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- Q: Is it hot in Tamworth?
A: Boy is it hot. It's the hottest month of the year. It's stinking hot.
But every venue is air-conditioned.
In fact, there is so much air conditioning going that
the electricity company has to bring in extra generators
to keep up the voltage in the main street.
Lookout for huge trucks about the size of a cement mixer.
- Q: Do they have floods in Tamworth?
A: Yes, huge floods are possible.
The main part of town is only just above the river
and it has flooded during the festival several times.
However, the town is now protected by huge levee banks which you can
admire by exploring along the street from Diggers, behind the Albert Hotel.
There are videos on Youtube of the 2007 Tamworth floods.
- Q: Do they have booze buses in Tamworth?
A: Yes, extra police are brought in to do breath testing, so watch out.
The two main places are on the Bypass Road at the lowest point,
and on the back road that leads from The Pub across to Joe Maguires.
The NSW police try out all their new technology in Tamworth,
including sniffer dogs, drug testing caravans
and even the riot squad trucks can be seen parked in Fitzroy Street.
Young constables have to lead sniffer around the place, sniffing
the lunch boxes and thermos flasks of grey-haired pensioners.
- Q: Do they have speed cameras?
A: All along the New England Highway in fact
and they keep moving them around.
I have had two tickets in five years.
Once I got a ticket at 2 minutes to 3 at Nemingha
while rushing to an Audrey Auld gig.
A good excuse to put in a leniency letter don't you think?
- Q: Can we go swimming in Tamworth?
A: Yes, there is an Olympic Pool right in town on the corner of
Kable Avenue and Brisbane Street. There is another full-sized pool,
opposite the Southgate Hotel and
next door to the West Tamworth Leagues Club.
- Q: What's the parking like in Tamworth?
A: There is heaps of parking in town,
with parking lots tucked in behind many of the arcades and larger shops.
One big one is behind K-Mart.
There is far more parking hidden away than found on the street,
so the best answer is find a favourite parking lot and stick to it.
- Q: Is it true they close all the streets?
A: For the duration of the festival they close three blocks
of the main street and four blocks of side streets.
On the last weekend of the festival they close a fourth block
of Peel Street from 4pm on the Thursday.
- Q: What are some changes since last year?
A: This year there is a $10 season ticket for the buses which lasts the whole week.
The Fitzroy Tavern has been renamed the Post Office Hotel.
The Telstra Road to Tamworth has been renamed to the Telstra Road to Discovery.
The tourist bureau is now called Destination Tamworth.
There has been a little more churn than usual in artists coming to Tamworth.
There has been a slight increase in the number of paying shows,
although most things are still free. The big shows have always been ticketed,
but this year there are more in the $10 to $20 bracket.
If you need tickets, there is a ticket office in the main street, and Wests
have a ticket office at the club.
- Q: Do they have traffic jams during the festival?
A: The only big traffic jam is
when a free open air concert ends in Bi-Centennial Park.
However with so many streets closed off,
it's best to avoid the main bridge into Tamworth when possible.
Use the Bypass Road and the back road near Joe Maguires instead.
- Q: What are the Peel Street Buskers?
A: There are buskers along both sides of Peel Street
for four blocks from dawn to dark for the entire festival.
Every sort of country music is represented
and they range from just dreadful to simply wonderful.
Australian Idol eat your heart out.
These buskers need your support.
The best answer is to get ten $1 coins and pick your favourites,
giving points for trying, and for potential as well as skill.
- Q: Do Newspaper and TV Reporters come to Tamworth?
A: Yes, in a big way, athough nothing much newsworthy happens,
unless it floods or there is a riot or a disaster
(like the Cronulla Riots or the Granville Train Disaster).
Basically you will see the cameramen taking pictures up and down Peel Street.
Basically it's the same theme every year - they want colour and movement.
First they film a few major stars and then they roam up and down Peel Street
searching for the most over-the-top people they can find -
people with chickens perched on their head or handling dangerous snakes,
and anybody who can only be described by playing "Duelling Banjos".
Sydney TV audiences then watch their TV news
and say "Oh my God, look at them, I knew it was like that".
Their ultimate dream would be footage of redneck-country-bumpkins and
pensioner-grey-nomads battling it out with the police-riot-squad
after a bystander got bitten by a sniffer-dog.
One can only be reminded of the ancient Everly Brothers song "Poor Jenny"
where Jenny (probably aged about 16) is on her first date
and has never been to a party before
but manages to get arrested after everyone else has fled.
Next day the newspapers said "Jenny is the leader of a teenage gang".
- Q: Are there lots of artists from America, especially Nashville?
A: Basically the answer is no. There are a few, but they are tucked away.
The organisers have never encouraged an annual invasion from Nashville.
The exception is made of course for Aussies who have gone to America, and
there are always one or two minor artists who add a bit of colour.
This year, 2012, Redd Volkaert is back in town, all the way from Austin Texas.
Heaps of videos on Youtube. Excellent to put it mildly.
- Q: Do the "Big Names" of Australian Country Music come to Tamworth?
A: Basically the answer is "yes", although many people will say "no".
The household names tend to have only one paying concert,
so you have to be on the ball and get a ticket.
Also the free concerts in the park tend to have big name artists.
- Q: Any other "Things to Do" in Tamworth?
A: There is a Museum of Country Music in Brisbane Street and a Country Music waxworks.
There is a newly-opened six-in-one cinema complex.
There are two olympic pools, so bring your cossies.
There is a golf club, a lookout with splendid views of the town,
the regional botanical gardens, and a museum about electric power.
Tamworth is very proud of the fact that they were the first country town in NSW
to have electric street lighting. If you or your kids (or even your inner child)
are into steam engines then the museum is a must.
Several buildings in Tamworth are on
the State Heritage Register including the Post Office and the Railway Station.
There are many fine building in Tamworth,
but some amazing things have been demolished,
judging by the old picture books.
Imagine a three story hotel with wrought iron lacework balconies.
Or just go shopping. All the shops stock up on country music
DVDs and CDs for the festival; and there is a new book just out this month
about the festival.
- Q: What's the History of Tamworth, in a nutshell.
A: Tamworth was founded around 1840 as a good place to ford the Peel River.
There were no bridges way back then.
Tamworth grew into the major town of the New England region of NSW.
Note that Tamworth is a long way west of Armidale,
so passing through the regional centre is quite a detour if you are heading north.
- Q: What's the Geography.
A: Basically the Peel River flows from east to west and reaches the sea at Adelaide.
The town of Tamworth is on the north side of the river,
and the street that runs along the riverbank is called Kable Avenue.
Parallel to Kable Avenue is Peel Street which is the main street.
The next street, a bit higher up the hill, is Marius Street
which was also the New England Highway in earlier times.
Then comes the railway line and the Tamworth Railway Station.
The two main cross streets are Brisbane Street (where the Central Hotel is)
and Fitzroy Street (where all the market stalls are).
The suburbs of Tamworth have exciting names like East Tamworth, West Tamworth,
South Tamworth and North Tamworth.
Newer suburbs have fake names like Westdale and Oxley Vale
whilst Nemingha is on the road to Armidale and
Tamworth's industrial suburb is called Taminda (yikes, that's Tamworth+Industry).
.
- Q: Does the river really flow east-west?
At this point it gets very confusing. Really the answer is no,
and most the maps of Tamworth in the guide books
are not drawn with North at the top of the page as you might expect.
Actually the river flows from the south-east to the north-west.
Thus, as you arrive from Sydney in South Tamworth,
the highway road runs almost exactly north-south.
Then you drive through West Tamworth
and over the bridge into Tamworth proper.
North Tamworth is up the hill which is reasonable,
and East Tamworth is pretty much
in the right position. However the road to Armidale runs due
east out of Tamworth and not north as you migh have expected.
- Q: What are the tips for driving around Tamworth?
A: Here are a few tips to make navigating easier.
Apart from all the venues in the shopping centre,
everything else is just a little too far to walk.
Possible exceptions are
The Family and Joe Maguires which are both about 1Km
from the shops.
These tips are just to get you started.
After a week you will either know where everything is
or you will have decided to spend the entire week
either close to Peel Street or possibly
in the air-conditioned comfort of the West Tamworth Leagues Club.
(1) There are only three bridges across the river.
These bridges are the main bridge in the middle of town at Brisbane Street,
a bridge at the western end of Peel Street
close by Joe Maguires Hotel and Spotlight,
and the bypass road which diverts the New England Highway
from South Tamworth to East Tamworth, thus avoiding the shops.
The locals of course call this road "The Bypass"
(2) Starting at the West Tamworth Leagues Club.
An olympic pool is adjacent to the club and
the Southgate Hotel is over the road from the pool.
From the pool, you can drive up Belmore Street and come out at the Family Hotel,
and two blocks further along to the Locomotive Hotel.
Instead, if you head up Kent Street you can get to The Pub very quickly;
you can travel either side of the golf course,
although veering to the right is simpler.
The Pub is about 1 km along the Gunnedah Road on the right,
after you cross over the railway line on a huge overpass.
Follow signs marked Gunnedah.
(3) There is a back road connecting Joe Maguires
(which is out the western end of the main street)
across to The Pub. Cross the river from the roundabout,
then follow the road around and you will reach The Pub
on a corner at the Gunnedah Road.
You can also get to the Locomotive Hotel
by turning left at the first roundabout,
and then right at the next roundabout,
and going up a few back streets and over a level crossing.
A map might be needed the first time.
(4) If you are starting from the East Tamworth end of town
or you are at the eastern end of Peel Street near the Tourist Bureau,
it's much faster to go to places such as The Longyard
or TREC or WTLC or Butler's Auditorium by going across the bypass.
Don't go back through town.
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