Come up and ride in Tenterfield!
Tenterfield and district is the place to visit this spring. A bike-friendly town, Tenterfield offers scenic rides that are off the beaten track and a variety of quality and historic accommodation. Once you arrive in the region, sit back and enjoy our amazing national parks, beautiful rivers, waterfalls and wildflowers, as well as historical sights, attractions and museums, wineries, friendly country pubs, delicious food and great coffee. Tenterfield is the perfect setting for an adventure!
Part of the New England High Country, Tenterfield and district is located on the New South Wales and Queensland border. Access is via the New England Highway from the north and south, and the Bruxner Highway from the east. In addition to the main highways, there are plenty of quiet country roads that offer stunning scenery and wrap around the hills to lead to incredible national parks and unique villages.
Urbenville is one such village, situated at the headwaters of the Clarence River, the town offers a great ride in – roads winding through subtropical rainforests, climbing higher and higher and offering stunning views over the valleys below. Tooloom National Park is a must visit from Urbenville, and Tooloom Lookout offers extensive scenic views of world heritage bushland, surrounding farmland and the Great Dividing Range. After a day sightseeing, enjoy some peace and quiet and warm yourself in front of the wood fire heater in your country cottage.
Closer to Tenterfield, Bald Rock National Park rewards bushwalkers with an expansive panoramic view unequalled in the New England High Country. 260 metres above the surrounding bushland, and close to 1300 metres above sea level, it feels like a remote ‘top of the world’ experience from the summit. Spring is a perfect time to visit as the wildflowers and rock orchids are in full bloom. With spectacular river and gorge scenery, Boonoo Boonoo National Park offers swimming at the top of the falls and camping by the river.
Tenterfield offers a fascinating history that combines colourful legends, key political members and speeches, a ‘gentleman bushranger’ and wartime training and defence.
Known as the ‘Birthplace of our Nation’, Sir Henry Parkes delivered his famous Federation Speech in the Tenterfield School of Arts in 1889, which ultimately led to the Federation of all Australian States in 1901. The School of Arts now houses a fantastic museum dedicated to the life of Sir Henry Parkes, federation and local history.
A stop in Tenterfield is not complete without a visit to the Tenterfield Saddler – which Peter Allen immortalised in song and where the old ceilings wear 130 years of tobacco stains, wooden floors are patched in places with scraps of leather and visitors can see the working conditions of 100 years ago first hand.
The Tenterfield Railway Station is a magnificent building and another must see attraction. Opened in 1886 the platform and railway rooms remain as they were when the last train left the station in 1989. The museum houses railway memorabilia, rail vehicles, model train display and the original turntable.
It’s always fun to get to Tenterfield on a motorcycle.
Tenterfield Saddler
Bald Rock National Park