Tour the town in a stagecoach.
Sample the local muscat to warm yourself.
Track through the streets of Tenterfield.
If you're longing to visit a true country town, we've found the place for you. Take to the streets in a stagecoach, learn about the colourful past of this historic town, and perhaps visit a winery or two.
Tenterfield is in northern NSW, nudging the Queensland border. It is a true country town where you will see graziers with their livestock and locals stopping for a friendly chat.
Peter Allen, the local boy who used to sing in the pub before making it on Broadway, wrote and sang 'Tenterfield Saddler' as a tribute to his grandfather, George Woolnough. Tenterfield is where Banjo Paterson met and married his bride and where Henry Parkes made his famous federation speech, so this is a country town with some colourful history.
Paul Petrie's company, Horsedrawn Tours, allows him to show visitors the town not only as it is today, but as it was. Cobb & Co Coaches were a familiar sight in Tenterfield in the old days, and they are again now. Jack Drake, local character and bush poet, is happy to recite some of his original works for you.
Paul started his tour business with one Australian draughthorse and now has 10. The tours range from one hour to four days, but Paul will design one around wherever you want to go. The replica stagecoach takes up to 14 adults, and four horses pull it along at the gentle pace of 8km/h, visiting the 125-year-old saddlery where Trevor Gibson now plies his craft.
After a look around Tenterfield, Paul's newest destination is across the border to Stanthorpe and Ballandean in Queensland's Granite Belt. There are about 25 wineries in the area, and their product is becoming more popular on Australia's dining tables.
The Bungawarra Winery is more than 100 years old, and in the 1920s it was owned by an Italian post-war immigrant.
At the end of the Granite Belt ride, it's back into Tenterfield, where most people like to finish the day with a cool drink at the old Royal Hotel, formerly the George Inn, and the holder of the town's oldest liquor licence. You may even run into Jack Drake performing one of his poems.
