Treasure Island to the Hunter Valley

Boxing Day

Only half an hour down the Pacific Highway from Treasure Island we crossed the ‘border’ into New South Wales NSW – our 3rd Aussie Territory.

Beautiful rolling green hills

Called into Ballina for Coffee and Brekkie, most things closed but Green Coast Coffee Came to our rescue.

Looks like a nice looking town, sky’s are a bit overcast but plenty of waterfront so plenty of people.

Big seafood area I think

Not long after Grafton we started to head inland. Through the Nymboida national park.

Very scenic, but a narrow road winding up the top of a ‘mountain’ and back down.

Near the top we noticed a high pitched amimal/insect noise.

Soon after, the heavens opened amidst another electric storm.

I summised therefore, that the critters were sending word around that they’d better take cover from the storm or be washed away to the Gold Coast 😂😂😂😂

BTW, what I know about nature would fit on the face of one of those emoticons !!!!

The rain was sooooo heavy we pulled over and had lunch.

You can in a Van

During that hill climbing and descending adventure we had no phone signal, which was a little unnerving to say the least.

Further on -still No signal –

Passing through Cathedral Rock National Park, we encountered some strange names

Scabby Creek, Dough Boy Creek, Native Dog Creek, And in Biscuit Creek you’ll find the Guy Fawkes Truffle Co. going there would be a blast wouldn’t it 😂

Towards Guyra we drove along mile after mile of straight empty roads, the terrain either side was reminiscent of Richmond Park (without 🦌) with the Peak District in the far distance

If I didn’t know better I’d have said the Romans got before Captain J Cook

After over 200 kms ( 125 mls) without passing a town, or even what you’d call a village we arrive at the New England Highway and the TOWN of Guyra.

I’m sure it has other attributes but it boasts the highest caravan park in Australia – who knew.😟

We’d already booked into Austin at Tamworth so we went the extra 80 Miles.

What a beautifully scenic welcome we had to the Tamworth district

Similar to Southern Spain in the Springtime.

We’ve travelled over 3000 kms in our van so far, 🎩 🎩 off to Gav for driving 98% of it 💋💋

First impressions of Austin Country Park not great, so we’ve called ahead to our Hunter Valley booking to see if we can have an extra night, they’ll let us know in the morning.

The only thing it offered was a glimpse of a setting sun

Wednesday 27th The man from Hunter valley. he say yes👏🏽👏🏽

2 things to do before we leave Tamworth though.

1. Play golf at Longyard Golf course 🏌🏽‍♀️🏌🏻

2. Visit the Golden Guitar and the Country Music Hall of Fame 😊🎸

Golf

The course was (partially) designed by Greg Norman, its not hard to see where the join is. But there’s Stunning Scenery with the Great Dividing Mountain Range framing almost every hole.

lots of Olive trees, which I can’t recall Seeing before, and great to see some of our old WA favourites, the Black Boys-this time with spears

And for the first time I think I can show you a video of kangaroos in flight !!!!!!

Sorry, I couldn’t edit it but when I played it back you can scroll in and see them closer.

A lovely group of guys (who let us through earlier) were keen to know about our trip and told us that we’d love the Hunter Valley, they say it’s a much wealthier area than Margaret River which in their opinion made it better. Time will tell.

The Golden Guitar Tamworth is the Australian Country Music capital, and hosts this big bash & award ceremony every January. Our golfing guys told us that this is the No1 revenue generator for the town, even though it only lasts a week.

(Closely followed in revenue by the fabulous equestrian centre they have near the golf course)

There’s a HUGE Golden Guitar outside this amazing tribute to the Australian Country Music stars past and present.

As well as lots of memorabilia, Inside were loads of guitars signed by famous stars.

also a bunch of waxwork models depicting the famous ones.

There were a few that vaguely rang a bell from my parents music collections, but in truth there was only one who I definitely knew Frank Ifield – I Remember You ooo

At the awards, the winners receive golden guitars, Country Music equivalent of the Oscars.

Gavin took a pic of me infront of the guitar but unfortunately chopped the headstock off so for a few reasons, the one without me is better, see the toddler to get the scale of the thing though !!!!

Those 2 tasks completed we’re back onto the New England Highway towards the Hunter Valley.

The scenery is mile after mile of AWESOMENESS. And unlike previous journeys there’s been almost continuous evidence of human habitation. In fact we’ve just seen our first passenger train since we left Perth, I guess the two go hand in hand.

Just passing through Scone, Gav and I are debating over the pronunciation .

But whichever it is Scone is the equine capital of Australia.

Horse references everywhere you look. The Thoroughbred Hotel, The Horse & Jockey Pub, la la la.

Bit of a one 🐴 town though, in my view

I wonder how many more “something ” Capitals of Australia we’ll come across. They seem quite keen on the label.

We’ll I didn’t see the ‘Power Station Capital of Australia’ sign when we came through Muswellbrook but we saw 3, only got pics of 2 of the ugly bugs.

We’ve arrived at our last Campsite.