Manilla, NSW

I happened ... much like Darren Hanlon did in the song he sings in the video clip above ... into the town of Manilla, NSW on the last Sunday of my road-trip.

I never planned on going there on my road-trip, as I had no idea where this town was, apart from in the state of NSW somewhere.

The Manilla sign I took as a sign to visit Manilla, NSW;-)

But on the Saturday afternoon I arrived in Tamworth from driving from Canberra to find my motel, I came across a sign pointing to the town of Manilla.

Fingertips and Mountaintops

I thought, so that is where the Manilla Darren Hanlon sings about is?

Is that a mountaintop behind Manilla?

Prelude to the Woodford Folkfest
It was going to be an eighty kilometre round trip out of my way to get there, but I knew this was my chance to see it, so I set off on the Sunday morning not knowing what to expect. 
Lightning Strikes That Change Lives
Read that post in the post link above to get the paragraph below.
"In recent years, Manilla has become famous throughout the world as a major sports flying centre supporting hang gliding, paragliding, ultralight aircraft, gyrocopters and gliders (sailplanes). 
It boasts nearby Mt Borah, one of the worlds best paraglider and hang glider launch sites. 
In 1998 local paragliding instructor and developer of Mt Borah, Godfrey Wenness, gained the world distance record with a flight of 335 km. 
Major free-flight competitions are staged annually during the summer months. 
The 10th FAI Paragliding World Championships were held at the site in 2007, attended by 150 pilots from 41 nations. 
In the week prior to the event Manilla was in the headlines around the world for the survival of paraglider pilot Ewa Wiśnierska of Germany who was sucked up into a thunderstorm to 9946 m 
(32,000 ft). 
The dramatic story was made into a TV documentary Miracle in the Storm which won an AFI award and was nominated for a Logie Award. 
On 14 February 2007, in spite of weather reports heralding the presence of violent thunderstorms, Wiśnierska decided to try and fly in order to train for the 2007 paragliding world championship near Manilla, New South Wales, Australia. 
She got trapped in the updraft of two joining thunderstorms. 
Unable to get out, she was lifted to an altitude of 9,946 metres (32,631 ft), according to her GPS. 
The GPS variometer also tracked vertical speeds of up to +20 m/s 
(77 kilometres per hour (48 mph)).
She landed 3.5 hours later about 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of her starting position.
In the same weather event, the Chinese paraglider He Zhongpin was killed by a lightning strike."

The main street of Manilla, NSW

Canberra Cafe?!
In Manilla?!
WTF?!

I had driven over seven hours from Canberra the day before to get to Tamworth and then another forty kilometres to Manilla the next morning only to find a Canberra Cafe in the main street of Manilla.

That's the hook that greets you,
but I'm heading out in this shot.

When you come into the town of Manilla you are greeted with a big hook, which is funny considering the other signs you see coming into town saying Manilla is a fisherman's paradise, but this isn't a fishhook.

Manilla high-rise?

You're also greeted by radio station 2NU's transmitter on your right when you come into town.

Buildings in the main street of Manilla

I have to say that I was expecting to hit the main street, take a few shots then get out back to Tamworth, but I was drawn into this quaint little town and spent way too much time there on Sunday morning, which I would pay for by hitting my Ballina motel room that night at about 7 pm and in dark rainy conditions.

The Manillia Masonic Centre

Halfasheep would have a field-day in this town looking for Masonic stuff.

I could see a Halfasheep video being made about this park.
Just check out this park in the main street.

Hmm...the Generating Force?-)
Lingam-yoni?

There were even goldfish in the rock-pool.
Gee!

A sundial in the park, as well?

Checkerboards/Chessboards?

It's a nice little park, occult symbolism, or not. 
But I'd still like to see a Halfasheep video about this park;-)

It's an historic little town, as well, and is like a living museum in many ways.

I love the old streetlamp in the main street

Although, I'm not keen on the high gutters

The pubs looked interesting, but unfortunately, they wouldn't be open until later, so I just had to look at them from the outside. 

A pub with a tattoo parlour? 

Must be the rough end of the town;-)

I had the idea come to me to seek out a newsagent and buy a lottery ticket in this upcoming Oz lotto draw on Tuesday night, so I went into the newsagent and bought a $12 quickpick for the draw, but it was probably just a red herring to get me into the shop and see these magazines pictured below, which oddly enough related to a lot of my current thinking and syncs, so I ended up buying over $100 worth of magazines on the day, which I'm yet to fully read.
(UPDATE: May the 4th [be with you:-] The lotto ticket was a dud, if you were wondering)

The magazines I bought in Manilla on the day

The Jesus magazine I grabbed was more for a pop cultural study of the Jesus story in mainstream modern society, in case you were wondering if I was about to do a Justin Bieber and become a believer and cross my eyes;-)
"Yes, I did tattoo a small cross near the corner of Justin's eye," Valena told E! News. "It was a representation of his faith in Jesus and his journey with finding purpose in God."
After buying the magazines and putting on my lotto I had to settle for an iced coffee instead of an ice cold beer. 

I liked the big fish at the
coffee shop and the coffee

The coffee shop was sure worth stopping at for a drink and a look at the interesting art inside and out. 
My Sunday: Between Two Worlds and Trying to Catch the Big Fish

Where did I leave my saucer?-)

And maybe it was the UFO magazine had I just bought, but I thought that I could make out an alien head poking out of that coffee cup, looking for where he had put his saucer;-)
Manila sure is an interesting town that is worth a visit.

No wonder the paragliders like dropping in on it;-) 

I was in the audience for the above talk with Darren Hanlon and Missy Higgins about songwriting at the Byron Bay Writers Festival.