From the historic route established by the Cobb & Co stagecoaches, to the spectacular national parks of the New England Tableland and the food and wine mecca that is the Riverina region, touring country NSW offers a wonderful mix of culture, nature and heritage.
If you love driving through country towns, staying in old pubs and cosy B&Bs and immersing yourself in local folklore, the Cobb & Co Heritage Trail has it all mapped out for you. By exploring the regions once serviced by the Cobb & Co stagecoach company, you can delve into Australia's pioneering history and enjoy small-town hospitality along the way.
The best starting point is the Bathurst Visitor Information Centre, where you can learn all about the Cobb & Co routes and see a rare Cobb & Co coach, restored and painted in the company's trademark red and gold colours.
About 55 kilometres south-west is the pretty town of Carcoar, set in a valley on the banks of the Belubula River. Enterprise Stores, a 19th-century general store, provides information on a walking tour that takes in the town's marvellous historic buildings.
One such building is the luxurious Coombing Park Homestead, a grand Federation-era house surrounded by Cobb & Co memorabilia. It was owned by William Franklin Whitney, one of the prominent partners of Cobb & Co, and remains in his family. Still a fully operational cattle station, the estate has been wonderfully preserved and offers visitors tours of its holistic farm as well as guest accommodation.
Much of Cobb & Co's success was built on the growing traffic resulting from the gold rush of the early 1850s, and it is well worth visiting the gold-rush towns of Hill End and Sofala.
Hill End is a well-preserved 'ghost town' that is now an important historic site. You can book an underground mine tour and a gold panning tour through the town's National Parks & Wildlife Service centre. Two good places to stay are the Royal Hotel, which has great pub food, and Hosies B&B, which serves a hearty breakfast.
Sofala is one of the most fascinating and unusual of all the gold-mining towns of NSW. It has an authentic old-world charm and claims to be Australia's oldest surviving gold town. Most of Sofala's buildings date from the boom time in the mid-1800s, and it has changed little since those days.
The Royal Hotel has an old Cobb & Co booking office and is an interesting place to stay, as is the former jail house, which now operates as a B&B and guest cottage - complete with original prisoners' cells. There's also an old-fashioned lolly shop called The Sweet Retreat, housed in a former post office that dates back to the 1870s.
Back on the Cobb & Co trail, the next stop is Orange, which offers dozens of interesting historical sites such as the Welcome Inn, built in the 1870s as a Cobb & Co pick-up point. Today, Orange prides itself on its rich agricultural land, which produces fine olives, grapes, apples, berries, lamb and beef, and plays host to one of the country's top annual food festivals, FOOD Week (the 2005 event is due to be held 1-10 April). The Orange area is also renowned for its quality wineries, which include Indigo Ridge, Brangayne, Canobolas-Smith Wines, Gold Dust Wines and Highland Heritage Estate. But if you do plan to indulge in some wine tasting, make sure you have a designated driver with you.
At 1395 metres above sea level, Mount Canobolas, about 13 kilometres south-west of Orange, is the highest point between the Blue Mountains and Madagascar. Abundant with flora and fauna, it's a birdwatcher's paradise and has walking tracks leading to Federal Falls or to the summit, which is often snow-capped in winter.
Like Orange, Mudgee is a food and wine lover's mecca. Both towns boast fine restaurants and dozens of cellar doors. The Mudgee Wine Festival runs throughout September and is a great time for wine buffs to sample drops from 35 Mudgee wineries. Poet's Corner Winery has a restaurant, a museum, a cricket ground and picnic facilities, while Thistle Hill Vineyard, which grows its grapes organically, has picnic and barbecue facilities and a three-bedroom cottage available for B&B.
But there's more to do in Mudgee than just drink wine, of course. Sweet-toothed travellers can visit Mudgee Honey Haven and taste numerous honey varieties, jam and mustard, check out the hard-working bees or have morning or afternoon tea. The Fragrant Farm is also worth visiting while you're in town. It has a herb nursery, craft and bookshop, large restaurant, attractive gardens and beautiful views.
Further out west on the Cobb & Co Heritage trail is Wellington, the second-oldest city west of the Blue Mountains, best known for its limestone caves that date back millions of years. The showpiece is Cathedral Cave, which boasts the massive Altar Rock that measures an amazing 15 metres in height and 32 metres around the base, and is thought to be the largest stalagmite in the world.
The Visitor Centre at Wellington offers free information about the area's attractions and accommodation. Whale Farm is highly recommended, but this working farm is very popular with families so book 12 months in advance for the school holiday periods.
Banderra Homestead is also a good option, offering a private wing in the main homestead, an award-winning garden and farm tours. About 25 kilometres from Wellington, Burrendong Park by Lake Burrendong (a vast artificial lake with three-and-a-half times the water capacity of the Sydney Harbour) offers lots of facilities including holiday bungalows, water sports, camp sites and golf. The 164-hectare Burrendong Botanic Gardens and Arboretum overlook the lake, and display flowering plants, trees and shrubs from over 2000 species - one of the largest collections of Australian native plants in cultivation.
Heading north along the Mitchell Highway from Wellington you'll reach Dubbo, the commercial, industrial and administrative hub of central NSW. There are many Cobb & Co sites to be found in Dubbo. Even the town's best-known attraction, the Western Plains Zoo, has an original Cobb & Co shed within its extensive grounds. 
The zoo is home to thousands of animals, many of them endangered. The best way to get around its vast plains is to hire a bicycle, but you can also drive your own car or hire one of the zoo's Mini Mokes. Opt to stay overnight at the Zoofari Lodge for a true jungle experience.
For a different kind of cultural experience in Dubbo, head to Indidjinart Aboriginal Art & Craft Studio and Workshop. It's owned by Lewis Burns, an indigenous artist, performer and didgeridoo maker who is known around the world for his work. His shop is a great place to buy indigenous arts and crafts.
Narromine, another stop on the Cobb & Co route, is about 40 kilometres west of Dubbo. It has three historic hotels - the Royal, the Narromine and the Courthouse - as well as the Narromine Aerodrome and Aviation Museum. It's also known as the 'Town of Champions', because it's the hometome of some great Aussie sportspeople such as sprinter Melinda Gainsford-Taylor, cricketer Glenn McGrath and footballer David Gillespie.
Don't miss one of Narromine's highlights, The Lime Grove, five kilometres out of town on the Mitchell Highway. This is Australia's largest lime orchard and it sells a range of lime condiments and cordial, as well as olives grown, pickled and bottled at the orchard.
The Abbey B&B, a fully restored Catholic Presbytery dating back to 1919, is a gorgeous place to stay. It offers five guestrooms, shady verandahs and a parlour where you can relax with a good book and a hot cuppa. In contrast to its relaxing surrounds, the Abbey also organises 1000km/h joy flights in a MiG-15 fighter jet!
You could read plenty of books about the history of the towns associated with Cobb & Co, or you could actually experience it. The old stagecoach routes are just the beginning and it's totally up to you how closely you follow them or how far you venture to make discoveries of your own.
We've all heard about the old-fashioned shack "along the road to Gundagai" but it's time someone wrote a new song, about the top-quality food and wine to be had along the road from Gundagai to Griffith in the NSW Riverina region. The Murrumbidgee's still flowing, but times have changed and the produce coming out of the area now is the kind of fare you'll find in top city restaurants. But when you're in the country, it all somehow tastes so much better. The famous bronze statue of the dog on a tuckerbox, eight kilometres north of Gundagai, is an apt place to begin a gastronomic adventure. After paying your respects to the iconic canine, take the Hume Highway then the Sturt Highway to Wagga Wagga, a distance of about 80 kilometres.
Wagga Wagga is the town where wine and cheese buffs can begin to get excited on this food lover's foray. Charles Sturt University runs an award-winning winery and cheesemaking facility and you can book a full winery tour or just pop into the cellar door.
The cheese factory is the only one in Australia using native flavours, and its Bidgee cheese, named after the Murrumbidgee River, encapsulates the taste of the Australian bush. There are weekend cheesemaking courses available where you'll learn to make fetta, camembert, mascarpone, ricotta and quark in your own kitchen.
Bidgeebong Winery is among Wagga's newest and biggest wineries. Its name is a combination of 'billabong' and 'Murrumbidgee', and chief winemaker Andrew Birks was a senior lecturer in winemaking at Charles Sturt University for 20 years, so he knows his stuff. You can sample Bidgeebong wines at the cellar door by appointment. Wagga Wagga Winery also puts out a fine drop and displays an interesting collection of memorabilia in its rustic restaurant.
Apart from Wagga's wines, you'll also want to try its superb olive oils. Chris Whyte of Magpies Nest Restaurant began making his olive oil several years ago, simply because he couldn't find any he liked. He now travels through the Riverina region, harvesting olives from wild olive trees to create his oils, which are sold at the restaurant.
Leaving Wagga, drive north along the Olympic Highway for 45 kilometres until you reach Junee. Here, you'll find the Green Grove Organics Junee Licorice & Chocolate Factory, which makes stone-ground organicproducts including flours and bread mixes as well as biscuits and licorice. During a tour of the factory you can sample delicious organic licorice coated in Belgian chocolate.
Don't leave Junee without visiting Monte Cristo Homestead, declared Australia's Most Haunted House by the Australian Ghost Hunters' Society. A colonial mansion built in 1884, it's home to 10 ghosts who scare visitors silly on a regular basis.
The house was in a derelict state when current owners Reginald Ryan and his wife moved in 41 years ago, and they've since returned it to its former glory, creating a museum of Victorian antiques while dodging all manner of supernatural distractions. According to Reginald, ghostly figures appear and vanish, strange lights stream out of the windows and doors and people find themselves prevented from ascending the stairs by unseen forces.
"They don't worry me but my wife doesn't like being here by herself, even during the day," says Reginald. "She's had her name called and been vigorously shaken while in bed. I still maintain it's the live ones you've got to worry about, though, not the dead ones!"
The Ryans offer tours and Devonshire teas every day except Christmas. You can also book a ghost tour combined with three-course dinner, bed and breakfast or just dinner and a ghost tour. The ghouls aren't guaranteed to show up, but if you're lucky you may end up fleeing in terror.
If so, the best place to settle your nerves is Crestwood Lavender Farm, about 12 kilometres from Junee. You'll be surrounded by soothing scents, calming colours and panoramic views as you take a guided tour of the farm, learn about propagation, harvesting and distillation, and sample lavender creams and essential oils. Relax with Devonshire tea, tuck into a hearty ploughman's lunch or get crafty in a bush woodwork class. The farm hosts a Harvest Festival in late November, with jazz bands, food and demonstrations. It's a great time to visit, when the lavender flowers are at their blooming best.
Leaving Junee, follow the railway track west along the Coolamon road until you hit Ganmain, home to the legendary Ganmain Bakery. Ganmain is a small town of about 500 people but the bakery, located in the main street, has put it on the map. Particularly famous for its meat pies, the bakery started up more than 40 years ago and now supplies more than 60 outlets in southern NSW. From Ganmain you can head about 75 kilometres north-west to Leeton. This is one of Australia's richest food-producing areas and was the first of American architect Walter Burley Griffin's Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) towns. The MIA is a picturesque oasis of orchards, vineyards, rice fields and vegetable farms, all fringed with irrigation canals.
An architectural marvel, Leeton has 21 buildings listed on the NSW register of the Art Deco Society, but it is best known as the headquarters for the Australian rice industry and its famous SunRice Centre, where you can sample free SunRice products and learn everything there is to know about rice from paddock to plate. The 10-day SunRice Festival is held biennially over the Easter period and forms the backbone of Leeton's calender of events. There's a Grand Opening Ball, Good Friday Rice and Seafood Night, Ambassador Quest, Hot-air Ballooning Championships, a massive street parade with hundreds of floats and a community carnival. A great place to stay if you're in town for the festival is the Historic Hydro inn, built in 1919.
About 55 kilometres north-west of Leeton and at the heart of the MIA, the prosperous, multicultural town of Griffith is renowned for its gourmet restaurants and European-style cafes. Another Burley Griffin-designed town, many of its original settlers were Italian migrants, drawn to a landscape that was similar to their homeland, and they have left an indelible mark on the town. The Italian community introduced its own traditions of viticulture and market gardening, and claims to produce the best Italian food outside Italy.
Griffith is also well known as the state's largest wine-producing region, growing 20 per cent of Australia's wine grapes. The story of the De Bortoli vineyards typifies the history of the region's viticulture. Italian immigrants Vittorio and Giuseppina De Bortoli started growing grapes on a modest plot of land in the 1920s. Three generations later, the De Bortolis sell their wine all over the world, and their best-known dessert wine, Noble One Botrytis Semillon, has won a host of international awards. Sample their wines at the cellar door of their original winery in Bilbul, just outside Griffith.
A good time to visit Griffith is during the annual unWINEd festival. It's held during the June long weekend, and local wineries offer tutored tastings, cooking demonstrations by celebrity chefs, music and children's entertainment.
The June long weekend is also a great time to sample some fantastic Indian food at the Indian Sikh Games, an event hosted by the local Indian community which attracts Indians from all around Australia to participate in activities like kabaddi (a frenetic combination of wrestling and rugby), tug of war and soccer. Everyone is welcome to attend and cheer on the athletes. With two festivals in Griffith on the same weekend, accommodation fills up fast, so book ahead.
Before you leave Griffith, visit the Catania fruit farm, one of the oldest farms in the area. See how sugar plums are dried or taste Riverina peaches, apricots, oranges and grapes when in season. Visit the Sir Dudley de Chair's Lookout with fantastic views of the area and the Hermit's Cave (home of an Italian recluse for many years) below, then walk off lunch at the Cocoparra National Park or Lake Wyangan.
Of course, a visit to the Riverina is not just about food. There are many historic sites, galleries and museums to visit along the Gundagai to Griffith route and, while you could do this trip in a leisurely two or three days, you could easily fill a few weeks. With so many gourmet experiences to tempt you along the way, though, you'll have to juggle your sightseeing with your sampling, driving through the fresh air and fertile fields of the 'food basket of Australia'.
The New England tableland is where nature meets culture, finding a happy medium that can be as civilised or wild as you like.
Following the New England Highway from Tenterfield to Uralla will acquaint you well with many of the Big Sky Country's best attractions.
Tenterfield sits high on the New England tableland surrounded by scenic bushland, and its fine colonial architecture complements the natural features of its environs - a blend you'll notice a lot in this region.
Tenterfield earned the tag 'birthplace of our nation' in 1889, when the NSW politician, Sir HenryParkes,declared it was time to create a "great national government for all Australia" during his famous speech in Tenterfield's School of Arts. The building, which remains little changed since the 19th century, is now a museum that tells the story of Federation.
More recently, Tenterfield has become synonymous with the Peter Allen song about his grandfather, Tenterfield Saddler. Allen's music and career is the subject of the hit Broadway musical, The Boy from Oz. But a world away from the bright lights of New York, you can still visit the shop on the main street where his grandfather plied his trade as a saddler from 1908 to 1960.
Some of Australia's most spectacular national parks are within close reach of Tenterfield, and you can visit them while based here. You need to pay a daily vehicle entry fee at many of these parks, so regular visitors should buy an annual pass to save time and money. Most of the parks offer good camping facilities for a small fee. 
Bald Rock National Park has some good easy- to medium-difficulty walks. It's a gentle climb to the top of the remarkable Bald Rock monolith itself. Once at the top, the view across the boulder-strewn landscape is awesome.
Bungoona Walk is a three-kilometre walk that takes about two-and-a-half hours and is signposted with information on geological, botanical and natural features. Little Bald Rock Walk takes you through seven kilometres of tall rainforest comprising of broad-leaved messmate, mountain gum and New England blackbutt. For more of a challenge, tackle the 10-kilometre walk to the Northern Viewing Area, which has excellent views of Bald Rock.
Boonoo Boonoo National Park boasts spectacular river and gorge scenery, and the park is at its best in late September and October, when most of the wildflowers are in bloom. Many of the numerous native animals who call the park home also breed in spring, so they're quite active and more easily spotted. There are also good camping areas and lookout platforms with views of Boonoo Boonoo Falls, which plunges 210 metres over the edge of the New England tableland into the rainforests and ravines below.
Boonoo Boonoo Falls Walking Track, which takes about half an hour to walk, is an easy hike to start off with. Local legend has it that poet Banjo Patterson courted Alice Walker, who was the daughter of the owner of Tenterfield Station, at the falls lookout. From this track you can also get to a swimming area in the Boonoo Boonoo River, above the falls. The walk up to Mount Prentice takes about eight hours. It's a steep climb, but the 360-degree views at the top are worth the effort.
The wild terrain and high-county scenery continues all the way down the New England Highway and off the main road. Turning east along the Gwydir Highway will take you into gorge country. Be sure to visit the deep valleys and rainforests of the World Heritage-listed Gibraltar Range. Its myriad creeks and cascades, swamps, heaths and woodlands can be explored along more than 100 kilometres of walking trails. Make sure you take the eight-kilometre walk to the Tree Fern Forest, which comes out in a stunning 60 metre-high forest of Sydney blue gums and tree ferns.
If you've got plenty of time, the Gibraltar-Washpool World Heritage Walk takes about five days and covers 100 kilometres of rugged, mountainous country. The landscape changes dramatically, from dry eucalypt forest to sub-alpine swamps and lush rainforests laced with streams, rivers and waterfalls.
If you find walking a little too tame and yearn for some action-packed adventure, go white-water rafting on the Nymboida and Mann rivers in the Nymboida National Park. There are one-day tours operating out of Coffs Harbour or you can brave the rushing rapids solo. Rafting on the Nymboida River is rated moderate to challenging, with mainly Grade 3-4 rapids, even up to Grade 5 after high rainfall (rapids are graded 1-6, with 1 being the easiest).
West of the Nymboida National Park, the beautiful highland town of Glen Innes is a good base for eco-adventures mixed with local culture and history. You can fossick for sapphires, topaz and quartz, embark on a horse-riding trek staying overnight in historic pubs, fish for local trout and perch or go hiking in the nearby national parks.
Glen Innes is particularly famous for its Australian Standing Stones, a circle of 24 granite columns that have made it the centre of Australia's Celtic culture and the perfect place for the annual Australian Celtic Festival. The festival, held over the first weekend in May, draws pipe bands, artists and spectators from around the country. There's a huge street parade, rock-carrying events, military re-enactments by the Spanish 9th Roman Legion, Celtic yard dog trials, a fun run and a pet parade.
Immerse yourself even further in the Celtic experience with a stay at Kings Plains Castle, between GlennInnes and Inverell. Complete with tower and battlements and now filled with antiques, the castle was built by a Scottish family in 1908 as a reminder of their heritage. The hosts can organise gem-fossicking trips for guests, and King Plains offers facilities such as tennis courts and a billiard room.
South of Glen Innes along the New England Highway you'll find the graceful town of Armidale. Tree-lined streets, elegant cathedrals, grand homesteads and more than 30 National Trust-classified buildings combine to give Armidale its unique charm.
Being a university city, it's the centre of New England's rich, thriving cultural life and a good place to spend a few days if you've been camping and are in need of good food and decent coffee. The New England Regional Art Museum, which has one of the best collections of Australian paintings covering the 1880s to the 1940s - in particular the work of Tom Roberts and Arthur Streeton - is well worth visiting.
There's plenty for nature lovers, too. You can go trout fishing in season as well as canoeing, cycling, horse riding and hiking in the surrounding national parks: Oxley Wild Rivers, New England and Cathedral Rock. A highlight of the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park is the magnificent Wollomombi Falls, Australia's highest waterfall.
Just south-west of Armidale is Uralla, home to the grave of the notorious bushranger, Fred Ward, alias 'Captain Thunderbolt', who was shot dead by a constable in 1870. Another historic site is McCrossin's Mill, a flour mill built in the same year as Ward's death, which is now the Thunderbolt Museum. You can also spend a relaxing afternoon browsing in Uralla's antique stores or chilling in one of the town's fine cafes.
Thunderbolt's Way stretches from Uralla down to the coast. In Walcha (pronounced 'Wolka') you can see one of Ward's saddles housed in the Pioneer's Cottage. But Walcha is best known for the open-air sculptures that stand throughout the town.
South-west of Uralla is Australia's country music capital, Tamworth. Its former claim to fame was that it was the first town in Australia to get electric lighting (in 1881), but these days it's world-renowned for 
its 10-day festival in January, when throngs of performers light up the town. The 5000-capacity Tamworth Regional Entertainment Centre was
chock-a-block for this year's Golden Guitar awards, testament to the ever-growing success of the festival.
The Tamworth Arts Council is particularly active and ensures arts and music events take place on a regular basis, while the town's musical society is over 100 years old and used to take productions to neighbouring towns in horse-drawn carriages. There's also a strong theatre tradition, an Eisteddfod Society and free weekly concerts by the Conservatorium of Music.
About a 40-minute drive away is one of the state's best-kept secrets, Lake Keepit, with its excellent recreational centre. Here, you can fish for yellowbelly and freshwater cod, go sailing, canoeing, kayaking, rock-climbing, horse riding or mountain biking, spend the night at the new Keepit Country Campout (which has a campfire amphitheatre for after-dark entertainment), or get a bird's-eye view of the Namoi Valley with a glider flight at the Lake Keepit Soaring Club. The centre caters for up to 140 people and has a range of accommodation.
There are many cultural assets in New England, yet they share equal billing with the region's vast tracts of virgin wilderness. But one of the best aspects of touring New England is that there's so much to see and do in a compact area - which means that the driving is easy and the rewards are many.
Bathurst Visitor Information Centre
Phone: (02) 6332 1444 or 1800 681 000
Dubbo Visitors' Centre
Phone: (02) 6884 1422 or 1800 674 443
Enterprise Stores, Carcoar
Phone: (02) 6367 3085
Mudgee Visitor Information
Phone: (02) 6372 1020
Narromine Information Centre
Phone: (02) 6889 4596
Orange Visitor Information Centre
Phone: (02) 6393 8226 or 1800 069 466
Wellington Visitors' Centre
Phone: (02) 6845 1733 or 1800 621 614
Griffith Visitor Information Centre
Phone: (02) 6962 4145
Gundagai Visitor Information Centre
Phone: (02) 6944 0250
Leeton Tourism
Phone: (02) 6953 6481
Wagga Wagga Visitor Information Centre
Phone: (02) 6926 9621 or 1800 100 122
Armidale Visitor Information Centre
Phone: (02) 6772 4655 or 1800 627 736
Glen Innes Visitor Information Centre
Phone: (02) 6732 2397
Tamworth Tourism
Phone: (02) 6755 4300
Tenterfield Visitors' Information Centre
Phonel: (02) 6736 1082
Uralla Visitor Information Centre
Phone: (02) 6778 4496
For more information about country New South Wales, call 13 20 77. Plus, for your FREE map of country New South Wales, call 1300 73 95 35.
NRMA's Experience New South Wales guide has useful maps and information on places to stay and things to see and do in New South Wales and costs $15.95. To buy a copy (Member discounts apply), call 13 11 22 or buy online.
NRMA Members receive a 10 per cent discount on pre-purchased tickets for Western Plains Zoo, plus discounts on Hertz car and Britz campervan rentals. Call NRMA Touring Services on 13 11 22 for more information.
Story by Leigh Robshaw.
Images courtesy of NSW Tourism
4WD
