With all the overseas travelling we had done in the last 18 months we thought that we would sit quietly at home over the traditional Aussie holiday period. That, however that did not happen! I have no idea, now, of what triggered our decision, arrived at during our family Christmas lunch, to spontaneously take off the next morning on a camping trip to Glen Innes in Northern New South Wales.
Perhaps we would have been wiser to delay our departure for a day as we ended up crawling the approximately 140 kilometres to the State border, taking almost three hours instead of the usual one and a bit. That, and further traffic delay around Ballina meant that we had to make a pitstop for the night at Lismore, arriving there after 6pm to find everything closed and all the Caravan Parks full. Too tired to continue, I managed to persuade the Manager of the last park on the list to find a space for us for one night, promising to be gone by 10 am the next day. After a meal of Christmas leftovers and a body soothing shower, we snuggled into our camper van cocoon and slept . . . and slept . . waking at 10am! Not to worry! The Manager's husband and dog came for a chat as we hurriedly cooked up a hearty breakfast. Soon we were back on the Bruxner Highway, heading for Tenterfield where we intended having lunch.
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| Road down to Crooked Creek |
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| Crooked Creek |
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| The Leech that lives in Crooked Creek |
We haven't previously seen any leeches in Australia so this one's attachment to a leg was a big surprise! Unlike the Sri Lankan leeches, it was able to be easily dislodged before it had partaken of its meal.
Our next stop, Tenterfield, came soon after and we lunched at a very busy, small cafe enjoying great food. Glen Innes was a further 90 plus kilometers down the road and we were soon setting up our camp in a very pleasant Poplars Caravan Park. Here we stayed for five days relaxing and sightseeing.
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| Glen Innes |
I'm not sure why we choose Glen Innes, located at the junction of the New England and Gwydir Highways, as our destination for this trip. We have travelled the New England highway many times before when we have driven from Brisbane to Sydney and have stayed previously further south at Uralla and Tamworth.
Although summer, we found it quite cool at night which is not surprising given that it is 1,062m or 3,481ft in altitude. It was settled around the 1820s onwards by mainly the Irish and the Scottish and was named after an Archibald Clunes Innes who arrived in 1822 incharge of a ship load of convicts. He didn't do so badly for himself, acquiring several large farming properties.
Glen Innes is very proud of its Celtic heritage and we heard many stories about the 'Beardies" - two stockmen whose exceptionally long beards are remembered today. Glen Innes is home to the Australian Standing Stones, high on the hill overlooking the town in Centennial Park. These were erected by the people of Glen Innes to mark their Celtic heritage and are also a monument to all the Celtic settlers who came to Australia.
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| Standing Stones, Glen Innes |
The ancient Celts erected these stones as calendars to mark the seasons and summer and winter solistices. Such circles are found in Great Britain, Britanny and Northern Spain and there is considerable mythology attached to them. The Glen Innes Standing Stones were inspired by the Ring of Brodgar in the Orkneys. There are 40 of these monoliths with 24 of them representing the 24 hours in a day being erected in a circle, 4 marking true North, South, East, and West.
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| Centre three Stones |
The three stones at the centre of the ring are the Australias Stone in the centre for all Australians, symbolising the link between the old and new worlds, The Gaelic Stone on the right [ behind] which is for Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man and the Brythonic Stone on the left for Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. All of these stones were located around Glen Innes and stand 3.7m tall. They had to be at least 5.5m in total length to be embedded in the earth.
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| View from the top of Centennial Park, Glen Innes |
After wandering around the stones and reading up a bit about the Celtic culture and practices we walked up to the top of the hill where the local community radio is housed to enjoy the view down on to the farmland. As I stood there, a large branch came crashing from overhead, fortunately noisily enough to alert me to the hurtling danger and allowing me to avoid a sore head. This cockatoo was enjoying a large meal of bugs and grubs hiding inside the dead wood.
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| The Cockatoo that dropped a dead branch on my head as I enjoyed the above view. |
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| Town Hall, Glen Innes |
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| The Deer Head |
A walk around the town highlighted some interesting buildings. The Town Hall was most intriguing!
One day we drove west on the Gwydir to Inverell some 67km away. Whereas Glen Innes is a predominantly cattle and sheep farming area [ famous for its sapphires too ] Inverell is 500m lower and we saw more food crops than sheep and cattle.
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| Sunflowers, near Inverell |
As we rolled around a corner and down a hill, our eyes were delighted to unexpectedly see a blaze of yellow covering the lower slopes. Sunflowers!
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| Town Hall, Inverell |
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| Court House, Inverell |
As usual, our brief visit has us planning to come back! We'd like to go further west along the Gwydir Highway. So many places to see . . .
A great post. Terrific shots. The buildings look in good nick. You were lucky with the branch missing you. I have always thought that would be a nice area to meander around.
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