Who knew that all these towns which are typically just dots on the map, occasional topics of dinner party conversations, but more than anything else, places that you drive through on the way to somewhere else, actually had value, had things that could grab and hold your interest, and had so much depth?
With only one destination in mind – the Dubbo Western Plains Zoo – a friend and I embarked on a 9 day road trip from Canberra to central NSW, with the goal of a relaxing adventure to take us away from the everyday. What we hadn’t bargained on was the sheer volume of things to do when you just look at where you are at any given time, and are open to the experiences. By day 7 we actually had to have a conversation on the need to slow down so as not to be exhausted at the end of our holiday!
Our trip took us through Cowra, Orange, Bathurst, Hill End, Mudgee, Dubbo, Parkes, Forbes, Young, and Jugiong. Around half of those were planned, and the rest uncovered as part of the journey of discovery.
Despite attending the same university in Sydney, the first time my parents met was when they were teaching at Cowra High School. Though Cowra is just two hours from where I live, I hadn’t been there since I was a kid, and felt a deep need to head towards it. We discovered a small country town, with tourist centres defined by the events of August 5 1944, when more than 1,000 Japanese soldiers attempted to break out of the Cowra Prisoner of War camp and 231 Japanese prisoners and four Australians were killed.
The signs in Cowra were interesting – at least to start. A smorgasbord of information was available to complement the first hologram that we saw. So much detail, and some of it a little more illuminating (and correct!) than the hologram would have suggested. But the issue would appear to be that the people at the information centre, the Japanese gardens, and the Cowra POW camp didn’t correlate the information the were sharing. And so the information on the boards got very similar, very quickly.
Indeed, at the Cowra POW camp, I suspect that they didn’t think anyone would actually walk the camp. And so sign after sign told the same story of the valiant Australian soldiers and the desperate Japanese, in quite simplistic terms. The largest take home message was beyond the message intended, and was how well we treated our POW’s. Perhaps respect for humanity isn’t at its peak now, when you think of how we treat those seeking asylum and compare…
From Cowra it was a short hop to Orange via Carcoar and Millthorpe. FoR anyone over the age of 20, Carcoar was a must see stop due its 20th century toy museum. Arising from the passsion of a single collector, you are guaranteed to see many of your favourite toys from childhood, and even more you don ‘t remember, with a collection that ranges from war dolls and toys to 50s and 60s cartoon memorabilia to an entire selection of Snoopy figurines. Personally, my standout had to be the entire Asterix and Obelix collection, closely followed by the Popeye figurines. VIewfinders have to get a mention in here somehow too, as an 80s child.
Millthorpe had a lovely presence and an open garden weeken. The community spirit shone through when we stopped in at.a Country Women’s Association morning tea, and the wonderful ladies there were tripping over themselves to meet our slightly difficult dietary requirements to raise money for the local community. Definitely worth a wander.
On arriving at Orange visitor information centre, we disciovered the town had just been through a once in a decade storm. Their wonderful art gallery and museum was very welcoming, but what we were stunned to see was an oak, planted for the coronotation of Queen Elizabeth II, entirely shorn in half due to the freak storm, with a solitary magpie keeping a solemn, solitary watch over its now devastated nest and young which had resided in the tree. Orange also allowed self-contained visitors to stay for free at its Showground; we had hectares of space to share between three motor homes.
Bathurst was wonderful. I knew it only as the place that hosted that other race that stops a nation, but it has an incredible amount to offer. A historical walking tour through the centre of town led to a gem and fossil museum based off the personal collection of just one man. And what a collection one man can amass over his lifetime. Incredibly vibrant colours, perfectly formed crabs, and a life size T-Rex model fossil all impressed on us the majesty of archaeology.
Lapping Mt Panorama was strangely thrilling. A regular road when not being driven at crazy speeds, maintaining 60km/h in a motor home was challenge enough. Nice to know the motor home can take those chicanes…
From Bathurst we had two choices; to head to the second largest canyon in the world, or to a historical gold mining village called Hill End. Being in a two wheel drive truck, and given the recent storms, the canyon in the National Park seemed just a bit too challenging and so we headed through the mountains to Hill End.
Hill End had a very short period as a peak gold mining town. What makes it truly marvellous though is that in the 80s, National Parks started buying up the houses and agreed to charge tenants $1 in rent if they restored the properties historically accurately. The restoration and maitenance of these properties, combined with the discovery of a series of photos taken by XX of every building in the town, provide a snapshot that isn’t just seen but experienced. You no longer have to look at how things were, you can reside in the space were things are. A drink at the pub is a step back in time, as is a trip to the hospital on the hill, with the only thing missing from the experience the consistent, inescapable boom of stamping batteries running day and night as they crushed rock looking for gold.
Hill End led to Mudge, where we could finally get phone reception again. The pumphouse does a wonderful degustation menu for very cheap, and can do matched wines as well to make a marvellous experience. They are only open limited nights every week, and so we instead picked from one of the dozens of wineries with a locally sourced tasting platter. Despite having my doubts about food and wine country, Mudgee delivered for the palette.
The literal and physical peak of our experience was realised in Dubbo. The northernmost part of our trip, the friendliness of the locals was astounding. We had come here poimrarily to hire bikes and ride around the Western Plains Zoo, but after visiting the Old Dubbo Gaol and receiving wonderful advice, we trekked to the cultural centre – a wonderful museum with both rotating and permanent exhibits that brought joy – and the Royal Flying Doctor Service, to learn about the history of the Service and take a tour in how you can play Tetris to fit Nurses, Doctors, patients and pilots in a tiny plane.
The zoo did not disappoint, as predicted, and riding bikes was a fantasticc way to let childish whims direct us where to go next. It is worthy of its own entry.
From there, onto Parkes to enjoy The Dish and the Elvis museum, but not before staying at the highlight of our free camping adventure, Bogan Weir. This free camp used to be the weir that provided water for the nearby gold mining town of Peak Hill, and now provides a lovely spot to unwind and watch the world roll by in a rural setting. Sharing the camp with one other, lovely couple, the quiet restfulness of the Weir (once we had gotten over our childish jokes over the name) was interrupted only by the occasional laughing of the local kookaburras.
Forbes motor museum provides a look through history for motor enthusiast. Remember those subsrcription magazine, where you could assemble such and such by buying a magazine a week for 52 weeks? Turns out they’ve been around for a while. In the early 1900s, you could build your own car through a subscription magazine! And of course, one was on display at the motor museum, alongside a Japanese funeral car, an historic caravan, and an entire suite of restored cars.
From there through Young, the Cherry Capital of Australia, who I am very proud to advise have wisely decided to erect three cherries on their town status rather than two, through a herd of Cattle being driven along the road, and onto Jugiong, a tiny township defined by the fantastic menu and service of the St George’s pub, the incredible brunches at Long Track pantry, and that they have a long running donation stay Showground where you can park alongside the river.
What I’ve written here is a whole lot of information. What I haven’t conveyed is the joy of discovery that this mid-West advaenture brought. Despite knowing little about each of these towns, the kindness and generosity of the locals had us soon learning local histories and discovery experiences that you can’t find on a Tripadvisor Top 10. So thank you to the people of the central west, for enabling the joy that the 9 days in a (previously unknown) paradise brought.
If you want to follow up on the Cowra experience, read Cory Taylor’s “My Beautiful Enemy,” a brilliant novel about an Australian guard and his relationship with a Japanese interned there during WW2.