Travel the food trail
Indulge us for a moment. Imagine that Canberra doesn't exist
and let us suggest a regional food and wine experience that ignores the
capital's many fine restaurants. Pretend that the five-star luxury of the Hyatt
Hotel Canberra is on another planet and look for accommodation that comes with a
quirkier, more personal touch.
Our trail includes bits of the major highways, but also takes
you along some of the back roads that are more scenic and less hectic. The best
time to do it is on weekends, because many of the wineries and restaurants
you'll encounter along this route aren't open early in the week. If you're
planning to visit mid-week you might find fine-dining choices a bit thin on the
ground. In that case, a mercy dash into the capital to somewhere like
Artespresso, Axis or The Ginger Room is always a possibility – or you can generally
find tasty food at the local pub.
Unless you're heading up from the New South Wales South Coast, you'll approach
via one of the area's substantial towns, Goulburn, Yass or Queanbeyan. Each of
these has its own attractions, but we're not talking about towns here. We're
concentrating on villages. Smaller, friendlier, easier to come to grips with.
Start your tour in Braidwood, work your way up through Bungendore and the Lake
George wineries to Collector, head off through grazing country to Gundaroo then
on to the Murrumbateman and Hall wine districts.
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Or do it the other way round.
Other villages that could be worth side trips include Captain's Flat, Gunning
and Tarago. Along the way you'll find a number of excellent restaurants
including two, Lynwood Café at Collector and Grazing at Gundaroo, that have at
times had a Good
Food Guide hat. Our village-by-village guide has plenty of suggestions on where
to eat, where to stay and where to buy local produce.
Of course, you can't spend all day eating and drinking. Well, not every day.
There's a lot more to do and see in the area. Most of the villages have a
variety of antique shops, gift shops and galleries, many exhibiting local
crafts. The towns themselves have much longer histories than Canberra and there
are many fine old buildings to explore.
Scenery? The route from Bungendore to Collector takes you past the mysterious
Lake George. Local legends say that it fills and empties at opposite times to a
lake in Peru. Or, some say, New Zealand or Tasmania. More likely, the
fluctuations in level are simply because it's a shallow lake, so cycles of
drought and rainfall have a dramatic effect. Elsewhere, National Parks near
Braidwood have good walks and picnic spots and the Brindabella Ranges offer a
scenic backdrop to your wine-tasting in the Hall area.
If your getaways don't mean a thing if they ain't got that swing, you'll find
nine-hole golf courses in Braidwood and Gunning (and a number of very impressive
ones in Canberra, but we won't go there just yet, will we?). There's excellent
stream fishing in the Braidwood area, too, and winter rains mean the streams are
actually flowing again.
Next: Braidwood >
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