This bikepacking adventure started in the town of Armidale, located in the New England region of NE NSW. The plan was to cycle the rugged and remote HUNT 1000 km loop.
But seldom do my plans pan out and that is generally a good thing. In this case I discovered that a town called Tamworth, near my cycling route, was holding a five-day country music festival (big name bands and 600+ buskers scattered around the small town). Oh, and all for free. A perfect diversion.
Total Cost Range of this Activity is: $$
As mentioned above, the bike cost me $90. Plus $300 of gear (panniers bags, hammock, tent, cookware, etc.). For accommodation, I only paid for my nights in Tamworth ($50 cash for four nights, off the books). The other nights I free-camped or wild-camped.
Bikepacking to Tamworth Country Music Festival Day 0
I had arrived in Armidale by train from Sydney (with my bike and gear in a box) late in the day. Once the bike was reassembled I peddled over to the local fairgrounds and discreetly pitched my tent (the office was closed and I was camping free), out of the wind and out of sight.
Note that bicycles can only be carried on the long-distance regional trains/buses in a box (which is provided free at the station).
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Bikepacking to Tamworth Country Music Festival Day 1
Early the next morning (before the office opened) I broke camp and followed the HUNT route south for the first 12 km and then cut NW towards Uralla on a gravel road. From the cut the route would head west and then back east before turning south towards Walcha. I figured that was a waste of 50 km so I decided to create my own route by cutting the corner and using stock routes.
I left the dirt road and entered grazing lands with double and single tracks that I hoped would cut the triangle. This turned out to involve a lot of stock gates (one locked with a side people gate that my bike squeezed through). Plus one section was clearly a forest and the going was quite challenging but ultimately I managed to make it back to the HUNT route and cut the triangle.
Buoyed by my success I decided to cut another section of the route but this time I missed a turn and ended up way off course, low on water, acquired a flat tire and was hungry. Downtrodden I managed to reach the seldom used B21 paved road way north, near Uralla (what a waste of energy).
While riding south on B21 in search of a camp spot an Indian guy pulled over and offered me water and packaged sandwich wraps (he was a grocery store delivery guy with a big heart it seems). I thanked him and then took the first roadside pull-off with shade for my camp (a 63 km day).
Bikepacking to Tamworth Country Music Festival Day 2
The next morning I woke early, ate the last free sandwiches and rode south with determination. By noon I reached the lovely town of Walcha where I ate, drank and consulted the local tourist office.
Refreshed I headed on the straight and fairly easy paved B56 road west for around 30 km. I stayed on the paved road to make up time and save energy rather than taking the HUNT route that used a side gravel route called Scrubby Gully Road.
By 4pm I reached an old railway town called Woolbrook that feature the lovely MacDonald River, a free camping area and views of the railway line and a rustic bridge. On the flip side, the town (a two road town) had no shops or services beyond the long drop toilet in the camp. But I had supplies and the river provided ample drinking water so life was good (a 43 km day).
Bikepacking to Tamworth Country Music Festival Day 3
The next morning I left the HUNT route again and headed south on the 25 km gravel winding/undulating Danglemah Road, that followed both the Jamiesons Creek and rail line towards Tamworth. The ride was great but the sun and temperature were not pleasant. I stopped often in the shade to rest and constantly drank and refilled my water bottles from the river. At the roads extreme western end I felt dehydrated so stopped at the Cockburn River Camp (a no facilities free camp) to swim, eat, rest in the shade and re-hydrate.
By 2pm I was back on a paved road and reached the town of Kootingal (a one shop town). I purchased a hot meal at the IGA and lots of hydration drinks that I gulped. I was sweating so profusely that I couldn’t rehydrate fast enough it seemed.
At this stage I felt I needed to make a better plan for the festival so I sat in the park and checked the event website to find a camp ground for four nights. I still planned to return to the HUNT route after the festival. I called a few places and settled for the Bear Cricket Pitch that was a temporary camp ground during the festival. I then had to pick a route to Tamworth to finish the last stretch.
The shortest route was a north road that was uphill for about 10 of the 12 km. A middle route would follow the extremely busy A15 (also with a very steep hill at the beginning). The final option was a long 22 km southern route that was fairly flat but circled around the valley to enter the town from the south. I opted for the shortest and steepest northern route.
The sun was brutal and my liquid supply and energy levels ran out quickly. I was doing more bike pushing than bike peddling. I basically pushed my bike uphill for around 8 km before starting the rapid descent into the valley and Tamworth below.
At the Bear Cricket pitch camp I was as dry and parched as a Scandinavian fish snack and just as smelly. I checked me in and was showed a sunny spot for my tiny tent (which I moved to a shady spot on day 3). I pitched the tent and then went straight to the showers to absorb water through my pours. I was bushed (a very hot 60 km day).
Bikepacking to Tamworth Country Music Festival Days 4 – 7
I spent the next few days eating, drinking and listening to buskers by day and stage performances at night (see below). I also took breaks to swim in the Peel River (snakes, what snakes?). It was an excellent festival with friendly people and best of all, it was totally free.
I recharged my batteries by eating supermarket food and watching the countless buskers perform. While the nightly professional performances were excellent, it was actually the buskers that I enjoyed listening to and conversing with. They were real people entertaining and mixing with real people.
Before heading back onto the HUNT route I rode to the local Giant Bike shop to get some replacement gear (tube and peddles) and had a long discussion with the owner and his son. They marveled that I planned to do the HUNT 1000 in the summer. They pointed out that the temperature outside was 40 and was going to go up to 45 for the next few days. Plus there were long remote sections of the route (as much as 250km) without facilities and limited water. They said they do the route in the Spring/Fall in groups and have backup support/supplies available.
They strongly advised that I come up with a new plan and recommend that I visit the coast and ride north or south because it is 20 degrees cooler, picturesque and has countless small towns for resupply along the way.
Conclusion
I agreed and visited the train station and found they had a bus (coach) that could take me and my bike (in a provided box) to Port Macquarie the day after the festival. I purchased a ticket, packed my bike into a box (they agreed to hold it for me at the station overnight).
The next morning I ended this leg of my adventure and set out on a new one called Bikepacking the NSW Coast.
Read part 2, NSW Coastal Ride.
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