RURAL NSW ROUND TRIP
COVID travel restrictions and our love to explore new places took us to rural NSW, where we enjoyed beauty of little historical mining towns. This was an excellent opportunity for me to do what I love- to take photographs and to share them with my friends…
Our first stop was in Katoomba Blue Mountains, the beauty of this place speaks for itself:
Situated on the Northern edge of Capertee Valley next stop was little town Rylstone, that combines old-fashioned friendliness and genuine charm with good modern food, great places to stay and breathtaking scenery:
This is the second biggest canyon in the world after the Grand Canyon and home to 280 species of birds. Here are some of them. Aren’t they lovely?
Mudgee was our third stop-one of Australia’s oldest wine regions (wine making history stretches back to 1858) and the birthplace of Australian Chardonnay. At “Short Sheep” winery I am sure you will enjoy glass or two of handcrafted wines and cheese platter, whilst your kids are having fun with resident miniature sheep. Please also visit First Ridge, Gilbert Family Wines, Huntington Estate, Logan Wines and many more and enjoy excellent cool climate wines, thanks to frosty winters giving way to warm days and cooler nights.
Next morning we drove to Gulgong 19th-century gold rush town. Bush poet Henry Lawson briefly lived here, Lieutenant William Lawson passed through the area in 1820. Hence the first Australian 10 dollar note had his portrait on it. I am sure you will enjoy strolling the streets, visiting antique shops and having yummy lunch at Rustic Owl Tapas Bar, nest to the old Prince of Wales Opera House.
Hilltop is Northern Village also the home of the biggest gold nugget ever found(1872) 93 kg of pure gold! Driving back to Mudgee and right in the middle of nowhere the Refrigerator Library caught our eye!
Dubbo was our next stop, featuring the open-plan Taronga Western Plains Zoo. Being my third visit, I loved it even more I am sure you and kids in particular will feel the same way. And reward yourself by having South African inspired dinner at the Veldt Restaurant.
Our last big stop was Orange, another well-known wine making regional town. We found the cool climate wines of this place to be exceptional, and the restaurants too. The best fine dinning place Lolli Redini was closed, and we dined at the Mr Lim Korean& Chinese Diner. It was excellent! Charred Kitchen and Bar is also highly recommended along with The School House Restaurant. There are few beautiful places to stay, for example Taylors Winery Motel overlooking stunning vineyard. We loved it and I highly recommend it.
Next best thing about Orange is driving around handful of little gold mining towns you can visit to discover what life was like in Australia during that era. And few of the best ones are:
Carcoar
Millthorpe
Blayney
I highly recommend this route to everyone. Hop into your car with your friends and explore the rich history, including the museums, shops, old mines and of course pubs. Our NSW is too good to miss!
Travel, eat, drink and be merry!