“Sofala was dead. Everything was closed” says a friend. “I couldn’t even get a cup of tea” she adds. With her comments front of mind, my expectations are low as we drive into Sofala. Perhaps that’s why I’m pleasantly surprised….
Razor wire lies coiled on top of the thick high sandstone walls. Taking a deep breath, I pull into the carpark of Maitland Gaol. This maximum-security jail, closed since 1998, once housed some of New South Wales’ most hardened criminals….
Needing a break from COVID imposed time at home, I recently spent a few days exploring Maitland and historic Morpeth, a less than two-hour drive north of Sydney. Not having spent time in Maitland, I was interested to discover more…
Two young men walk into a pub. They wear new royal blue work shirts with khaki pants. It’s early autumn evening and the Oriental Hotel in Tumut is filling up with dinner guests. (This story takes place before COVID and…
A small sign propped against a fence in the main street of the little village of Bemboka points to the Australian Pottery Gallery. After following more signs through Bemboka’s back streets, we arrive at the gallery but no one seems…
By exploring Patonga (a Guringai word meaning oyster), I’m breaking two of my self-made rules. Patonga isn’t a suburb of Sydney, but being easily accessible by ferry from Pittwater, it’s a sleepy hollow worth visiting. And, instead of travelling by…
Driving to The Big Red Bash, a huge music festival, set in outback Queensland is also an excuse for a road trip from Sydney to Birdsville. After our first real road trip from Sydney to Broken Hill a year or…
A Self-Guided Walk in Melbourne Download the Walking Map and Notes An exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria brings me back to Melbourne, a city I lived in many years ago, and a city I know reasonably well. After…
With New South Wales in the grip of a severe drought, and time to spare, I am off on a short outback road trip from Sydney to Broken Hill. We will take nine days and eight nights to drive there…
Once we’d bought our tickets for the Byron Bay Bluesfest, I had a crazy thought. Why not see our family in Mackay while we’re there? I had still not met their one-year-old. Looking at the map again, the weekend became…