Maybe This is MacDonald's River?

After Edward came down Moonbi Pass, he decided to give man and beast a rest and camped for a day in a fine meadow-like flat upon the bank of the pretty Cockburn River. A warm day was dozily spent in pleasant rest, whereas for our part, the whole of NSW has now been gripped in a thirty year cold snap. We only just got off the highlands in time because the New England Hwy from Bendemeer to Glen Innes is closed due to snow and ice. Walcha according to a radio broadcast is a "winter wonderland" and tying to hook up our van allowed us to experience what Edward had talked about in regard to the difficulty of buckling saddles and bridles with frozen fingers.

The less pretty Cockburn River today - the Kootingal bridge.

The next day Edward procured a supply of fresh beef from Nemingar Station, crossed the Peel, and struck across the fine open box forest towards Goonoogoonoo. Nemingah today is just a light industrial suburb on the outskirts of Tamworth and the pleasant folk at Tamworth's Calala Cottage Museum aren't aware of any remaining buildings. The box forest is the newish housing suburb of Calala.

Nemingah crossroads.

Although Tamworth existed at that time Edward didn't call in and I can only recommend the same for the modern traveler. Tamworth is a good example of the perils of progress. While the CBD is quite pleasant, it has a spectacular lookout, and there are some gracious old Victorian and Edwardian homes, it is otherwise full of highways with caryards and motels that presumably someone thought were pretty enough to warrant building. There seemed to be some debate amongst the locals we met as to whether there are 3 or 4 Maccas in town and I think that probably tells you enough about the place.

Matilda makes the acquaintance of two of Country Music's finest. Slim & Joy.

We did spend a pleasant enough afternoon at a pub, ostensibly to watch the Dockers play Hawthorn but as the afternoon wore on it became apparent that the Hawks were in the process of handing out an old fashioned spanking (the Dockers will never be fully champions until they can overcome the Hawthorn in Tasmania hoodoo. It has been the scene of their most ignominious defeats over the years.) Accordingly I shifted my attention to the attractively slim Sami, the in house Country singer. I suspect that just as in Memphis and New Orleans it is expected that every bar will have a musical act, Tamworth has an informal bylaw that requires the same. Sami is a talented girl whose repertoire includes not only the two most important genres of music, Country and Western, but Aussie Rock as well. However, I got the feeling that she sees singing as a key to being able to amass an enormous collection of becoming sheaf dresses because she changed into a new one at every break. Never seen that before.

Edward rode on past the Australian Agricultural Company's Head Station of Goonoogoonoo. This must take the cake for the most idiosyncratic Aussie pronunciation of all (how do you get Wogga from Wagga Wagga). They say Gunna Ganoo here.

The AA Co claimed pretty well this entire region. Their holdings made Edward's claim on 50 miles of Clarence look modest. I gather that there are still some pre 1850 buildings on the station but when I called their contact number a friendly young man said that while it would be ok for me to call in, I wouldn't be able to see much because the owners are in the process of a massive renovation so it is essentially a construction site. Apparently the buildings have been derelict for several decades but are now being revamped into a luxury function centre due to open sometime next year. He said that they are engaging a professional photographer to document the whole thing so they don't want any unauthorised photos appearing on the internet. He said that a photo of the gate would be ok though. Seeing as Edward didn't stop, we didn't either.

Goonoo Goonoo gates. Try saying that in a hurry. 

Here Edward quit the high road...we struck off for a bridle route through the mountains by which we shall save some distance. For them, the sun that day was very hot...this afternoon we rode in our shirt sleeves. For us, we had to keep to the high road and it was bloody freezing. Thank god for car heaters.