7th to 9th Dec.Tabulam to Deepwater (New England highway)

           Sunday 7th
     Took our time getting ready to head off this morning, finally getting away at 9.30. Stopped on the way out to photograph the bridge going over the Clarence river here at Tabulam. It is the longest single span wooden bridge in the southern hemisphere, (apparently!).
    Any way,   I have put together a few photos of our stay here since yesterday and we are heading west to Tenterfield then south on the New England Highway as far as a little town called Deepwater.

Sunrise over the Clarence river at Tabulam
from the racecourse camping area

Clarence river at Tabulam

Misty morning at Tabulam
racecourse camping area

Longest single span wooden bridge in southern
hemisphere over Clarence river at Tabulam N.S.W.

single span wooden bridge
at Tabulam

Here we are, heading out of
Tabulam on the bridge over the Clarence

       









     On the way our west we passed through Drake, a really small place, not much here at all, I took a picture on the way through just to say I had been there.

Drake - a small town before the
great dividing range

     On we went, up over the Great Dividing Range, man is that a road and a half. Lots of corners and a bit steep in parts, giving the gearbox in Dilligaf a good workout. Some great views through the trees but none of my photos turned out much good, all I got was trees. Spied a fantastic water fall at one stage but missed it with the camera, also saw -  wa-a-a-y down in the gully - a cluster of houses and buildings, miles down and only a narrow gravel road down to them.

    



The rocky scenery of
the dividing range

     The range is pretty, very rocky, boulders big and small, the range was formed with volcanic activity so only to be expected I guess.






Tree lined street on entering Tenterfield

     After going up hill and down dale for what seemed like a fair amount of time we arrived in Tenterfield. A beautiful entrance from the east as we drove through an avenue of trees, forming a tunnel which we travelled through until we arrived in the town proper.

     We had a rest stop here for a while before continuing our journey south on the New England highway, to Deepwater, only a further 50 or so kilometres. Found a park behind the hotel, they provide a free caravan park for travellers, if you want power it is $10.00 per night and a shower will set you back $5.00, reasonable price to pay I guess for a nights powered camping.

     We will take it easy for a couple of days, Jim has some maintenance to do on Dilligaf and will take the opportunity to do it while here.

                      Monday 8th    (Deepwater)
 


Historic railway at Deepwater

       Easy day today, having a look around the town with Yip and Dot. There are some historic buildings here, one of them being the railway station, very nicely restored.



The bank at Deepwater
(not in use)

Deepwater Bakery

The bank building is no longer in use and there's no bank here.





    

     The bakery is only tiny,  the goodies are baked on the premises each day and is open from 4am, a very busy little place by all accounts, the truckies stop here to get morning tea/lunch etc. so that says it all for a small food business, if you can get a truckie to stop you have it made. There is a Foodworks supermarket and a couple of other shops, all you need to survive. The population is only about 300, there are 2 pubs and roadhouse as well.
   

      We watched an electrical storm last night, had a bit of rain overnight and another shower late this morning. It was a bit cool this morning but the clouds cleared and a nice sunny warm day by mid morning.
    



"sloman bus service Armidale"
in Deepwater

     Another one of the silly things you see in county towns, is this old truck parked in the main road through town, I don't think it is a go-er but the front bumper has "sloman bus service Armidale" painted on it, very funny sense of humour round here, there is also a dummy of a Cop at the entrance to town with a radar gun.

     Dot and Yip seem to be enjoying our stay here and the walks around town.
     We found the Deepwater river which runs by the town is deep enough for the pup's to have a swim in and may even contain some fish.
             Tuesday 9th
     Quiet day today. Our early morning walk was a bit soggy underfoot, some good rain over night. Found the racecourse this morning ( the compulsory racecourse of most country towns), they have a race meeting here once a year in November.
     Beautiful day, blue sky, fluffy clouds, couldn't ask for any better.