Roadtrip NSW

We had two weeks off for a holiday to Tasmania but inevitably a coronavirus spike in greater Sydney closed the borders and we were facing the third cancelled holiday in 12 months. Somewhat fortunately though, we had bought a car only 2 weeks earlier and so a road trip around NSW wasn’t such a bad alternative.

After a life-sized game of tetris, the car was packed to the brim of camping gear and 4WDing equipment and we headed north. It became a source of pride, even as we accumulated new belongings along on the trip, that we didn’t need to use the roof racks, but that’s not saying much when a car that can seat 7 only had seating room for 2.

We spent the first couple of nights of our holiday visiting family in Newcastle, and made the most of the warm weather having a swim at the Merewether ocean baths. We then headed inland to Gloucester to visit a friend for the night, stopping at Pierre’s Wines on the way where we tasted and purchased a fantastic sparkling made in the same traditional French method as champagne (methode traditionelle). We also purchased a great pinot noir, but never got to enjoy it. It ended up being one of two bottles of wine that Dylan managed to drop while packing/unpacking the car.

The next day we headed back to the coast to camp for 2 nights at Treachery camp ground near Seal Rocks. It was located on the beach and had excellent facilities, including toilets, hot showers, drinking water and even a coffee cart, which was handy since although we had packed our aeropress we had forgotten filter papers. We spent a couple of relaxing days there swimming, walking, reading and enjoying our camp meals.

Then we continued north to the in-laws new farm - Lily’s @ Billy’s - located at Billy’s Creek, which is hidden away in the sub-tropical rainforest around 40 minutes outside of Dorrigo. We took along a sign for the farm that we’d had made for them by our friend Max in Newcastle (who runs a sign business). Its design celebrates the endangered red-eyed green tree frog which has been seen on the property.

We stayed 4 nights at the farm; falling asleep in our tent to the choir of croaking frogs and waking to the sing-song chorus of birds. During the warm, sunny days we explored the farm where we found more of its non-human inhabitants - a playful platypus in the dam (subsequently renamed from second dam to platypus dam), a red belly black snake in the rainforest, 19 angus who roamed the paddocks, as well as all the frogs, lizards, spiders and insects that call the farm home. At nearby Dorrigo we enjoyed great coffee and a couple of excellent lunches at Components Cafe and sourced meat and sauces for BBQ dinners at The Dorrigo Butcher. After dinner we would sit by a campfire toasting marshmallows under the starry sky.

While exploring the back paddocks of Lily’s @ Billy’s, Dylan drove the new car through some long grass and found a fairly small stick that managed to pierce the seemingly unpierceable hull of the car. The stick went all the way through a small metal hole for cables and came up through the floor of the front passenger’s side. You can imagine our surprise when Robert said “it’s come into the car!”. Luckily there was no major damage to anything and the dealership assured us “you can drive over a thousand sticks and that will never happen again”. It was indeed an interesting fluke and we have the hole in our car floor forever to prove it.

After a tip from a local we found a secluded place to swim, only about 15 minutes drive from the farm. It was a creek with large smooth boulders forming the entry into numerous pools of cool water. We spent hours there, lying like lizards on the rocks under a cloudless sky, slipping into the water to cool off and exploring the lengths of the creek, climbing over rocks, sliding down small waterfalls and sitting in the shallows of rock pools. And no one else was ever there.

After our time at the farm we headed south west to start our little distillery tour of NSW. We arrived in Armidale on 26 January, and being a public holiday, almost everything was shut. But we found Neville’s Store, a burger and shake shop that was opened and we were not disappointed. We sat in the park and unsuccessfully tried to finish the huge burgers and shake. We then headed to Narrabri where we checked into Tommo’s Motor Lodge, a 3 star motel that was clean and comfortable and had air conditioning. We had a shower to wash off the dust and then headed out to Black Snake - an understated distillery run by a local couple who make ASp, an agave spirit made in the style of Mexican mezcal. As far as we know, they are the only ones in Australia that make it. They kindly accommodated us on our travels with an after-hours tasting at 6.00pm. We spent 2 very enjoyable hours there, even getting to taste the yet to be released reposado.

After a good night’s sleep in a real bed we had a delicious breakfast at Yield cafe, filled up at a petrol station (where the attendant still fills your car and cleans the windscreen for you) before continuing on our journey.

We drove on unsealed dusty roads lined with sunflowers where to the east, the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range formed a forested wall and to the west, farm land stretched out towards the blue horizon as far as the eye could see. After periods of intense drought across the state, there have been more favourable conditions in recent months; the grass was green, the dams full and willow trees hung above creeks and rivers that flowed. But the sky remained bright blue.

Our next stop was Eastview Estate/Dobson’s Distillery where we had a tasting of gin, including a very nice sumac gin, a brandy and a few whiskeys with the rather interesting distiller. We left with a few bottles in the back and after more dusty roads, arrived that afternoon at Goonoo Goonoo Station, a beautifully restored station offering luxury accommodation and excellent dining at its onsite restaurant Glasshouse.

We spent the afternoon wandering around the station taking photos before enjoying a three course dinner at the restaurant. The venue is spectacular - an open space with floor to ceiling glass walls sitting between two re-purposed heritage buildings, with a sweeping view over the rolling hills of the station and the distant Liverpool Range. The menu focuses on Australian ingredients sourced locally and regionally.

After our little luxury pause we were back on the dusty back roads to head to our next distillery stop at Black Gate. Known for their Australian rums and whiskeys, we had a very enjoyable tasting with one of the owners before heading back on the road with another couple of bottles in the back.

That evening we arrived in Mudgee for the last night of our trip. We stayed at the lovely Cobb & Co Court Hotel and ate dinner at Cade. After a good night’s sleep in a plush bed we enjoyed breakfast at Alby and Esther’s - a lovely courtyard cafe covered with trees and vines, where a few years prior our friends had their wedding ceremony - before heading back on the road.

We had hoped to make one more distillery stop at Craftworks Distiller’s in Capertee but unfortunately they weren’t open. As we climbed the western side of the Blue Mountains, the sky darkened with cumulus clouds, the mist set in, and by the time we reached the peak, the rain poured down. It was the first rain we had on our trip… and the car was grateful for the wash.