Back into New South Wales (NSW)

Sunday morning and we were packed and ready to head south.  It was sad having to leave Brisbane not knowing just how soon we'll see Paul, Kathy and family again, but we certainly had a very memorable couple of weeks there and have every intention of returning before too long.  In spite of their protestations to the contrary, we can't help but think that they are at least a wee bit grateful to have their own space back and we are most certainly very grateful for their hospitality.
We got a leisurely start about 10 am and headed SW on the Cunningham Hwy, intending to make a brief stop at Cunningham's Gap but stretching it almost two hours on the track through the rain forest.  In part, we were very attracted by the much cooler air under the canopy and at elevation.

Susan and Wesley on the track at Cunningham's Gap.  We can't get enough of these (for us) exotic ecosystems.

Overview from Cunningham's Gap looking generally eastward.  The mountains/hills are of several different volcanic origins.

A view of on of the peaks near Cunningham's Gap in the Great Dividing Range, what separates the coastal region from the inland region watershed.

We finally arrived in Warwick (the Rose City) about 2 pm, a town that was pretty dead on a hot (35 C) Sunday afternoon (except for the Bowling Green, which was covered with octo- and nonagenarians who had been out in the sun since 9 am!).

There was a very nice city hall in Warwick, but unfortunately the information office was closed on Sundays.

Bowling in Warwick.  They've been at this for over five hours at this point, the temperature is in the mid-30's and one of the guys just celebrated his 90th birthday!

After restocking at the Supa IGA (supa = super in Australian;  the "r" just disappears), we had a picnic in the downtown park and headed out of town on the New England Hwy.
The next stop was a brief one at Wallangarra/Jennings.  Wallangarra is in Queensland and Jennings in NSW.  It is common (at least so far) for there to be differently named cities at state borders.  Until only little more than 100 years ago, each state was a separate colony and one had to pass through customs at the border.  If you recall from previous posts, it also meant that passengers had to change trains and goods had to be transferred to new wagons because the track gauge changes.  The old passenger transfer station at Wallangarra still stands with a diagonal line across the platform to show the state border (and on the Queensland side, still sees a few steam excursion trains each year).

Wallangarra/Jennings station with Susan standing directly on to QLD/NSW border.  The narrow-gauge Queensland track is to the left and ends shortly behind where I'm standing.

Here's the right hand standard gauge track heading to NSW (behind as I'm standing).  Passengers had to detrain and walk across the platform for a connecting train.  Baggage, mail, express, etc., also had to transferred from one train to the other.

We continued to Tenterfield for the night and found a nice buffet dinner in a historic house for an unheard-of price of A$9.95 each (US$7.50).  We'll explore some tomorrow (within  limits of the heat, of course) but we will certainly not be fighting crowds:  the sidewalks were empty in the evening and there are only three other cars at the motel.
Well, there were a few more cars in the morning, but the motel was still only half full.  We wanted to get some ideas about things to see/do, but the information office only opened at 9:00, so we took an early scenic country drive to a lookout point to pass time while the info office was closed.  On the way out, we stopped briefly at Tenterfield's famous weather rock.

Tenterfield's weather rock.  My sister-in-law, Ann, should be happy to note that it is sponsored by the rotary club.  Perhaps this could be a future project in Santa Rosa?

It turned out to be a gorgeous drive, much on gravel tracks (in fact, at times it was as if we were on a private driveway) through fields and pastures littered with granite boulders, some of them quite massive.  We passed over many grid crossings and were often sharing the track with cows and sheep, plus a few wallabies.

Gravel (more like dirt or sand) track through the countryside.  The granite boulders were very impressive and in places almost looked like a city in the distance.

View over Tenterfield from the Mount Mackenzie lookout point.  The nation park we went to later is somewhere in the distance a bit towards the left.

On the way back into town we stopped at the railway museum, a beautiful 1880's structure that looked very inviting, but it will have to wait for our next trip.

The 1886 railway station in Tenterfield which is not open as a museum.  It is a bit unusual in that it lies about 2 km from the city center at the edge of town.

We arrived back in Tenterfield shortly after opening and were handed a fist-full of maps, guides and commentaries about the town.   For town of some 3300, Tenterfield, in fact, is incredibly significant  in Australian history and has several (relatively) famous people connected with it.  It turned out that there was way more to do than we could do in a day, so picked a few and proceeded.  First a walking tour through the central city to view old/historic buildings.

Post Office.  The story is that after the building was build, the foreman's son stood on his head on the top of  the tower.

The Tenterfield Saddlery, made famous by the song of Peter Allen.

We then headed to Boonoo Boonoo (pronounced bunnabunnoo'--four "oo"s" with three different sounds and scrunched together) National Park to see the waterfall and have a picnic.

Our picnic lunch in Boonoo Boonoo National Park.  This at a spot called Platypus Hole, but unfortunately no platypuses at mid=day.

Sad example at the waterfall picnic grounds where people did not pack out their rubbish.  Instead of a raccoon, as might be expected in the US, a lizard shows up to scavenge.

Boonoo Boonoo Falls.  The 2-D photo can't do it justice.  It would be truly spectacular after a rain!

On the way out to the park, we saw "arguably" the largest cork tree in Australia.  (Arguably, because the Victorians argue that the largest is in a suburb of Melbourne.  All I can say is that the tree was, in fact, very large.)

The cork tree was brought over from England and is over 150 years old.  I can't verify that it's the biggest in Australia but it is good sized.  (It is small, however, in comparison with some of the gum trees we have seen.)

On the way back to town, we stopped at the bush ranger known as Captain Thunderbolt's hideout and some remnant tank traps from WW II.   The traps were part of the "famous" (according to the brochure, but heretofore unknown to me) Brisbane Line.  This was a planned fall-back position  in the Great Dividing Range to stop the Japanese if they had successfully landed in Queensland.  There appears to be some controversy as to whether the plan/line actually existed not.  Maginot or Siegfried Line it was not, but thankfully it never had to be tested.

Some of the nooks and crannies at Thunderbolt's hideout.  It was impossible to capture the perspective with the camera, but the boulders are on the order of 10-m high at this point.

The rotting posts that were part of the Brisbane Line. It was hoped that the advancing tanks would try to go over the posts and expose their vulnerable undersides.  You can also see that the granite rocks in the area added to the difficulty of tanks advancing.

The historic significance of Tenterfield lies in its being the setting for Sir Henry Parkes's (recall the city of Parkes in a prior post--Elvis festival and the Big Dish) famous (again, that word from the brochure;  and again, I was ignorant) federation speech in 1889, which earned him the title the "father of federalism."  The speech was delivered in the School of Arts building, which still stands and houses a Parkes museum.  (We also had to pass on that museum due to time.)

The School of Art where Sir Henry Parkes made his "Federation Speech," credited with being critical on the path  to federation in 1901.

As to the famous people associated with Tenterfield, I'll start with Major J F Thomas, who "earned world fame" (brochure again)  for having defended Harry "The Breaker" Morant at a court martial in the Boer War (in South Africa).  Before and after the war, he was a lawyer and newspaper owner in Tenterfield.
Second, Peter Allen (the Boy form Oz), a singer, songwriter, dancer and actor.  I didn't recognize the name, but I certainly recognized some songs and aspects of his life.  He:  was the first husband of Liza Minnelli, he played a cameo in Dr. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie, and wrote "I Honestly Love You" (covered by Olivia Newton-John, the theme to the movie "Arthur," among others.  He also wrote "Tenterfield Saddler," a tribute to his grandfather who helped him through a very difficult childhood.  Other than the saddlery, which still exits, there is not much in Tenterfield that relates to him (unless you count the Peter Allen Motor Inn, but according to the man in the tourist bureau, the "motel only pinched his name).
Finally, A.B "Banjo" Paterson was married in Tenterfield to a Tenterfield woman (granted a rather tenuous connection!).  This is yet another name that I thought was new to me, but he was a poet, journalist, author and balladeer who wrote a song that all (at least most) of you must have sung in grammar school:  Waltzing Mathilda.  I also had not realized that I had seen his face many time already as he is on one side of the A$10 note!

Banjo Paterson on the A$10 note.

After a very full and enjoyable (albeit a bit hot) day in Tenterfield (temperatures were about 10 C above average) we headed south to Glen Innis for the night.  On the way, right beside the New England Highway, we stopped briefly to see Bluff Rock, an impressive rocky cliff.  The rock has a dark tale associated with it as apparently some settlers in the 1840's sought vengeance on a group of Aboriginals (incl. women and children) and hurled them to their deaths over the rock.  There is a good deal of confusion in the stories, so the true history is a bit cloudy.

Bluff Rock along the New England Highway.

We settled in at Glen Innes for the night, having not covered many kilometers for two day's driving but having enjoyed the trip.