Things to do in Central West
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Australian Fossil & Mineral Museum
See Tyrannosaurus rex, Australia's only complete skeleton. You'll also see the internationally renowned Somerville Collection and over 6000 fossils from every period of the earth's history. It's fantastic.
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Union Bank
This upmarket and rather groovy cellar door and wine bar has more than 500 wine labels, any of which can be enjoyed with a cheese platter or antipasto plate. There's also a wine store.
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Farmer’s Market
Local produce can be foraged at the popular farmer’s market held on the second Saturday of the month – if it’s wet the market’s in the Orange Showground.
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Historical Museum
The courthouse (1880), on Russell St, is the most impressive of Bathurst's many interesting old buildings. Local myth has it there was a mix-up of the plans with those intended for India's magnificent Court of Appeals! The court is the central section of the building. In the east wing is the small Historical Museum . Machattie Park, behind the courthouse, was once the site of the jail and is now a pleasant formal park known for its begonias, which flower from late summer to early autumn.
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Western Plains Cultural Centre
Incorporating Dubbo Regional Museum and Gallery, the cultural centre is housed in a swanky architectural space cleverly incorporating the main hall of Dubbo's former high school. The combination befits the centre's exhibitions, both contemporary and historic. There's an innovative dedicated children's gallery, so mums and dads can wander the gallery sans sleeve-tugging.
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Japanese Garden
Built as a token of Cowra's connection with Japanese POWs (but with no overt mention of the war or the breakout), the garden and attached cultural centre, with its collection of ukiyo-e paintings depicting everyday events in pre-industrial Japan, are well worth visiting. A sakura matsuri – cherry-blossom festival – is held around September/October.
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Wellington Caves & Phosphate Mine
The Wellington Caves & Phosphate Mine was discovered in 1830 by a colonist, George Ranken, when he accidentally fell into one of the caves. These exquisite and unusual formations, subterranean waters, marsupial fossils and ‘living fossils’ are an absolute highlight. Cathedral Cave is famous for its majestic 32m-wide and 15m-high stalagmite!
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Pieter Van Gent
Heavenly Muscat, picnic-lunch wine tours by bike, tastings in the barrel room (11.30am Saturday) and accommodation.
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Burrendong Botanic Garden & Arboretum
Twenty minutes from town, Burrendong Botanic Garden & Arboretum is an area overlooking Lake Burrendong that has been transformed into a wonderland of native vegetation with 50,000 plants. There are self-guided walks and a picnic area, plus wallabies, kangaroos, echidnas and emus.
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Heart of Mudgee
If you really want to embrace the foodie experience, Heart of Mudgee is a good place to start. It showcases products produced by people living in Mudgee – the best the region has to offer – with a tasting table that runs down the middle of the shop.
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Commercial Hotel
This quaint old pub has a cosy bar downstairs and small but inviting rooms upstairs, opening onto a veranda. There's darts, pool comps and trivia nights, the shared kitchen is well stocked, the pub grub is first-rate and there are good weekly deals available.
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High Valley Wine & Cheese Co
Located in a beautiful stone-and-corrugated-iron building, this foodie stop has a produce shop and a vine-laden verandah under which you can indulge in coffee and cake or cheese and antipasto plates for two.
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Church Bar
This restored 1850s church now attracts punters praying to a different deity: the god of wood-fired pizza. The soaring ceilings and verdant courtyard off William St make it one of the region's best eating and socialising venues.
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Logan
An impressive cellar door. Floor-to-ceiling windows, an extravagant deck, cheese platters and coffee, too.
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Cactus Café & Gallery
One of the few good eating options, Cactus Café & Gallery is in a Spanish Mission–style building where you can eat indoors among gifts and knick-knacks or outside under a lovely arbour.
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Dundullimal
About 2km beyond the Western Plains Zoo, this is a National Trust timber-slab homestead built in the 1840s showcasing some of the earliest forms of permanent European housing in NSW.
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Mill
In the heart of town, the Mill is Cowra’s oldest building, where the millstone first turned in 1861. The region’s Chardonnay has tickled many a palate; enjoy it here with a cheese platter.
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Darby Falls Observatory
This is one of the darkest places for stargazing in all of Australia. From town, head out Darby Falls Rd for 22km, then follow the signs.
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Courthouse
Dubbo has some lovely old country-town buildings such as the courthousean impressive neoclassical edifice. The visitors centre has maps for both a heritage walk and a heritage drive.
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Petersons Glenesk Estate
Petersons Glenesk Estate is a small establishment, conducive to smaller groups and personalised tastings. To recuperate, there’s a lovely deck overlooking the vineyards.
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Botanic Gardens
The Botanic Gardens was established in 1982 to preserve the native woodlands of the area. It’s on Clover Hill (with good views between the trees), 2km north of the city.
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Apsara
It might look like one of the many takeaway shops on the main street, but Apsara serves up a mean selection of Thai dishes in a casual setting.
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Old Dubbo Gaol
This is now a museum where 'Animatronic' characters tell their stories – you hear from a condemned man due for a meeting with the gallows. Creepy but authentic.
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