This week on the road with windows down and music playing was made all the better by awesome company and taking the road less travelled.
We said goodbye to Wollongong and Sydney and started the climb up the Hume Motorway. We had plenty of wiggle room and one member of our group had always wanted to spend time exploring and photographing the beautiful Southern Highlands. We spent time in Mittagong and Bowral before getting on the road once more to our first stop in Goulburn.
Rocky Hill War Memorial is famous as Australia’s “Inland Lighthouse” and offers spectacular views of Goulburn and the Cullerin range beyond. Being there in the afternoon offers a surreal view of town with striking silhouettes of church towers being an extra special feature.
On Tuesday morning we visited Goulburn’s “big thing.” The Big Merino is a giant sheep just south of Goulburn and includes a gift shop comprising of authentic Australian wool products and a museum of the history of wool. You can even climb up the inside and look out the sheep’s eyes.
We waved goodbye to the Southern Tablelands and descended into the sweeping plains of the Riverina. We stopped for lunch in the beautiful country town of Junee. The highlight of our day was a visit to the Junee Liquorice and Chocolate factory where we could watch the manufacture in action. We even made our own giant chocolate freckles! It was definitely a highlight of the trip! Arriving in in Wagga that afternoon, we wandered into town for a lovely Italian meal.
Wednesday was our big day of seeing all that Wagga has to offer. Located on the traditional lands of the Wiradyuri people, Wagga is a surprisingly vibrant inland country city. We spent the morning wandering the beautiful botanical garden before heading into to town to see beautiful colonial streetscapes and the mighty Murrumbidgee River lapping high on the banks of the levy. After a hearty pub lunch, we spent the afternoon checking out the Wagga Art precinct including the art gallery and national glass gallery.
It was time to say goodbye to Wagga on Thursday morning. On the way out of town we spent time looking around the RAAF museum before pumping up the speakers and blaring The Road to Gundagai. A brief morning stop in Gundagai gave us the opportunity to take in yet another iconic country town. We made it Gunning by lunch and rolled back into Goulburn later that afternoon. We had a beautiful Chinese meal that night to celebrate a member of our travelling party’s birthday!
Friday was sadly the last day of the trip. We could have done with longer but had to pack up and decided to spend more time in the beautiful Southern Highlands taking in the lovely atmosphere and beautiful streetscapes.
We left our little group with lovely new memories in our minds and , of course, brand new friendships.
