Having just walked up Mt Painter and soaked up the stunning views there-from I decided to walk up to The Pinnacle in the nearby Pinnacle Nature Reserve which I had heard offered equally good views. Continue reading “The Pinnacle – Disappointment Turns to Pleasure”
Canberra, Australia’s bush capital, is very blessed when it comes to beautiful ‘rural walks within the city’. Of all these walks the short walk to the top of Mt Painter has, for my money, the best ‘views to effort ratio’. Continue reading “Mt Painter Walk– Short and Sweet”
The Hall Market is held on the showgrounds in Hall village, approximately 10 kms from the centre of Canberra. Markets are open 10am to 3pm on the first Sunday of each month, excluding January. Continue reading “Hall Market”
I have to admit being a little sceptical about this one. I didn’t actually visit it till I was over ten years in Canberra. Why was I sceptical? Well, I expected it to be a poorly maintained, worn out, overpriced and over hyped mixture of things that I wouldn’t be able to recognise. Continue reading “Cockington Green – Visit the World in a Day”
If you make it to the Balranald area of New South Wales, Australia, you will have invariably driven a significant distance and still have quite a bit to go. Distances from Balranald to:
Brisbane: 1,450km
Sydney: 800km
Melbourne: 390km
Adelaide: 600km
Canberra: 600kms. Continue reading “Take A Rest Between Hell And Balranald”
Hells Gate is the entrance to a 13,000 hectares farming property on the flat Hay Plain in outback New South Wales. It lies between Hay and Balranald on a featureless stretch of saltbush, which is generally accepted to be the flattest region on earth. Continue reading “I’ve Been To Hell And Back, Many Times”
For many years now, if I arrived into Balranald ( located about half way between Sydney and Adelaide – 600km from Adelaide and 800km from Sydney) around lunch time on my annual drive from Canberra to Adelaide, as I invariably did, I had lunch at the excellent Balranald Bakery (separate review). I have a particular soft spot for their apple slice.
A couple of years ago (in 2014) I noticed that another café had opened next door. In 2016 I decided to forgo my stop – and my apple slice – at the bakery and try Café Cassero which doubles as a gift shop offering lots of ‘stuff’ that didn’t appeal to me. But I was here to find something for lunch.
The small town of Balranald, approximately 1,000 inhabitants, lies in the west of New South Wales and is pretty much half way between Sydney and Adelaide, in South Australia.
As I only stop here for lunch, etc en route to Adelaide or back to Canberra (where I live) I have very little content on it to add to my blog at present. Continue reading “Balranald Bakery and Cafe: “Fresh Bread In The Outback””
My plan for the day had been to do a short walk in the Cotter/Tidbinbilla area and a slightly longer one (9kms) in the northern part of the Namadgi National Park stopping for an early lunch in the Café at the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve Visitor Centre.
Two problems were encountered. Firstly, the weather closed in and a mist/drizzle descended in the northern Namadgi area which meant that, while we could have walked to Square Rock there was no point as we would have seen nothing. Easily fixed Square Rock was taken of the plan and a couple of short walk were added in Tidbinbilla. Secondly, we found the Cafe Tidbinbilla, the Visitor Centre, to be no more – and replaced by a coffee/drinks kiosk. Continue reading “Corin Forest Mountain Retreat – Cafe: “Go for the Pizza””
There are only two significant remaining examples of European tenancy of the Reserve – the Nil Desperandum and Rock Valley homesteads, both pise ( rammed earth ) buildings built in the 1890s by George Green and George Hatcliff. Green and Hatcliff had learned this building technique from a couple of Chileans working in the area. Continue reading “Rock Valley Homestead – Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve”
The Rambling Wombat 