Glenn Innes – Armidale

The Glen Innes Beardies Festival was a new experience.  The weekend was organized by the local Ullyssies club and provided Markets, entertainment, and a street parade.  We watched the start of the parade led by more than a hundred bikes ridden by old blokes and noticed one of them was Noel Fletcher, Carols cousin from Blackwater.  I walked into the middle of the street to get a photo beside another man with a camera and turns out he is from Bluff also taking photos of a relly – you’re never far from home!!  There was a show and shine following the parade; lots of bikes and several dozen cars including a 2 door XR Falcon and a couple of great one tonners – I am looking forward to seeing how Nicholas’s compares when (if) he finishes his.

 A drive around the district took in an old tin mining town of Emmaville.  There are no tin mines still operating but the drillers are back in town looking for silver again.  The Mining Museum in this little town is excellent.  There is the best display of rocks and minerals I have yet seen in one place.  There are 3 main contributors who have donated their families complete collections.  A great display of crystals, fossils, ores, etc from locally and around the world.  Outside town we visited an old arsenic and tin mine.  Tin was mined on two occasions and arsenic once when the tin price fell.  The arsenic ore sat below the tin and was mined in different levels of the underground so it was easy to recommence back on the tin levels when the price rose again.  Of interest was the arsenic treatment plant which consisted of a large chimney mounted on top of a hill which when fired drew air up the slope through draft corridors passing arched openings on the side.  The crushed ore was placed at the bottom as and the draft from the chimney carried the dust up the corridors the arsenic attached to the arched brick side compartments.  Every few days the draft was re-directed to the other side and workers went in to scrape the arsenic from the brick walls at the side – not the most sought after job.   It was interesting to visit the site but the area is overgrown and not very well looked after.

Ottery Mine arsenic plant

Glen Innes Town Hall

Glen Innes has a very strong Celtic connection and a monument has been erected in a park on the edge of town that is very impressive.  The Stones are a series of large granite stones placed in a circle (plus others) to show the time, date, the direction of sunrise and sunset at the winter and summer solstice, and true north & south.  Each stone is at least 5.4 metres long, 3.6 metres out of the ground, and they averaged 17 tonnes each.  It is apparently the only monument of its type built in 3,500 years; after Stonehenge I’m guessing?? A very interesting and well presented monument.

The little short rock is the centre of the circle

Looking almost north

After Glen Innes we headed east to the Gibraltor Range Nat Park for a couple of nights.  We were advised to stay at the Boundary Creek campsite as it was best for caravans.  There had been recent rain and the falls only 200 metres from the campsite were the prettiest I have seen. They were wide and fell into a large pool which ran out into a thick rainforest gorge – small but beautiful.  The water was clear and cool.  It was quite warm during the day and we ended up sitting in the stream at the top of the falls to cool off; a great spot.  A walk further along the creek (2 km’s) and we saw another set of falls where Boundary Creek falls 200m off the tableland into a deep valley between ranges.  These were the Lyrebird Falls - nice but not worth the walk as you only get to see them from the opposite side of the valley.  Our camp was peaceful with lots of small birds and a couple of very friendly wallabies that came straight up to Garry in his deck chair looking for food.  The camp was right at an 1800’s saw mill site with foundations and an old steam engine still in the bush.  Another walk to the Anvil (balancing granite outcrops) also took us passed a number of Waratah flowers that are in full bloom. They are an impressive flower.  We also encountered our first red bellied black snake in the wild; a little fella only about a metre long and in a hurry to get off our track.  On the way home we drove into the Raspberry Lookout which is on the pointy end of a very high ridge where your 270 degree views go forever (into the haze), impressive views of high ranges and deep valleys.

Boundary Creek Falls

from the rainforest

Cooling off at the top

Garry's new best friend

Large Grasstree on the walk to the Anvil

NSW floral emblem, the Waratah

Raspberry Lookout

Tree cut down in 1800's. Note notches cut for springboards.

We left Boundary Falls headed for Grafton but planned to do a walk in Washpool Nat Park, a bit further east., early Thursday on our way.  The Washpool walk ended up being 10km long before lunch.  It is thick rainforest with huge timber, crows nests, staghorns, ferns, waterfalls on Cedar Creek, and great views from the hill tops.  It was a great rainforest walk and highly recommended.  There are 3 very large cedar trees that escaped the loggers and the evidence of their work is still visible in the huge stumps visible everywhere.  I am glad logging has stopped here. The main creek is quite large and has some great spots where the water runs through and pools around the large granite boulders.  I must mention the leeches and ticks; they were numerous and hungry but no problem to see and remove on regular stops.  Pre-warned and we would have not been wearing shorts and would have applied insect repellant (Bushmans I’m told is the best, worn with nylon stockings.  After 10 km’s we were in no mood for travelling so set up camp in Bellbird Camp Ground which was probably the prettiest camp we have had yet.  We were nestled into the huge timbers and also enjoyed good grassed areas, a camp kitchen, water (once boiled) and toilets.  We also encountered a real red bellied black snake at the end of our walk. Sunning himself on the grass right beside the path as it entered the thick bush was a biggy – at least 2 metres long and not keen on moving too much, he had more than a foot of him off the ground looking at us.  We left him be and yet still decided to camp the night. 

Washpool Creek

Big crowsnests in big trees

In front of 1 of 11 mature Cedar trees not logged in Washpool Nat Park. 

At least one strangler fig covering a big tree

Undergrowth covered in moss & tiny ferns

Our camp site at Bellbird Camp Ground. Very tall timber around us with our own BBQ (firewood supplied by NPWS) and picnic table.  Sunshine between 11am and 1pm only.

We highly recommend Bellbird Camp Ground and the Washpool Nat Park even though even though the Nat Parks and Wildlife office recommend we not take the van in there, the road is gravel but good however, there is a long steep slope in and it felt an even longer steeper 3km climb back out of the camp site – very worth it.

We gave up on Grafton this time and headed back through Glen Innes and down to Armidale for the weekend – telephones and TV again!