Signwriting 101 - near enough is obviously good enough

Walcha news

When touring around the countryside it's interesting to see what's in the local news.

Here's a sample of Walcha news:

Bruce Rutherford in this week's Apsley Advocate comments on the recent wet weather in the Walcha district and then puts things into a broader global perspective. Well done, Bruce!

Meanwhile, Coogee over at the Walcha News has a par about expiry dates.

Walcha to Bingara via Manilla and Barraba

The travelling party was given a tip for a top place to dine in Walcha on Wednesday night - the Apsley Arms Hotel. After studying the menu at great length it looked odds-on that the restaurant in the hotel would be serving us up with one of its specialities, the mixed grill.

The description on the menu for the grill had us watering at the mouth - T-bone steak, lamb loin chop, butcher's beef sausage, bacon, eggs, onion and chips. Priced at $24 a head, we thought we were on a good thing. But, out of the blue came a recommendation from another diner in the restaurant, "Get your laughing gear around the Wednesday night house special - T-bone with salad n chips or veges. You blokes will have trouble finishing it off, the T-bones are gi-normous!"

We could read that bloke like an open book - he was frank and upfront and knew his stuff.

So, having ordered T-bones, the party settled in for refreshers that came in the form of nicely chilled Boags in schooner glasses.

Almost before you could say "Jack Robinson", the T-bones arrived at our table. And, without a word of a lie, the steaks were half the length of my outstretched arm. Mine was medium rare and melted in my mouth. We took the recommendation of staff member Wayne and had a glass of house red ($5) to accompany the meal. And what great value that red wine was! it came from a bottle of Penfolds that sells for over $25 when it's on special.

The evening was rounded off with a lively forum in the hotel's public bar where topics covered included Racism in Oz in 2010 to local rugby, the ups and downs of local businesses and the bloke/sheila on the land .

Speaking about The Land, when I went along to the local newsagency on Thursday morning to purchase a copy of the local paper, the Walcha News, which is published just once a week - on Thursdays - the owner of the newsagency told me the business had the highest sales for The Land of any outlet anywhere in NSW. To prove the point, I was shown the details for last week's sales - 321 copies were sold last week!

After a solid breakfast, had at Cafe Graze (again!), the touring party departed Walcha and headed off to Bingara.

Along the way, the party inspected Bendemeer, Manilla and Barraba. Sadly, solid evidence of towns in serious decline was observed in all three locations, but it has to be said that Manilla has all the appearances of being a cot case - emergency resuscitation could be called for, but the vital signs of life are perilously low that if a second opinion is called for, then it could well be that a decision might need to be taken to euthanise the patient.

Barraba and Bingara are impressive small country towns. They have a real sparkle about them. Local residents who we had short yarns with seem pretty happy with their lot in these places.

A site in Manilla created a bit of curiosity for the party. What's the background to the naming of the bridge shown below? Doesn't it seem odd that the name is still being used? Wouldn't you think the local civic fathers and mothers would be a bit more politically correct and move to have its name changed?

Uralla, Walcha and their hinterlands

First stop today was Uralla. The town centre's streetscape is highlighted by the New England Highway that runs north-south through the town's business district.

A panoramic view of Uralla can be had from a lookout on Mt Mutton which is to the west of the township.

If one spends any length of time in this small township then one simply has to check out the grave of C19th bushranger Fred Ward alias "Captain Thunderbolt".


A very interesting conversation was had with a local wool merchant who provided us with a detailed account of how the wool buying firm purchases (mainly) local fleeces and exports them to China.


Morning tea was had at Uralla's Galloping Gourmet. The cake we had featured apples, dates and coconut- it was absolutely scrumptious. If you're ever in Uralla you simply must taste the GG's cakes.


We then journeyed to the east of Uralla and visited the Gostwyck area where the focus is a quaint little village that is now privately owned. Although we were not able to visit the village or the nearby Deeargee woolshed we did manage a stopover at the Gostwyck chapel.


Then, it was off to Walcha, via Kentucky. This very productive sheep and cattle country appears to be set for a very healthy spring and summer. Dams are full and streams are flowing. Actually, we were somewhat surprised to find one causeway was still covered with water and that necessitated a committee decision about whether we should navigate the waters or opt for an alternative form of action.

After much deliberation the consensus of the touring party was that we couldn't wimp it - no such obstacle was going to prevent us reaching our planned destination, Walcha.

We arrived for a rather late lunch at Cafe Graze, which proudly boasts that it enjoys 2010 SMH Good Food Guide status. Lunch was a very generous helping of Sweet Potato and Pear Soup, accompanied by thick crusty toast - just the tucker for us as we prepared for a coolish afternoon.


An afternoon walk around the township enabled us to chat with a number of locals. One couple of mature-aged citizens gave us a very detailed description of major flooding the Walcha township experienced when it was inundated by a raging Apsley River in the early 1960s. These days the town is protected by flood walls on both sides of the river.

Another local, a long-term teacher at the local central school, gave us a detailed account of buildings in the town's centre.