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New England Highway, New England and North West NSW
Farmer at Baan Baa, north west New England area of NSW © Tourism New South Wales

Sheep muster at Wollomombi, North West NSW © Tourism New South WalesThe New England Highway is an inland route between Sydney/Newcastle and Brisbane. It takes its name from the New England plateau which stretches from near Murrurundi all the way to the Queensland border.  This is mainly pastoral country with sheep and cattle being the most important livestock - crops range from wheat right through to cotton.
Starting just north of the Hunter Valley, there are a number of main towns on or near the New England Highway and all have a reasonable selection of accommodation.  Scone, the most southerly town and not itself part of New England, is a thoroughbred horse centre.   
Tamworth Country Music Festival (every January), New England area NSW © Tourism New South WalesFurther on is Quirindi and then Tamworth, the largest town in the region and home to a huge country music festival in late January (as pictured).  Further north again the highway runs through the attractive old gold rush town of Uralla, which is also synonymous with the exploits of the bushranger Captain Thunderbolt.Next is Armidale, a pleasant, well laid out large university town. The Waterfall Way road also commences here on its scenic eastward route to the coast via Dorrigo and Bellingen. Back on the New England Highway, stately Glen Innes is next and proud of its Scottish settler roots.
Tenterfield is the final town of significance before reaching the QLD border. North east of the town is the Bald Rock National Park www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/(Bald Rock).

Warrumbungle National Park vista near Coonabarabran, North West NSW © Tourism New South WalesWest of the New England plateau is North West NSW, a spread out area which also has a south-north highway, the Newell Highway, and includes the ruggedly beautiful Warrumbungle National Park www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/(Warrunbungle), pictured, near Coonabarabran.  'Coona' likes to describe itself as the Astronomy Capital of Australia and boast the Siding Spring Observatory, an impressive optical astronomy research centre.  Other towns include Gunnedah, Narrabri, Moree and the black opal centre of Lightning Ridge.
Arguably the North West of NSW could also be regarded as part of Inland NSW and Outback.
 
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Truly Australia have attempted to give an honest and objective description of the topics covered on this page and have deliberately avoided regurgitating tourist office media releases. The information shown has been compiled from a variety of reputable sources and our own experiences. We check and review this information from time to time, but we assume no responsibility for the absolute accuracy of the details given.