From Budget to Luxury - rooms and self-contained apartments for short or long stays
Tamworth Country Music Festival - 19-28 January 2024
The Tamworth Country Music Festival is an annual music festival in January held in Tamworth, New South Wales and is a celebration of country music culture and heritage in particular the national Australian country music scene, with numerous concerts and live performances at various venues. The festival lasts for two weeks over Australia Day and during this period the city of Tamworth comes alive, with visitors from all across the country and worldwide who come to join in the festivities. The festival has many times been counted among the world's top ten music festivals. In 2007 Forbes rated it as number 8 of the World's Coolest Music Festivals.[2] The enormous number of visitors during the bash doubles the city's population and brings significant tourism and economic benefits to the region. Visitor numbers for the 2012 festival were estimated at 50,000.
The mass number of visitors means that accommodation throughout the area is consistently booked out for this period up to 12 months in advance, with many visitors camping in caravans, camper vans and tents by the city's riverside and numerous other temporary camping sites throughout the region. The festival is the second biggest country music festival in the world, after Nashville.
Manilla XC Camp - 20-27 January 2024 - Mt Borah - 15km
The Manilla XC Camp is a free event held each year over 8 days starting on the 4th Saturday of January.
These events are famous for producing many Personal Best flights, great weather and fun had by all.
The informal flight distances are scored either using one of the online systems (your choice) or your straight line Open Distance from your GPS - nice and easy. You just write your distance on the score sheet - simple !
Come for as many days as you like, fly XC as far as you can, fly with and learn from some of the best XC pilots. No pressure, no worries... just fly. Many pilots (of all levels !) achieve Personal Bests. Every year, many pilots flying at the XC camp fly over 300kms and many novice pilots fly PB's over 100kms in easy, safe conditions.
Mt Borah has 4 huge astro-turfed launches for nearly all wind directions and easy landings and was developed for the World Champs in 2007. The Manilla area offers one of the worlds safest XC regions for all pilot levels from Novice > Expert who have some thermalling experience. Emergency services (ambulance and rescue) are 15 minutes away in Manilla township, and the medical evacuation helicopter is based in Tamworth just 15mins flight time away. The area also has excellent 3G mobile phone coverage with 2 networks now operating giving reception to over 300kms out !
Features : Daily XC weather briefings by Godfrey Wenness, tips and trick sessions, regular day prizes and scoring updates in all classes (FUN, SPORT, XC and COMP). Pilots with OPEN Class gliders are welcome to attend but will not be scored.
NSW State Hang Gliding Titles - 10-17 Feb 2024
The New South Wales Hang Gliding State Titles is an AA Grade hang gliding competition held each February at Mt Borah near Manilla, Australia's premier foot launch X-C soaring site.
The comp attracts the best of the best from Australia, and around the world, so is the ideal site for up and coming pilots to learn from those at the top of their game. It is also the ideal comp for newer pilots wishing to fly big air and fly big flights.
Lake Keepit Regatta - 24 Feb - 2 March 2024
Keepit Regatta
The Keepit Regatta is a fun, friendly and informal regatta, with entries restricted to 30 gliders. The idea is for early cross country pilots to be able to fly with experienced pilots to gain experience and confidence without the pressure of a competition. We have found over the years that many experienced pilots come along just for a great no stress flying week.
Coaching, team flying and mentoring are all encouraged at this event. It is possible to fly in pairs either in a lead-follow with two gliders or in a two seat glider.This is a great opportunity to introduce budding cross country pilots to competition type AAT flying, while not getting caught up in the stress of formal competition. It is run in a low key and relaxed way, all the while making sure people have fun. During the Regatta we don’t go for World records, most days we only fly modest 300km tasks.
Each morning we run a briefing session where one of the more experienced pilots talks about a topic of interest. We usually have a World or National champion to address the more advanced topics or simply to tell us what it takes to get there! Sometimes over a beer in the evening they may even tell you things that don’t make it to the briefing sessions!
We like to get as many two seaters involved as possible and encourage participants from other clubs to bring in their club’s gliders.During the Regatta, the fun doesn’t stop at sunset – each evening most pilots and partners join in for dinner and tell the tales of the day.
The Keepit Regatta is always scheduled for the last week of February. Bookings and reservations can be made through the this web site, but if you are interested you should hurry, the accommodation sells out very quickly.
https://keepitsoaring.com/KeepitRegatta/
Manilla Show - 8-10 March 2024
Founded in 1932, the Manilla Show Society hosts the Annual Manilla Show. We welcome all current and past members of the Manilla community and surrounding district to attend the show and enjoy a great weekend in a fun family friendly atomsphere.
- Livestock competitions
- Photography
- Handicraft
- Produce
- Fine Arts
- Wool
- Horseriding
- Rodeo
- Showjumping
- Fireworks
- Dog displays
- Pets
- Wife Carrying Competition
- Gumboot Toss
- Young Farmers' Challenge
- Ute Show
An Exhibit of Country Life for the Whole Family to Enjoy!!
State of Origin Paragliding - Mt Borah - 29-31 March 2024
This event is held every easter weekend from Friday to Sunday, at Mt Borah, just out of Manilla. For the Novice (PG2), it’s a great way to get into competition and XC flying in a fun & safe way, it’s about the promotion of skills and safely. This competition is based on 'Flying Crews' (5 pilot teams, 1 PG5 pilot. & 2 PG2 pilots & then 2 other Pilots), so get your crew together. Handicapping is used for scoring.
Manilla Machinery Show - 8-10 June 2024- 1km
The Manilla Vintage Machinery Rally is on again over the King's Birthday long weekend, hosted by the Manilla Vintage Machinery Group who are dedicated to the restoration and promotion of vintage machinery, tools and engines. The annual rally is held at Manilla Showgrounds.
Wean Picnic Races - 13th July 2024
The Wean Picnic Race day is a family friendly day that caters fo all parts of the community. It is also living history, being one of the last bush picnics on the calendar. Held annually on the second Saturday in July.
Since 1933, the Wean Amateur Picnic Races has been one of the historic meeting places of North West NSW. As more and more Picnic clubs from that era pass into history, it is also one of the few functioning examples left of how previous generations used to entertain themselves. Set in a magnificent bush location, away from any major centre, faithfully maintained as built, it is a wonderful piece of living history.
The remarkable thing about Wean, is that, even after all this time, it is still performing the purpose it was built for - a great day out, for family and friends alike. Wean has always been a favoured destination for tour buses and aircraft. With a breathtaking bush setting, spacious grounds, its own landing strip and a jovial and festive atmosphere, it is one of Australia’s living historical icons.
The workings of the club have not changed since its creation. The committee is voluntary only, giving a tremendous amount of its time to prepare the race course grounds, along with all the “paperwork” that is required to run a race meeting, especially these days. There is also a tremendous amount of effort that goes into promotion. Wean is an “amateur” club, and that really is true. The majority of the committee have no involvement with horse racing apart from the race day, and yet they do a magnificent job, presenting the grounds as immaculately as they can, ensuring that the mechanics such as parking, bar service and food supply run smoothly, and most importantly of all, ensuring that the atmosphere is as welcoming and friendly today as it was on the first race day in 1933.
https://www.facebook.com/weanraces/
https://explorenarrabriregion.com.au/event/wean-picnic-races-2024/
Agquip - Agricultural Show Gunnedah - 20-22 August 2024
AgQuip is Australia's largest and premier primary industry field day and one of the largest agricultural events in the world.[1] The nation's biggest agricultural event showcases over 3,000 individual companies and attracts over 100,000 visitors from across the nation and overseas. The event runs over three days, Tuesday to Thursday, in August, eight kilometres west of Gunnedah, New South Wales. The site on Blackjack Road covers 26 hectares.
Each year the Land Newspaper conducts The Land Farm Inventor of the Year competition which sees a new group of practical and inventive gadgets being put forward by aspiring inventors.[2]
It has been sponsored by the Commonwealth Bank since the early 1970s. The event started in 1973 with the first one being held on the Gunnedah racecourse.[3] Admission and parking is free of charge.
https://acmruralevents.com.au/agquip/home
Manilla Slopefest - 7-15 September 2024
Every year, dozens of RC aircraft enthusiasts converge on Manilla and Mount Borah for the annual Manilla Slopefest.
Barraba Big Toe - November 2024
The annual Barraba Big Toe hang-gliding event is held at the Barraba Aerodrome. Sign up at wow.asn.au or contact Karl Kindl on 0412-675-293 or ksk@live.com.au. Trike joy-flights for 15 minutes will also be available for the public.
https://wow.asn.au/web/