Why should I stop at the Old Wyong Milk Factory?

A bright blue cow guards the driveway entrance to the Wyong Milk Factory. Three rusty milk urns serve as letter boxes reminding visitors that milk was once processed here. These days milk is an essential ingredient in gourmet products made on site.

Why am I here?

During lockdown, I sent my daughters a ‘care parcel’ of chocolates from Luka Chocolate. When I discovered that Luka Chocolate and the Little Creek Cheese factory are located in the grounds of the Wyong Milk Factory, I decided to check the place out.  

Conveniently located about five minutes from the Wyong turn off from the M1, the Wyong Milk Factory is a good place for to break a road trip to or from Sydney. It’s also perfect as a destination if, like me, you’re partial to handmade chocolates and gourmet cheese.

The Wyong River and a Gym

I park the car and take a look around. The sound of fast flowing water rushing across the rocky river bed, reaches me before I get to the shore. The Wyong River is a toffee brown colour after the recent rain.

Boats for hire rest on the shoreline. There are unlikely to be any takers today. Music pumps to a definite beat from a large corrugated iron building, now home to the All Sorts Fitness and Well-being Centre.

I watch as a woman in leopard print pants and a black tank top supports herself on her tip toes and left hand forming a plank. She extends her tattooed right arm above her head while holding a smallish dumbbell in her hand. I feel exhausted just watching.

Wait there’s more

The Milk Factory is popular with mums with young children. Some pick up a coffee at the Milk Factory Café before taking their little ones to the fenced play area. Others bring their own picnic. I enjoy an early lunch at the café. It’s best not to be hungry when I finally get to the cheese and chocolate factories.

Central Coast Woodturners workshop is open to members on certain days of the week. As they’re not here today, I follow signs to a little white weatherboard cottage fronting the street outside.  Grumpy Ginger Yarn is also closed today.  

Cakes and Donuts

Two women entering the driveway look out of place amongst the young mothers pushing strollers and folk in their gym gear. The younger woman wears a short black dress flapper dress. Thin fringes covering the dress sway as she moves. Her long black hair hangs in tight ringlets down her back. The other woman, perhaps her mum, wears a more modest silvery evening dress.

They walk to a closed door. Looking worried, the older woman turns to an assistant in another doorway saying anxiously that “we’ve come to pick up a cake”. The assistant reassures her that the cake is ready. A woman emerges resting a tall white cake on her forearms. It’s decorated with baby’s breath and a gold ‘Mr & Mrs’ cake topper.

The cake is from Pretty Damn Cute Kustom Cakes. A studio cake shop, their cakes, cupcakes and cookies are pre-ordered. A friend bought me a selection of “really good” (according to my daughter) cupcakes from them for my birthday.

Next door, I check out Daily Dough’s colourful range of iced and decorated donuts. I’m glad I’ve eaten or I may have had to buy at least one for the drive home. 

Chocolates and Cheese

A man sits casually on a yellow metal chair in Luka Chocolate. Wearing a black uniform, and white beard net, he’s engrossed in his phone. After a few minutes he pockets his phone and walks into the back room. I watch through a large window as he prepares his table for making more chocolates.

Chocolates of all shapes and sizes fill the shelves and display cabinet. It’s almost Easter, and I leave with a bag filled with Easter treats.

My last stop is Little Creek Cheese. The narrow shop is tiny. I inspect the fridges filled with cheese and a couple of shelves of gourmet goods. There’s a window itself. Through a window in a door leading to the cheese factory I make out four people dressed in white with their backs to me working at a far table.

The masked man behind the counter offers me a taste of various cheeses. The sapphire, a semi hard blue is interesting. Nothing like the soft blue’s I’m used to, it has a faint but distinctive ‘blue’ flavour. The smoked cheddar also hits the spot for me and I buy one of each.

Leaving the Wyong Milk Factory

Wanting to visit another place I’ve heard plenty about but have never been to, I drive towards Wyong. Old Mates sells South African products. There, I’m a bit like a kid in a candy store as I discover biscuits and lollies from my childhood. Tennis biscuits, Nutty Crust, Jelly Tots and more. I can’t resist filling my basket with goodies.

I get into my car with a smile on my face. It’s been a happy morning of discovery.