Big Sky Country
Big Sky Country is the name of the New England/North West region of New South Wales, about four and a half hours drive north of Sydney. Big Sky Country stretches from the New England Highway to the edge of the Outback, encompassing the rugged Great Dividing Range between Tamworth and Tenterfield, the Namoi and Gwydir River Valleys of Inverell, Moree and Narrabri, and the wild west frontier towns of Walgett and Lightning Ridge. The region is crossed by the Newell, Gwydir and New England Highways and is well serviced by air routes from Sydney and Brisbane.
Background
A rural heartland, farms in the region produce cattle, sheep, cotton, wool, wheat and nuts. Each August, Gunnedah hosts Australias biggest farm show, Ag Quip.
Reasons to visit
Fishing is excellent in the regions rivers and in the mighty Copeton, Pindari, Split Rock and Keepit Dams.
Explore the magnificent waterfalls of the Great Dividing Range east of Armidale and Walcha or the spectacular scenery of the Mt Kaputar National Park near Narrabri. Abseiling is a popular way of exploring the New England gorge country.
The Gibraltar-Washpool World Heritage Walk is a 60km circuit covering a remote, World Heritage Listed wilderness area west of Glen Innes.
Inverell, land of gemstones and honey, is noted for excellent fossicking for sapphire and topaz as well as semi-precious gems. Gold can be found at Bingara and, further west, the keen fossicker will find black opals at Lightning Ridge.
Visit the Standing Stones at the Celtic capital, Glen Innes, especially during the Celtic Festival in April/May.
The giant CSIRO Australia Telescope complex at Narrabri welcomes star watchers.
Explore the million wild acres of Pilliga Scrub by 4WDit is crisscrossed with 2,700kms of rough bush tracks and dotted with campsites, secluded lakes and remote hamlets with names such as Come-by-chance. Contact: Narrabri Shire Tourism (02) 6799 6761.
Moree, in the north of the region, has Artesian spa baths, especially popular with Australians of European background. Hot artesian pools can also be found at Lightning Ridge, Walgett and Burren Junction.
Tamworth is Australias Country Music Capital and home of the annual Tamworth Country Music Festival at the end of January.
29km north of Tenterfield is Australias second largest rock, Bald Rock: it is the largest exposed granite rock in the Southern Hemisphere, with its 700m x 500m dome rising 200m above the surrounding bushland. The climb to the top is not for the faint hearted.
For a City Slickers experience try a 150km Pub Crawl on Horseback, staying overnight at three historic Australian hotels, or enrol for a one week jackaroo/jillaroo course at Echo Hills Station.
Learn to glide at the Lake Keepit Soaring Club on a live-in course or try hang-gliding or para-gliding at Manilla.
Heli-fishing tours take trout fishing to new heights in the regions remote gorge country. Remote wilderness lodges provide accommodation.