DON’T miss the lovely little town of Alpha. When travelling from the west, if you keep going straight where the road sign indicates Emerald to the right, you’ll find yourself in Alpha’s main street! And what a picture it is, with quaint shops and large albizzia trees creating glorious shady areas.
Make your first stop in town the tourist information centre. It’s open during the mornings only (so is the craft shop next door, by the way), so make sure you drop in early. The Rowley Roberts Tourist Centre is voluntarily run and is an official driver reviver stop, offering tea and coffee on the mornings of school holidays and public holidays. While you’re there, ask for information on petrified wood and designated bushwalking areas. On the walk, you can count 19 varieties of trees and see two natural jump-ups.
While in the vicinity of the information centre, you might also take the opportunity to visit the town’s historical centre, the Tivoli Museum.
Then take yourself on a tour of the town’s murals. There are 27 murals to see around Alpha, and for art on a different scale the art gallery also shows three exhibitions a year. At least once a year, an exhibition of local art and craft is displayed at the Jane Neville-Rolfe Art Gallery. Recently, the Alpha Cultural Group has revitalised its passion for pottery now local potting enthusiasts meet regularly. So do members of a sewing group and a scrapbooking group.
Alpha has a population of just 350 people. The main industry in the region has historically been beef cattle - mostly Brahmans. This region is known as Mitchell country, named for Sir Thomas Mitchell who went through the area in 1846. Nowadays a big coal development is a major industry in the region.
Looking for groceries and other supplies? The 5-Star is open weekdays from 8.30am to 5.30pm and on Saturdays until 1.00pm. The store has such a quaint frontage that you might like to take a photo, too.
Tilstons Garage has fuel, tyres, mechanical repairs as well as meals and souvenirs.
Stock up on bread and buy a pie for lunch from Snow’s Bread, which has won awards for its pies in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
By day, you can sometimes see chital deer camped down by the creek (there are occasionally koalas down there too). Some nights, the deer walk down the main street of Alpha!
Alpha is rather a sporting town. There are tennis courts, a pool and a golf course with sand greens. There are lots of equestrian interests too.
On May 18 and 19, join the locals at the Alpha Show and see the fat cattle, handicrafts, other exhibits, equestrian events and dog show. The main show day is Wednesday.
In February each year, a Bullarama is staged (ring the tourist office for the date next year). The Alpha Campdraft is held each year during the last weekend in March and a big gymkhana/campdraft is usually held on the first weekend in October.
When leaving Alpha, help prevent the spread of weeds by using the vehicle washdown facility on the Clermont Road.
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