Other sights in New South Wales
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Aquabumps Gallery
Photographer/surfer Eugene Tan has been snapping photos of Sydney’s sunrises, surf and sand for 10 years and his colourful prints hang in this cool space, a splash from Bondi Beach.
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Muru Mittigar Aboriginal Cultural Centre
On your way out to the Blue Mountains take a few hours out in Penrith to visit the Muru Mittigar Aboriginal Cultural Centre, which was opened as an Aboriginal Meeting Place in 1998 to acknowledge the Dharug people as the traditional custodians of the region. The Cultural Museum here showcases the art and stories of the Dharug people as well as the rich diversity of Indigenous peoples throughout Australia. An outdoor amphitheatre plays host to traditional dance performances, where local guides also play the didgeridoo and explain the story of its creation and significance. Cultural tours are offered, and a cafe on site serves bush tucker, so you can scoff that side of roo …
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Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park
Just 24km north of the city centre, this 15,000-hectare national park offers Sydneysiders endless opportunities to commune with nature. The park borders Broken Bay’s southern edge and Pittwater’s western shore, and is a mixture of drowned river valley estuaries, steep sandstone cliffs and plateaus. There are some excellent walking trails here, including the Aboriginal Heritage Track, an easy 1km path that leads past a fantastic Aboriginal engraving site. There are also cycling and horse-riding trails, picnic areas and spectacular views of Broken Bay, particularly from West Head at the park’s northeastern tip.
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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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Yuraygir National Park
This 20,000-hectare park covers the 60km stretch of coast north from Red Rock. The isolated beaches are outstanding and there are some bushwalking paths where you can view endangered coastal emus. Walkers can bush camp in basic campsites (adult/child $10/5 per night) at Station Creek in the southern section; at the Boorkoom and Illaroo rest areas in the central section; on the north bank of the Sandon River; and at Red Cliff at the Brooms Head end of the northern section. These are accessible by car; there is also a free walk-in campsite at Shelly Beach.
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Royal National Park
The 15,080-hectare Royal National Park was established in 1879, making it the oldest national park in the world after Yellowstone in the USA. Here you’ll find pockets of subtropical rainforest, windblown coastal scrub, sandstone gullies dominated by gum trees, fresh- and saltwater wetlands, and isolated beaches. Traditionally the home of the Dharawal people, there are also numerous Aboriginal sites and artefacts.
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Sturt National Park
Taking in vast stony plains, the towering red-sand hills of the great Strzelecki Desert and the unusual flat-topped mesas around Olive Downs, this park covers 325,329 hectares of classic outback terrain. Thanks to the protection of the dingo-proof fence, there are large populations of western grey and red kangaroos. This park has 300km of drivable tracks, camping areas and walks.
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Bradman Museum of Cricket
Bowral is also where the late great cricketer Sir Donald Bradman, undoubtedly Australia’s greatest sporting hero and legendary to the point of sainthood, spent his boyhood. There’s a cricket ground here and fans pay homage at the Bradman Museum of Cricket, which has an engrossing collection of Ashes and Don-centric memorabilia that even cricket-loathers admit is worthwhile.
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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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Bourke's Historic Cemetery
Bourke’s Historic Cemetery is peppered with epitaphs saying ‘perished in the bush’, and tells a thousand stories about the many cultures and creeds buried here. Professor Fred Hollows, the eye surgeon who was determined to help restore the sight of people going needlessly blind, is buried here, after his decades of work in the region.
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Hat Head National Park
This coastal park of 6500 hectares runs north from near Hat Head to Smoky Cape (south of Arakoon), protecting scrubland, swamps and some excellent beaches backed by one of the largest dune systems in NSW. Rising up from the generally flat landscape is Hungry Hill, near Hat Head, and sloping Hat Head itself, where there’s a walking track.
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Space Theatre
The 1850s, copper-domed, Italianate Sydney Observatory stands atop Observatory Park. Inside there’s a 3-D Space Theatre and an interactive Australian astronomy exhibition. Squint at galaxies far, far away during night viewings (adult/child/family tickets cost $15/10/45); bookings are required.
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Mt Victoria Museum
The Mt Victoria Museum is chock-full of quirky Australiana including old farm equipment, taxidermy and Ned Kelly’s sister’s bed. Inside an old public hall, the 130-seat Mount Vic Flicks is a wonderful step back in time. With ushers, a piano player and door prizes you’ll soon forget what you came to see.
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Norfolk Island National Park
Covering 650 hectares of the island’s north, Norfolk Island National Park offers various bushwalking tracks, with awesome views from Mt Pitt (316m) and Mt Bates (318m). There’s a sheltered beach at Emily Bay in the south, from where glass-bottom boats depart to ogle the coral below.
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Yarrangobilly Caves
Perhaps the most underrated in Australia, the Yarrangobilly Caves were formed in a belt of limestone around 440 million years ago. There's also a thermal pool, which retains a constant 27°C - if it's snowing, even better. There's a NPWS visitors centre but not much in the way of food or petrol so come prepared.
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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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Elizabeth Farm
Elizabeth Farm is the oldest surviving homestead (1793) in Australia. Built by renegade pastoralist/rum trader/wool merchant John Macarthur, it is now a hands-on museum chock-full of history. Recline on the furniture and thumb voyeuristically through Elizabeth Macarthur’s letters.
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Willows Museum & Ned Kelly Post Office
Some 92km east of Deniliquin and on the Newell Hwy, Jerilderie is immortalised by the bushranger Ned Kelly, who held up the whole town for three days in 1879. Kelly relics can be seen in Willows Museum & Ned Kelly Post Office. The town is 109km south of Narrandera.
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Old Government House
Established in 1799 Old Government House is Australia’s oldest public building. For seven decades it was the country retreat of early colony governors looking to escape the bawdy, crime-ridden streets of Sydney. It is now a carefully maintained museum.
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Murramarang National Park
Further south of Jervis Bay, beautiful, coastal Murramarang National Park is home to wild kangaroos and lorikeets and the protected Murramarang Aboriginal Area, which contains ancient middens and other Indigenous cultural treasures.
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Featherdale Wildlife Park
There are several wildlife parks on Sydney’s fringes that give kids the chance to get close to Australia’s iconic wildlife like the Featherdale Wildlife Park, where kids can pet the wallabies, feed the kangaroos and get within range of the reptiles.
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Experiment Farm Cottage
In 1789 ex-convict James Ruse was chosen by Governor Phillip to run a trial in self-sufficiency, and was given Experiment Farm Cottage. By 1791 Ruse had successfully farmed the 30-acre site and subsequently became Australia’s first private farmer.
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Koala Park Sanctuary
There are several wildlife parks on Sydney’s fringes that give kids the chance to get close to Australia’s iconic wildlife like the Koala Park Sanctuary, where kids can pet the wallabies, feed the kangaroos and get within range of the reptiles.
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Kwiambal National Park
Further northwest, Kwiambal National Park, pronounced kigh- am -bal, sits at the junction of the Macintyre and Severn Rivers. Largely undiscovered, it is an important conservation area for the tumbledown gum and Caley’s ironbark.
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NSW Department of Corrective Services Museum
Next to functioning Cooma Gaol is the new NSW Department of Corrective Services Museum exhibiting artefacts from convict time through to the present prison system. Inmates conduct tours and sell their art and craft.
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