Don’t tell anyone but here are 18 of NSW’s best recreational secrets, from cafes to campgrounds, bathhouses to B&Bs.
Most national parks do not allow vehicle access into genuine wilderness, for obvious reasons. Werrikimbe National Park, a high-altitude, rainforest park in the mountains west of Wauchope in the NSW mid-north coast hinterland, is one area where you can take a four-wheel drive. The Racecourse Trail is the main 4WD track through the park. It’s accessed via the Hastings Forest Way from Wauchope. Camping is available at sites at both ends of the Racecourse Trial.
What: 4WD trail
Where: Werrikimbe National Park, 80 km north-west of Wauchope
Contact: www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au or (02) 6586 8300
Forget clubs and pubs — lawn bowls is where the action is! Paddo Bowlo is one of Sydney’s hottest meeting places for inner-city singles. It’s a quirky venue for birthdays, hens and bucks parties and corporate events.
You don’t need to be a member of the club to play unless you live within a five-kilometre radius. For $10 per person, your group receives a 15-minute bowls lesson and the lane is yours for the day. The restaurant will deliver food to your table on the green.
Bookings essential.
What: Bowls club
Where: 2 Quarry St, Paddington
When: Bowling from 1pm–7pm weekends, 3pm–7pm weekdays
Contact: (02) 9363 1150
Halfway between Wauchope and Comboyne in the Port Macquarie hinterland, hidden on a back road that only locals use, is the tiny village of Byabarra. It’s one of those blink-and-you’ll-miss-it type of places — a two-roomed primary school, an ancient ‘School of the Arts’ hall, a public telephone booth, three or four houses and a fantastic café and art gallery.
Blue Poles is a rarity — an out-of-the-way place that serves good coffee! Not to mention great food served on a shady deck with views over the valley. Inside is a gallery, with changing exhibitions.
What: Café and gallery
Where: 1086 Comboyne Road, Byabarra
When: Open Thursday to Sunday, 9am–5pm
Contact: (02) 6587 1167
High in the rainforest hinterland, far from the bustle of Byron Bay, a rush of water plunges 100m off the lava cliffs of Whian Whian State Forest into a palm-shaded gorge. It’s a spectacular vantage-point with views to the coast.
The real secret here is a small, deep plunge pool just a few metres from the edge of the falls that is perfect for cooling off on a summer day. One way to guarantee you will find the pool is to do the trip with Jim’s Alternative Tours. The falls are a 55 km drive from Byron.
What: waterfall
Where: Whian Whian State Forest, 55 km west of Byron Bay
Contact: (02) 6685 8050. Jim’s Alternative Tours: (02) 6685 7720.
One of Broken Hill’s best-kept secrets is its miners’ cottages. These historic houses are available on a nightly or weekly basis. Most are original miners’ cottages made from corrugated iron.
They have two or three bedrooms, are fully furnished, tastefully renovated, and best of all, feature big backyards, often a barbecue, and lots of room to spread out. All this and they cost about the same as your average three-star motel unit.
What: Self-contained accommodation
Where: Broken Hill
Contact: www.murrayoutback.org.au or contact the Visitor Information Centre on (08) 8087 6077
The Central West of NSW is one of the best places to view the night sky, but if you really want a close-up view, then head to Gilgandra.
This is one of the only amateur observatories in the country. It is open to the public to view the night sky through a two-metre-long telescope.
What: privately-owned observatory
Where: Just off the Newell Highway, Gilgandra
When: Viewing times during winter are 7pm– 10pm. Daylight saving: 8:30pm–10pm
Contact: www.gilobs.com.au or (02) 6847 2646. Bookings essential
The small country town of Nundle, near Tamworth, is one of those country gems that you hope never gets discovered. Once a gold rush town, it now has a range of activities, including a working gold mine, fossicking areas, an underground mining museum, a working station where you can shear a sheep, antique shops and fabulous picnic areas.
But the real secret is Jenkins Street Guesthouse and Cha! Cha! Cha! Restaurant. With elegant ensuite accommodation in an old bank building and fantastic food, a country weekend doesn’t get any better.
What: Jenkins Street Guesthouse
Where: 85 Jenkins Street, Nundle
Contact: (02) 6769 3026 or www.nundle.info/guesthouse/jenkins
Privately-owned Mogo Zoo, near Batemans Bay on the South Coast, is dedicated to the conservation of exotic and endangered animals.
Animals you’ll find here include a Nepalese red panda; water buffalo; otters; ring-tailed lemurs; monkeys; jaguars; snow leopards; marmoset; lions; tigers; brown bears and meerkats.
What: Zoo
Where: Tomakin Rd, Mogo, 10 km south of Batemans Bay
When: 9am–5pm seven days.
Contact: (02) 4474 4930 or www.mogozoo.com.au
This grand colossus in the central west is one of Australia’s most extraordinary buildings. Commenced in 1880, Iandra is a privately-owned 53-room mansion that splits the skyline south of Cowra with an array of turrets and chimneys. The gardens are a delight.
The building is open to the public through organised tours run by Cowra-based Australiana Corner once a month. Tours include morning/afternoon tea, a 15-minute talk and an hour to explore.
What: Historic mansion
Where: Greenthorpe, 35 km south-west of Cowra
When: Australiana Corner in Cowra runs tours once a month or by arrangement for larger groups.
Contact: Australiana Corner (02) 6341 3350. www.australianacorner.com/iandracastle.html
Silent Grove is a spectacular spread of undulating paddocks, plunging gorges and stands of stringybark forest. Perched on the New England tablelands, this land has been farmed by the Every family for more than 100 years.
Dorothy and John Every are willing hosts who delight in sharing their property with guests. Kids will revel in joining the farmyard routine of collecting eggs, feeding chooks or mustering sheep.
What: Farmstay B&B
Where: Ben Lomond, near Glen Innes
Contact: (02) 6733 2117 or www.silentgrovefarmstay-bandb.com.au
Sometimes the simplest ideas are best. This walk in Bago State Forest in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains west of Kosciuszko National Park is a slender, arrow-straight avenue through a towering forest of sugar pines. But in the cool of the late afternoon, as shafts of sunlight dapple the forest floor, few places on Earth are as hauntingly lovely.
The walk is off Kopsens Road at Laurell Hill, 20 km south of Batlow.
What: short walk
Where: Laurel Hill, Bago State Forest, 20 km south of Batlow on Kopsens Road
Contact: (02) 6947 7025
High in Barrington Tops National Park, Polblue Swamp is a well-equipped camping area in sub-alpine woodland.
In winter time, it snows up here, and you have to be well prepared for camping. The road from Gloucester is mostly dirt, and is sometimes closed due to snow and ice. There are a few short walks. The track around the swamp, through the snow gums, is as beautiful a walk as you will find anywhere.
What: camping area
Where: Gloucester–Scone Road, approx 60 km west of Gloucester
Contact: www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au or (02) 6538 5300
No trip to the west of the State is complete without a night or two camping on the Darling River.
There are excellent sites on the Darling at Kinchega National Park, where the river flows into the Menindee Lakes.
A track meanders up the eastern bank, where you’ll find 35 individual campsites. Two people in a car will pay $12 per night.
What: camping areas
Where: Kinchega National Park, 111 km south-east of Broken Hill near Menindee
Contact: www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au or (08) 8088 5933
Where else can you have a night out dressed in your pajamas? These two drive-ins in western Sydney are operated by Greater Union, show recent films and have cafés serving great hamburgers and movie munchies.
Opened in 1957, Bass Hill is Australia’s oldest continually-operating drive-in theatre, with two screens and a 724-car capacity. Blacktown drive-in opened in the 1960s and boasts manicured lawns and palm trees, two screens and a 700-car capacity.
What: drive-in movie theatres
Where: Bass Hill Skyline: Johnson Rd, Bass Hill. Blacktown Skyline: Flushcombe Rd, Blacktown. Bargain day Tuesday
Contact: Bass Hill (02) 9724 1289; Blacktown (02) 9622 4170
Close to Canberra, Collector is more than just a convenient stopover en route to the snowfields. There is a fascinating place to stay in the Bushranger Hotel, scene of a hold-up by three bushrangers in 1865, and now a B&B, bar and bistro, jam-packed with memorabilia. The nearby Lynwood Café was named one the world’s top five restaurants in great locations by London’s Guardian newspaper.
What: village
Where: on the Federal Highway between the Hume Highway turn-off and Lake George
Contact: Bushranger Hotel (02) 4848 0079. Lynwood Café (02) 4848 0200. Grapefoodwine (02) 4848 0165 (Fri–Sun) (02) 6269 8901 (Mon–Thu)
Coolah Tops is a thin plateau crowded with snow gums and thousand-year-old grass trees. Several lookouts offer expansive panoramas over the majestic Warrumbungles and the fertile farmlands of the Liverpool Plains.
The park’s must-sees are Norfolk Falls, Breeza and Pinnacle lookouts and the clusters of ancient grass trees. Another attraction is Australia’s tallest snow gum.
Camping with toilet facilities is available at The Barracks.
What: national park
Where: 30 km east of Coolah
Contact: (02) 6372 7199
Crest Hotel, Sydney
This authentic Korean-style bathhouse is the only one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. After a stressful day at work or an exhausting shopping spree, you can nip in, strip off and chill out in spas, saunas and baths. You can also make an appointment for a variety of massage and skin treatments, rest in the sleeping room or help yourself to tea and coffee.
What: Korean bathhouse
Where: Level 1, Crest Hotel, 111 Darlinghurst Road, Kings Cross
When: Mon–Fri 10 am–10 pm, Sat & Sun 9 am–10 pm
Contact: (02) 9368 1442
OK, Lord Howe is scarcely a secret but it’s astonishing how few NSW holidaymakers have been to the State’s own treasure island.
Three good reasons to go:
What: holiday island
Where: 550 km east of Port Macquarie
Contact: 1800 240 937 or www.lordhoweisland.info
— Secrets spilled by Lee Atkinson, Steve Fraser, Bill McKinnon and Leigh Robshaw
4WD
