If it doesn't rain it snows - Glen Innes, Australia
Glen Innes, Australia
Late on the eve of our departure from Tenterfield it started to rain. This was not welcome because it is very unpleasant striking camp in the rain. We generally stay an extra night, and hope that the weather fines up. Fortunately however, when we awoke there were no raindrops on the roof, so pack up we did. Outside activities include rolling up the mains water and sullage hoses, the 240 volts mains lead, and the satellite TV cables. The last step is to back the car up to the caravan and make the physical and electrical connections between car and caravan. At this juncture it started to rain again. Luckily the Rain God was looking down upon us with a smile; we remained dry as we drove out of the caravan park.
However it rained most of the day, so we decided not to stay overnight at Glen Innes as originally planned, but to continue on to Armidale where we hoped it would be fine. Luckily again, we outpaced the inclement weather and were able to set up at Armidale, still dry. But let me get back to Glen Innes briefly.
The population of Glen Innes is a little over five thousand; bigger than Tenterfield and smaller than Armidale. We stopped for lunch beside one of the parks close to the main street, with rain pelting down on the roof of the caravan. Several other cars/caravans were similarly parked, all nose to tail. The outside temperature was about eight degrees, but we have the Berlina climate control set on twenty degrees. Indoors in the caravan it was about 16 degrees, but we were as warm as toast as we had lunch. We did not take any photos outside, because it was plainly just too cold, with an additional wind chill factored in to our discomfort. Even Jaffa was reluctant to have a pee stop.
So I am going to cheat a bit and rely on Wikipedia information verbatim to pad out the Glen Innes blog. Here goes:
The original owners of Glen Innes and surrounding areas are the Ngarabal people. The Ngarabal name of the township of Glen Innes is Gindaaydjin, meaning "plenty of big round stones on clear plains". The arrival of European settlers saw the significant disruption of the life of Ngarabal people, with widespread loss of life through massacres, disease and poisoning. Many Ngarabal people continue to live in the Glen Innes area, still practising many aspects of their traditional culture and way of life. In about 1838 Archibald Boyd registered the first run in the Glen Innes district. Two stockmen known as "the Beardies" because of their long beards took Boyd to this area to establish his run. 'The Beardies' later introduced other squatters to the best runs in the area to become known as the Land of the Beardies or Beardie Plains. Furracabad Station was suggested by John James Galloway as an alternative to Wellingrove for a new town. However Furracabad Station was sold in the 1840s depression and passed to Major Archibald Clunes Innes, then to the Bank of Australasia, then to John Major, who sold it to Archibald Mosman. The name Glen Innes is believed to be bestowed by Mosman in honour of Innes. Glen Innes was gazetted as a town in 1852 and the first lots were sold in 1854. The post office was established in August 1854 and the court in 1858 when they replaced the Wellingrove offices. In 1866 the population was about 350, with a telegraph station, lands office, police barracks, courthouse, post office and two hotels. There was still no coach service at this time, but in the 1870s a road was constructed to Grafton. Tin was first discovered at Emmaville in 1872 and Glen Innes became the centre of a mining bonanza during the late 19th century. In 1875 the population had swelled to about 1,500 and the town had a two teacher school, three churches, five hotels, two weekly newspapers, seven stores and a variety of societies and associations. On 19 August 1884 the new Main North railway from Sydney opened. The arrival of the rail service and the expansion of mining contributed a new prosperity in the town, which is reflected in some of the beautiful buildings there. The centre of the town retains some of its federation buildings and the owners have painted these buildings in the traditional colours. Many of these buildings have been placed on the Register of the National Estate. The town boasts a railway station that was once part of the Main North Line. These days the line is closed at this point so the station is not in use. The buildings have been reused.
This fleeting 2016 visit to Glen Innes was my third if I remember correctly. The first was about 1963 when with Mum and Dad we were returning to Melbourne after visiting my sister Marilyn and her family who were then living at Bilinga on the Gold Coast. We approached Glen Innes from Grafton on the Gwydir Highway. There was some sort of plague of tortoises, so the drive was one of watchful eyes ahead for the little critters so that all were avoided. Although we hit none, there was much evidence that not all tortoises had crossed the road successfully.
My second fleeting visit was on an interstate overnight coach, about 1988, when I visited Mum who was living out her twilight years with Marilyn and Col, who were then living at Mount Nathan in Queensland. This trip convinced me that I would never again venture anywhere on a long interstate coach transfer. Further south from Glen Innes is the small town of Guyra. When coming through Guyra in the middle of the night on that coach trip I was surprised to see large swarms of moths fluttering around the street lights in town. When I had a closer look the moths were not moths at all, but large snowflakes about two centimetres in diameter. Guyra at a height of 1,330 metres is the highest town in Australia, excluding the towns/villages in the Southern Alps. Guyra is eighty metres higher than the summit of Mt. Donna Buang in Victoria. Snow at street level in Guyra is not uncommon in winter.
Because the snow was building up on the road, the coach driver had to contact his base by radio for instructions on whether to proceed or not. A two hour delay was called, resulting in a serendipitous surge of hot food and drink sales for the proprietor at the 24 hours fuel/rest/fast food stop.
When we got underway again at about midnight, I got into the front seat beside the driver. This was for me an interesting first-hand experience of the camaraderie that exists between interstate transport drivers, in particular the communications protocols of CB radio and the secret comments inaudible to all oblivious car drivers. All along the road the venting of frustrations about idiot car drivers overtaking on double lines, etc. was shared between the truckies, and mutual advice was given about when, where or not to overtake, and so on. But I need to cast this tangent aside as it’s time for me to get back to 2016.
Despite the fact that our whole day’s journey from Tenterfield to Armidale was though the rain, the countryside was very pleasant; undulating with open woodlands, pastures, forests, rocky outcrops , valleys and creek crossings to keep us interested in the passing landscape. The most prominent feature en route is Bluff Rock, as illustrated in the accompanying photo.
The New England Highway and the (closed) Northern Railway pick their separate but roughly parallel routes across the terrain, with the rail line needing to wind hither and thither to get the best gradients. All the rails are still intact, albeit rusty beyond rehabilitation except perhaps as fence posts. However, there is also plenty of timber available, so the rails remain in situ.