June 5, Coffs Harbor, Waterfall Way, Tamworth

Just one brief stop in Coffs Harbor this morning to see the Big Banana. It was in front of an amusement park that had everything from a toboggan to a waterside and candy shop.

We decided to go inland to Tamworth and it just happened that the road was Waterfall Way. It went back across the Great Dividing Range and on the way went through national parks and lots of waterfalls. We chose to visit those that were close to the road. Newell and Sherrard Falls were right on the highway. The highway was 2 lanes and the width of the lanes changed constantly. Just past Newell, it went down to one lane. We had pulled into a turnout to look at the falls and had just gotten back on the road when a semi came downhill on the one lane road. We had to go backwards back into the turnout.

Danger Falls was beautiful, several cascades down to a big drop. Ebor Falls had 2 tiers of falls. Wollomombi Falls was Australia's highest falls until someone measured it. Now it's number 2, but it was magnificent. At the end of a deep gorge Wollomombi Falls plunged straight down and to the side Chandler Falls fell in cascades down to the bottom.

We got into Tamworth, the country music capital of Australia in early afternoon. The visitors center was shaped like a guitar. Part of the building housed "Walk A Country Mile", an interpretive museum. It told the story of country music in Australia, the people who shaped it and the role Tamworth plays. It was very interesting, even though we didn't know many of the stars. I had only heard of Keith Urban and Slim Dusty. I don't remember where I got it, but I have a cd of Slim Dusty's Australian drinking songs.

We walked around Bicentenial Park to see some bronze head so country music stars. At the other end of the park there were "Hands of Fame". A place where stars put a hand in concrete. We drove out to see the Golden Guitar. It's a giant replica of the Australian country music award in front of a gift shop and wax museum. Our next stop was Joe Maguires Pub to see the "Noses of Fame", where some stars had put their noses in concrete.

We drove up a long hill to a lookout that was so high we could see the whole city and far into the mountains. After grocery shopping we found a parking place near a sports field and settled in for the night.

Pictures - Big Banana, Dangar Falls, Beautiful countryside, Upper Ebro Falls, Lower Ebro Falls, Wollomombi Falls, Samson and Hands of Fame, Noses of Fame