RICHES GALORE ON FOSSICKERS WAY

This scenic New England detour is home to some of NSW’s best kept secrets!

WORDS BY LORRAINE HOLLOWAY PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN AND LORRAINE HOLLOWAY

Starting at Nundle near Tamworth and zigzagging around the New England Tablelands to Glen Innes in Northern NSW is Fossickers Way, a bitumen byway dotted with quaint villages, natural wonders and man-made attractions. We chose to start our journey at Bingara, on the beautiful Gwydir River.

BINGARA

The town claims to have over 300 days of perfect weather, and invites you to enjoy it while you visit. There is a caravan park in Bingara, but if you are self-contained the best place to camp is beside the Gwydir River. Between 3.5km and 6.5km from the CBD, areas are set aside for free camping, although no facilities are provided. It always pays to check for water releases from Copeton Dam – you may have to leave the area in a hurry! Th is town, with its Roxy Theatre, murals and heritage walks, is a little gem.

A visit to the Roxy is like taking a step back in time. Built by Greek partners in the early 1920s, the complex was originally a café. By the 1930s the building was expanded to include a modern picture theatre, café and shops as well as a guesthouse at the rear. Today, the café thrives and the theatre is often a venue for well-known Australian artists. Th e information centre in the complex offers tours of the Greek Museum, which tells the story of Greek immigration to Australia.

While you are in town and feeling energetic, you can take walk. Brochures are available, offering choices from a brief meander around the CBD to longer and more strenuous hikes up to Batterham Lookout. Th e Orange Tree circuit can be taken any time of the year, and each season offers different delights. In spring you can breathe in the fragrance of the perfumed blossoms, while in July you can see the trees ready for harvest. Th e trees were planted by the local RSL to commemorate the fallen from WWI and WWII, and the fruit is harvested annually by the school children of the town. If you are feeling more energetic, you might like to unstrap your hybrid from the front of your van and take to the streets with pedal power. Th ere is a ride for all levels of fitness, including town tours or river rides of just over 5 km. These can take up to 4 hours over cattle grids, through gates and up steep climbs. Make sure you get your “Cycle the Bingara Region” brochure when you visit the tourist information office. Another self-guided tour is the Geological Tour of the Bingara Barraba District, or you can fossick for gold at the Three Creeks Gold Mine.

Not far out of town is the site of the Myall Creek Massacre, where a memorial has been placed in memory of the 28 Wirrayaraay women, children and old men who were massacred by the white man in 1838. Today, this touching memorial tells – by way of a time line – the story of the massacre, and how reconciliation has occurred this century.

WARIALDA AND DELUNGRA

A further 40 km up Fossickers Way is Warialda, meaning “place of wild honey”. This bird watchers’ paradise is a gold mine of nature, with bush walks and camping facilities in nature reserves. The first attraction we stumbled across was the Ceramic Break Sculpture Park, only 15km south of town on the Bingara Road. Th is unusual man-made attraction combines nature with art: you can take a bush walk, smash a dinner plate and enjoy some very unusual sculpture and art work. Artist Kerry Cannon opened the park to the public in 2003 to showcase some of his unusual sculptures. Th e amazing pieces of artwork are dotted strategically along a beautiful bush walk – his “back yard” – taking in vistas of the fields, granite rocks and a forest of gums and casuarinas. At the end of one walk is the “ceramic break”, an area where you are encouraged to join others who have smashed ceramics onto rock, forming an ever changing piece of artwork. Th is tradition started when the park first opened in 2003, with Miss Navajo Nation 2002-03 breaking the first ceramic pot, a tradition of the Navajo tribes to celebrate prosperity, hope, love and charity. Th e park has three galleries with seasonal exhibitions, along with various themed garden walks. We were fortunate enough on our visit to meet Kerry, who explained the meaning of the sculpture “Th e Venus of Elphinstone”. Kerry, on the other hand, was excited that he had now met a writer! I will leave it to your visit to learn of the demise of Venus.

There are nine dedicated bird routes of Warialda, taking in nature reserves and nature walks, drives along gravel roads and around pointed peaks, across creeks and into state forests. Our favourite was the Adams Scrub Road (Route No 3), where there were ample opportunities to stop on the quiet track and observe birds in their environment. While we are not into bird watching, we do appreciate the beautiful countryside, and enjoy seeing the rolling hills and farmlands off  the bitumen thoroughfares. Cranky Rock Nature Reserve, another on the bird route, is also a popular spot for camping close to Reedy Creek. Th e bush camp here has power, facilities and tracks for hiking, as well as offering opportunities for bird watching and swimming in the waterhole. Th ere is an easy hike to the balancing rocks, created in an ancient volcanic upheaval when the boulders tumbled haphazardly into the formations that you see. They sit there balancing on each other, looking as though they’re waiting for the day when they might tumble again, changing the picturesque background to the camping grounds and picnic area.

The Koorilgyur Nature Reserve offers scenic walks on the outskirts of town with easy walks from 1km to the complete 6.9 km loop. Thanks to the plant identification boards as you walk, you may well be able to identify a Pink Fairy or a Purple Bearded Orchid, given the right time of year. Th ere is even evidence of a local Yowie inhabiting the park lands – be on the lookout as you tackle the 1.17 km Yowie Discovery Loop! Another popular walk is the Tumbledown Gum Walk, so named because of the gum’s distinctive pink and red bark during summer. In spring, the flower from the gum attracts bees, which in turn produce honey – hence Warialda’s name: “place of wild honey”. The reserve is home to many unique species of plants.

If you’re looking for more to do in Warialda, why not take a drive out to the Bikini Tree, on the road north to Yetman? A local high school teacher saw the tree back in 1997 and decided it looked like it needed dressing. She painted a bikini on the gum tree, and since then, the tree has worn many diff erent coloured and themed bikinis!

The Warialda Historical Town Tour takes in the Catholic Church and Convent, Carinda House, built in 1880, and the Court House, Community Building and Council Chambers. Free fossicking is allowed in the area; semi-precious gems such as amethyst, jasper and quartz can be found at the three local fossicking areas. We tried, but as with fishing, had no luck!

About 20 minutes’ drive from Warialda is the small village of Delungra. Th is sleepy village once had shops, banks, hairdressers – quite a thriving little town, but since the grain receival depot closed, the town has been in decline. All that remains now is a roadhouse, hotel and bowls club. Th e post office is manned by local volunteers, and opens only three days a week. Annually in March, at nearby Mimosa Station, the Opera in the Paddock is held.

INVERELL - THE SAPPHIRE CITY

This major town on the Macintyre River has good shopping, banks and services, museums, and fossicking. Heritage Walks around town take in the bridge over the Macintyre, which is actually the third bridge on the site since 1876; the current bridge was constructed in 1983. You can also see the beautiful federation style Inverell Club and the ornate Town Hall. The site of the Post Office was chosen after the 1872 flood.

In Sinclair Park, two popular features are the Bicentennial Memorial and the Scottish Cairn. Th e Memorial was built to celebrate 200 years of history in the area, with three courtyards. The first represents Aboriginal culture prior to 1788, and the second spans the first century of white occupation in Inverell. Courtyard three represents social and technological history from 1888 to 1988. A tiled mosaic map in the centre displays Alan Cunningham’s travels throughout the area.

Our favourite museum was the Inverell Pioneer Village. From the moment you step through the gates you can sense the history and feel the pioneering spirit of the area. Wander through buildings dating back to the 1840s, learn about the education system in a schoolhouse built in 1887 or check out the George P. Devine Photography Collection, with a display of images and photography equipment dating from over 100 years.

There is plenty of fossicking available around the area, and twitchers will be delighted to discover numerous sites that reward them for wandering around with binoculars and a copy of What Bird is Th at? Four of them are within a few km of the town centre, beside Lake Inverell and along the River Walk, and there are others near Copeton Waters and Ashford.

GLEN INNES - THE END OF THE ROAD

The secret is out! We discovered Glen Innes, enjoyed its autumn welcome, and struck it rich when it the foliage bloomed in tones of gold and copper. We arrived in Glen Innes in mild weather, just in time for the Australian Celtic Festival. The colourful town dressed in tartan and deciduous colours as trees turned their leaves from green to yellow, orange and red, fl uttering to the ground to create beautiful carpets of colour. Th e Australian Standing Stones, venue for the annual festival, is a national monument and regular gathering point for the Meeting of the Clans. Th e nearby café, Crofters Cottage, is a replica Taigh Dubh – a traditional black house seen in the highlands of Scotland. Here you can enjoy meals and light snacks.

Take in a walking tour of the town CBD and enjoy heritage buildings, while imagining yourself half a world away, in the highlands of Scotland or Wales or the south of England, as you explore locations like Stonehenge, Glencoe, Llangothin and Ben Lomond. Ben Lomond, with an elevation of 1370m, is often covered by snow in winter.

I was fascinated by Kwong Sings Emporium, established in 1886, and still operating as ladies and gents clothing, hat and shoe emporium today. Th e building is the oldest surviving retail business in Glen Innes. It still maintains family ownership, but is divided into separate businesses. Unfortunately, we did not get the opportunity to visit the Land of the Beardies History House Museum; if we had we would have learned a little more about bushmen William Chandler and John Duval, who both sported long beards. They worked as stockmen on a local station, and visitors to the area were advised to see “the Beardies” if they were looking for land. Annually in November, the Land of the Beardies Festival is held in Glen Innes.

As our time in the area drew to a close, we agreed that we had struck it rich with beautiful landscapes and had found a gold mine of different hikes and drives in the area, with plenty of other fascinating activities in and out of town to fill our days. What a treasure this area proved to be! We didn’t need to fossick – it was all there for the finding.