Back to Briz.

I continued my trip north and was planning to stop for the night at Coonabarbran NSW. This would have made it an 800 Km driving day but the weather report was for a severe storm with hailstones and I didn't want poor old Snowball to get battered . The night before in Balranald there'd been two big storms that passed over me. Buckets of rain with thunder and lightning. I felt very small tucked up in the van with the quilt pulled up to my nose. Anyway, I decided to drive another 100 km or so to Narrabri to get away from the approaching storm cell. Narrabri ain't pretty but there were no storms.


Next day I decided to head for Tenterfield NSW which is roughly a 4 hour drive. I had heard good things about it but had never been there. The countryside was quite beautiful and the roads good. I went through a small town called Bingara that looked interesting and very pretty. I will make a point of going back and checking it out when I have more time. It's an old gold and diamond mining  town - you never know - I might strike the motherlode :) 

I stopped at Inverell for lunch on the river bank. What I saw of the town looked lovely and I will put that on my "places to revisit" list. The beautiful gardens by the river reminded me of the park next to the La Brea tarpits in LA. Very relaxing.

Beautiful parklands by the river at Inverell NSW

On the way to Tenterfield I ran into this herd of sheep which had taken over the roadway. It's nice not to be in any hurry and to take my time and enjoy watching them running around. The old expression about following like a sheep is so true. One would take off and the others would all follow - one by one.

The day before I had had a similar experience with a very large herd of cows grazing on the "long Paddock".  Once again....nice to have time to sit back and observe.

Sheep. sheep and more sheep

Onwards to Glen Innes - not so pretty. I finally hit Tenterfield and the rain started as I hit the town limits lol. I located a nice caravan park and climbed into my bed and "read" a book. (This means I fell asleep for an hour or two). The weather improved the next day so I had a tootle around town and saw the famous Tenterfield Saddler shop (think Peter Allen), had a real country roast dinner for lunch, and made it back to the Caravan Park for a guided tour around the old Hotel attached to the Caravan Park. This has been "done up" but unfortunately not true to the era and some of the furnishings are more Ikea than 1800's Australia.

Arriving in Tenterfield - WELCOME!!

Tenterfield's famous cork tree

Great song Peter Allen

Upstairs Verandah  of the old hotel

The next morning (Saturday 25th March) I completed my return to Brisbane, getting in about lunch time. Snowball is a joy to drive and great to sleep in. I'm happy to say I made the right choice for me and I'm looking forward to my future adventures in her.

Ah! Snowball

Very comfy - this is why I fall asleep
when I set myself down for a read lol