New South Wales

Tamworth

Ten days of the year, this is the loudest town in Australia

Every January, Tamworth swells with buskers, boots and the biggest country music festival in the Southern Hemisphere. But the music never really packs up: press your palms into the Hands of Fame, stand under the twelve-metre Golden Guitar, and trace the story at the country music museum. Off the beaten chord, climb to Oxley Lookout above the Peel Valley, meet the roos at Marsupial Park, and visit the Powerstation Museum in the first Southern Hemisphere town to switch on electric streetlights. Loud in January. Humming all year.