The best farm gates, cellar doors and summer fun in Bathurst
As the MERCURY rises, there’s no better way to KEEP COOL than to head INLAND.
BATHURST IS DOTTED with charming rural villages, patchwork plains and worldclass museums. And while curling up beside a log fire in winter is a great way to embrace the Central Tablelands’ cooler climes, you’ll find the region is a summer haven, too.
FARM GATES AND CELLAR DOORS
In addition to Bathurst’s vibrant restaurants and buzzy cafes, you’ll find a plethora of farm gates and cool-climate wineries that are keen to welcome you. Take the three-hour drive west of Sydney over summer to celebrate the best of the season’s stone fruit at ORCHARD, a family-run YARRALEE operation famous for its harvest of peaches, nectarines and cherries, or visit GEORGE AND PRODUCE. November/ SUE’S CHERRY FARM & December is peak cherry season and pickyour-own experiences are available at HILL ORCHARD. You can also pull on VIEW CHERRY your work boots at FARMSTAYS. BARCOOS Keep an eye out for small-batch, family-run vineyards such as RENZAGLIA WINES (renzagliawines.com.au) and WINBURNDALE (winburndalewines.com.au) on a scenic WINES drive that links the historic villages of Perthville, Ophir, O’Connell and Rockley. OUTDOORS AND FOSSICKING Bathurst’s colourful gold-mining history is legendary and today, the allure of finding a nugget or two still draws the crowds. Two public gold-fossicking areas, AREA, TAMBAROORA COMMONS FOSSICKING and RESERVE, present golden OPHIR opportunities for the whole family to fossick. Guided tours with DETOUR ADVENTURES (detouradventures.com.au) and SIMMO’S OFFROAD TOURS (simmosoffroadtours.com) are also available. Bathurst is also blessed with a variety of pristine walking trails, spectacular crystal and limestone caves and parks designed to keep kids entertained for hours. Enjoy a hike at GOLDEN GULLY WALKING TRACK, explore and go ABERCROMBIE CAVES horse riding at (yarrabin.com). YARRABIN
SUPERCARS
MT PANORAMA/WAHLUU MOTOR RACING (mount-panorama.com.au) may be CIRCUIT famous for race events, but anyone can enjoy the exhilaration of driving a lap of the 6.2-kilometre public circuit. Make a pitstop at the NATIONAL MOTOR RACING MUSEUM (museumsbathurst.com.au), a space that celebrates the rich history of Australian motor sport and follow it up with a visit to ASH’S (ashsspeedwaymuseum.com. SPEEDWAY MUSEUM au), home to the largest collection of speedway memorabilia in the southern hemisphere. Just one more way of keeping ‘cool’ this summer. For further information on spring and summer fun in Bathurst, visit Bathurst Region Tourism. bathurstregion.com.au