Tamworth | Joshua Feggans

The weather was going to shite, so there was no point camping another night in the Blue Mountains. After studying the forecasts and the radar I thought I could boot through to Tamworth and miss it. Last time I headed to Tamworth I got caught in one hell of a hailstorm. I wasn’t keen to end up in the same predicament. It wasn’t easy convincing my insurer that the matte black finish on my car was factory and I didn’t want to roll that dice again.

The Putty Road is epic. Hairpin corners, 100km/h limited and beautiful Dapto forest. It is in the top ten roads in the country. There are a bunch of car graveyards in peoples front yards so it a photographers dream. I didn’t have much luck, and the storm hit a few hours earlier than forecast. It was pretty severe! A road that was meant to be a highlight was a bit of a nightmare. Putty Road has it’s own memorial site, it is a stretch of tarmac to be respected.

The storm front. I had to head right up the guts of it.

I pulled in here and had a rest. It was well played, I dodged the hailstorm front by fifteen minutes.

I ended up making it to Tamworth after a very stressful drive. It was where I was raised, it is always a bit nostalgic. Country Music Week sees the town double in size. I reckon the council and hoteliers have become a bit greedy. They are price gouging for accommodation and stalls. The buskers have to pay to audition, then pay if they pass the audition to busk. The crap buskers are part of the appeal and there was hardly any buskers at all. If the main clientelle of the event are grey nomads on a pension, then price hikes will have a detrimental impact.

Anyhow, we saw some great bands. I always go and see Uncle Bob’s Jug Band. Hillbilly AC>DC covers and the like.

People drank out of a leg, and I had a beer with a one armed bloke named Wingy

Murphy’s Pigs were my favourite.

I can’t believe a didn’t get a photo of my old man. Blowing it. I took a photo of Cam though

It is always a pleasure to catch up with my old mates Troy and Ricky. I’ve known them since I was in early high school. They are fortunate to have great families and it is great to see them. I was chuffed that they made the effort to throw a BBQ and we had a rad afternoon.

After the temperature dropped below 40 we got stuck in. Anaky has got the fire for it and has improved heaps since last year. Shredding!

Troy was ripping. Sweeper

Texas plants

Getting the speed for the sketchy extension was really hard!

Ricky manhandled the thing

His boneless ones into the extension were rad

Then the fire came out!

I’ve been fortunate to shoot some incredible skaters doing some heavy moves in my time. I reckon this is one of my favourite photos though. Ricky’s daughter Mat challenging herself and overcoming her fears!

Thanks to Dad, Robin, Troy, Ricky, Tina, Maire, Anaky, Mat and Joey. See you next time!

I was planning on spending the night at my cousin Dans house (and talking his ear off about getting my pilots licence) but I was making good time so we caught up for a beer instead. So from Milthorpe I headed to Molong, Wellington and then Dubbo. I didn’t want to risk driving to Tamworth at dusk as I had seen some huge kangaroos already, but pushed on through some cracking back roads. The roads were Mad Max territory and I was cranking Metallica, there may have been some “settle down there mate” moments.

Dubbo is the pinnacle of Dorfus era Convic parks. Great lines and balls-shrinking-into-your-stomach sized obstacles. It was pushing well into the 35 degree territory, real dry heat, so I got some before I saw little white dots and called it a session.

This is the feature I wanted to push my limited abilities on. After a thorough clean out I tried to get higher frontside in the pipe until I slammed on my back. Laying there, writhing about like a fish on a riverbank I contemplated skateboarding this stuff completely alone, no one in sight. I pictured the local ghetto kids picking up my camera gear and car keys whilst I lay there. It helped me get up off my arse.

I caught up with my old man, driving straight to his touch footy game. At 63 he plays against blokes in their 40’s. They were all top blokes, giving each other crap over a few tinnies. Some of Dad’s mates have started playing bowls. I knew he was keen, but slightly hesitant to get started. We played a game together, which was his first. This year has reinforced the importance of family immensely for me. My older brother Ben and his son Luca played too and we had a couple of beers.

This is where my Nan played. It is the best joint for a beer in Tamworth.

My old man.

I hit the road again in search for something I had been researching.

If you never jumped fences your life would be less fun.

This is usually a good sign.

It was there, and it was egg shaped! 32ft by 26ft. Apparently it is usually dry but they released some water for the farmers coping with the drought (or climate change, for those stupid enough not to link the two) I will have to come back.

Next to it was this bad boy. What a ditch! It was surprisingly smooth. It was on a hill so by the time you reached the bottom you were really fangin’. I did all manner of skids and boneless ones and had a fantastic time.

I was pretty stoked. I’ll be back for you Egg Pipe!

Joshua Feggans

Tag Archives: Tamworth

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