presumably a local?) hurtling towards us in the middle of the road. He corrected to his side of the road just before Bernie was forced to take evasive action and did give a finger wave (we think) to apologize for being a road hog?? Just before we found the bitumen again we were warned of not a causeway, not a floodway, but a stream bed and water over the road. The truck had to get its feet wet!

There wasn’t much at Terry Hie Hie, but how could we not stop for a photo opportunity at a place with such a strange name? As we drove along the Moree – Terry Hie Hie Road there was evidence that cotton is farmed in the area. Yesterday we saw one field of cotton not yet harvested and then there were kilometres of road with stray cotton bolls caught in the vegetation by the roadside. We didn’t see any fields of cotton today, but again there were lots of cotton bolls caught up in the roadside vegetation.

Just after 3.30pm we were checking in to The Albert at Moree. With the truck unloaded we changed into our togs and drove to the Moree Artesian Aquatic Centre for dip in the artesian waters. We enjoyed a lovely relaxing 45-minute soak in the 38.9°C waters.

Dinner tonight was at the Ex-services Club very conveniently located right next door to the hotel.



Steps: 6,963 (4.83kms) Too much soaking in the artesian waters rather than actually exercising?!

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