Day 1: Tamworth (Big Golden Guitar)

Located 405km north-west of Sydney, 280km from Newcastle and 570km south of Brisbane, Tamworth is easy to get to regardless of whether you’re driving, or sitting back to let someone else do the hard work on a plane, bus or train.

Home to the Kamilaroi/Gamilaroi/Gomeroi people for thousands of years, Tamworth is a regional city perhaps best known as the Country Music Capital, home to the Big Golden Guitar, and Mecca to fans of the annual Tamworth Country Music Festival.

Welcoming travellers on the New England Highway’s southern approach to Tamworth, the Big Golden Guitar – at 12 metres tall and weighing half a tonne – is an Australian icon, one of the region’s most recognised attractions.

Its location as part of the Tamworth Visitor Information Centre complex (which includes a souvenir shop, National Guitar Museum, Country Music Wax Museum and Golden Guitar Café) makes the Big Golden Guitar the perfect stop-off on our way through.

The Big Golden Guitar was officially opened by the legend Slim Dusty and Mr Paul Crombie (General Manager of Tourism NSW) on 25 January, 1988. Made of fibreglass over a steel frame, it is a replica of the award presented to artists at the Country Music Awards of Australia, the Golden Guitar Awards (which are held annually during the Tamworth Country Music Festival). That’s why it has no strings!