— Why the Inland Route?

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Ladies and gentlemen, this is your Captain Speaking.

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Welcome aboard Truly Expat Travel, where we're ditching the guidebooks, fastening our seatbelts, and diving into real stories from travellers who have traded the ordinary for the extraordinary, proving the world really is too big to be left upon the table. Cabin crew be seated and ready for takeoff.

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Welcome to the Truly Expat Travel Podcast. I'm your host, Paula. I'm going to talk about a road trip that I did that is a little less common. I've driven Sydney to Melbourne, Melbourne, Sydney so many times when the kids were little before we started flying. It was just easier with the three kids in the back when they were little. But this time around, I did it on purpose. A little bit different. I went inland is because generally people, when they go to Sydney or when they go to Melbourne and they drive the path, they go the central coast or they go the coastline. And it is beautiful. If you do have the opportunity to be able to go into in like inland and see these beautiful little towns, honestly, you're not going to regret it. It was probably one of my favourite road trips of all time. And I did it on my own. I had so much fun, but so many great people along the way as well. So yeah, I I want to highlight it because instead of if you've done the coastal one before, go and give it a go. So my my trip was uh I started in Melbourne because visiting family, and my first destination was Bendigo. And the reason I chose Bendigo was because I really wanted to see what the hype was about. I don't know how many people know that Bendigo is part of the uh UNESCO World Heritage Cities of Gastronomy, but I know that Bendigo and Lawn Ceston, for those who have not been to Australia, Lawn Ceston's also got a beautiful fork to table kind of vibe around it. So if you want to know any of the places that I'd stayed at, or if you want to know any of the towns, or even just the itinerary that I did, go on to trulyxpatravel. Because it's all on there. I've written it all out in guides and I did it all myself, did all the research myself. You know, it

— Stop 1: Bendigo — UNESCO City of Gastronomy

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had actually, yeah, I think it it the hype was worth the hype because the food was amazing. I went and had dinner at this most amazing church. Well, it was a church, but it's now a restaurant. So they've converted an old church into a restaurant, so almost like a speakeasy, I guess. Food was delicious, it was definitely it was all sourced uh locally. There's a bar there. So it was, yeah, definitely worth the splurge. That was the one night I had a splurge. I then stayed in a I stayed in a tent, like a glamped. I went on a glam uh glamping expedition. For those who know me, I'm not really a camping girl. Like I have camped many a times, but if I could choose to have my own bathroom in my bedroom, then that's a choice that I would prefer. However, because of the time of year, there was only other one other couple there. So I actually had the whole place to myself, which I'm was so grateful for, which meant that the bathroom was all my own. It was a little bit cold in the bathroom and getting out of in the but can I just tell you the room or the the the tent itself was so warm. I had a heater in there, had a bed in there, like a proper bed. It was so lovely. And in the morning I woke up, it was misty, it was cold, and I woke up to the winery, it was so pretty, and when I overlooked, there's all these kangaroos jumping along, and the sun was starting to rise. I'm a very early morning person, so for me, it was spectacular. I just enjoyed every little bit of it. When I had a shower, and it I just yeah, sat and had a coffee on the little porch. And I also had a tasting at the winery because I was told that there was a particular type of wine that I tried and it was lovely and brought it home. I also, when I went into town, it's an old mining town. So for those uh who know much about the gold rush in Australia, it was a lot of a lot of Chinese migrants came in. So there's quite a few Chinese restaurants, there is also lots of pottery places. So if you like pottery and you want to do pottery, that's a place to go to. So we went weaving around the city town, and it told us all about the history of the town. And you know what one of them was? I know for the people that aren't Australian and won't understand this, but I to Meyer that we have a department store called Meyer,

— Bendigo: Talking Tram & Gold Mine Tour

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it's kind of like Marks and Spencer's or you know, Macy's, and it is uh well the very first one. It was there in Bendigo, it's still there, it's still standing. I found that was really cool. So after I did that, I then went to on a tour of the mine. I've been to Cooper Pete and I've been to Sri Lanka and I actually I've been a couple of places in mines, but I've never actually been deep down in the mine. So they take you all the way down and show you exactly how mining was back in the day and all the stuff they did by hand and how hard it would have been. So that was interesting. So I went and did that for those, especially if you've got kids. Actually, if you've got kids, it's a really interesting way for them to learn about the history of that area. So yeah, after the gold rush, unfortunately, everyone left. But it is a beautiful town, country town. It's a big country town. The next thing I did was so why Glen Rowan? It's because it's a tiny, tiny town, and we had, for those who know anything about Australian history, there it was a guy by the name who was a bandit whose name was Ned Kelly. So that is where he was he was caught and and eventually taken to Melbourne prison. I think it was Melbourne prison and and hung. But that is where he last had, you know, his last hurrah. So it's decked out. The whole town is decked out for the history of Ned Kelly. And so, you know, his old home, the the old saloon which isn't there anymore. But there's there's a whole even the whole siege itself is all staged. So it's a really interesting place to stop. The thing about the country towns, there's so many areas where you can go and do bushwalks and stuff. So that was interesting. There's not that many places to eat. You can stay there overnight if you wish to, but I kept going. I would have, to be fair, I probably would have, and then dragged kind of the experience a little bit longer because I feel like I may have rushed it just a little bit because I I wanted to go see my niece and spend a few days in Canberra with her, so I kind of rushed the experience. But if I had more time, I definitely would have stayed a night in Glen Rowan. I then would and then from there we I went and had something to eat at the bakery, and then from there I headed to Aubrey. But uh what I did do was in Aubrey I stayed at the most beautiful old bank. It was once a bank, it's converted into a hotel, and the hotel is like an art gallery.

— Stop 2: Glenrowan — Ned Kelly Country

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It is just absolutely beautiful. Every room so he showed me around the hotel, and every room is different, and every room is so pretty, and it's got lots of artwork, and every room has a different theme to it. I stayed in the most magnificent room with the most beautiful bathroom I've ever seen with a gorgeous uh and in the morning, can I just say in the m so no in the morning, in the evening there was like a evening kind of get ready get kind of get yourself ready for sleep with a little cup of tea and it was just beautiful and in and in the morning rolled in a like a little like a little bar thing with with

— Stop 3: Albury-Wodonga

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your fruits and stuff on it was really unique and every I think that every person who goes to a little hotel like that it has such a different experience than the big chains. Sure, I do a lot of big chain hotels because you know you've got to chase your status and your loyalty programs and stuff like that. But when you do get a chance to, on the very rare occasion, to go to these tiny little beautiful boutique hotels, you took you still gotta do it because there's a different feel to it. So yeah, my whole experience there was lovely. I then went so down the road, there is actually an app you can use, or there is some like signages everywhere where you can do like a heritage walk down the street, which was lovely. I did that. I then went to the library, there's like a library museum. So if you're interested in in history, especially like there was a lot of sports history and a lot of history about the area, that's a really cool museum. It's unexpected. And then from there I went to the botanical gardens, then I went for a walk along the Murray River. Murray River is quite a big, famous river that we have here in New South Wales and Victoria. So the thing about uh our Albury, Albury Wadonga, Wadonga is is the Victorian side, it's the border of New South Wales and Victoria. So that is also we used to always stop there and have the most magnificent magnificent breakfast when the kids were let off. Uh it's a big country town, not not too big, but but big enough to be able to do so much while you're there. Now then so yeah, see the other things that I did while I was there was I really wanted to go to like the migrant museum there, but I didn't get a chance to not migrant museum, it's like a whole uh area,

— Albury: Monument Hill & What I Missed

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but I didn't get a chance to do that. The because, you know, I just as a as a daughter of a migrant, I just thought it was fascinating to find out about the you know, it's it this this area was where they came first before they settled in other areas in whether it's rural Victoria or New South Wales. So I really wanted to go to that, but I ran out of time. I I think staying two nights in Albury, I really do, because there's just so much ado. I missed out on the art gallery too, because I've heard the art gallery there is is amazing, which was a little bit disappointing. So the next night I headed to I headed to where did I head to? I headed to Corawa. But I went backwards, so I kind of did a little bit different. I went from I went into New South Wales, into the border, and then I went back through Rubber Glen. Rubber Glen is a huge big area of wineries, which I really, I really wanted to go to and get to Corawa. And the reason for that is that I went to a few little wineries, so if you want to see that, that I've got them listed down, and I met some of the most amazing people actually. Some of the people that own those places were willing to sit and chat to me, which was lovely. I went and tried, I went to an olive farm actually, and tried award-winning olives, a calmada olives, which is were fantastic. I then headed back through to Korowa. I stayed the night in Korrowa and I stayed at another so they have two hotels, the same kind of uh they're both called circle hotels, both of them were banks that are now uh hotels. So this one was just as beautiful. It was very different, but it was just as beautiful. I had a beautiful balcony. My bathroom again was just amazing. She also showed me around all the different little rooms, which were also beautiful. Um, and in the morning I had the most beautiful breakfast. It was sourced from the local areas, and I just sat there and just was like, this is and in the morning, actually, I had a little balcony, so I sat there, had coffee looking over in this little sleepy town. It was really pretty, like really, really pretty. And the reason why Koroa is, well, I didn't know, but I had a big history lesson while I was there because Coroa actually was where a federation was decided. So we wouldn't have had our states and territories had we have

— Stop 4: Corowa — Birthplace of Federation

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not had these people had not congregated in Coroa and decided that's what they would do. So yeah, I did like a history walk there as well. So you have to go to Federation Museum, it's got absolutely everything and anything there that you can think of. It's it really is the history of of that area. They have quite a fame famous painting there of Shearer, which um I then did like the Shearer's Trail. That's also quite interesting. So then I went from Korowa to Gundagai. So there that was uh yeah, in in Gundaguy, I went to the the oldest working bakery in Australia. That was yeah, that was my claim to fame for Gundagai. Gundagai also has, you know what, to be honest. So what happened to me was I had intended on going to I had intended on staying this beautiful hotel. Beautiful, but the experience, you know what? There was no reception, everything was online,

— Corowa: Shearers Trail & All Saints Estate

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had trouble finding the room, had trouble finding the they hadn't sent me the the code, so I was stranded a little bit. So the experience itself was a little bit lackluster, but the hotel room, like the room was beautiful. It was an old home that they had converted, and you know, it it was nice. And if you if you have an electric car, they've got like an electric car station there as well, so that you know that's that's there. Also in Gundagay, there I mean there's so much there there is there's like a if you go to the tourist information office, they'll give you a whole heap of stuff to do. I went to the uh historic railway station. That's really cute, actually. It's as it was, you know, back in the day. So it's obviously not a railway station anymore, but it's really cute of what it would have been in in the 30s, 40s, 50s, and not far from there you you've got some historical spaces as well. There's a mill there, um, and it's all is as it was. I just found that. Yeah, I really I actually really enjoyed my time in Gundaguy to be honest. So there's heaps of stuff to do in Gundaguy. You just need to go on my my my guide because it'll go through you know a a lot more than what I'm kind of just briefly telling you now, because there's other options that I never got a chance to do, and they were renovating some stuff there when I was there. So I imagine right now it must be the the parks and the area must be really beautiful. I then I then drove to Canberra and I spent, you know, I've been to Canberra lots of times and it is worth staying a couple of nights. There's a warm museum, there's heaps of stuff to do there, but I didn't. I just stayed and spent the weekend with my niece, my niece and her family. And from there I drove straight through to Sydney. You can probably stop at a couple of places along the way, but yeah, for me, I just wanted to get home to Sydney. I think what we underestimate in Australia, or I think quite often people, when they think of Australia, they think of, I want to go and see so much in such a a big period of time. I'm a very much a slow traveller these days, so I really like to experience a lot more than that. So if you do get the opportunity to drive and to travel, you know, don't don't do Sydney to Melbourne in seven hours or ten hours or however long it takes you to do the thing. Do it in seven days. Do a really lovely tour. Because, you know, even if you there's so many other country towns as well, different directions that you could go. You could have stopped in could have stopped in Waggawagga. That's a really nice place. You know, or you could stay at the Southern Highlands. That's also really lovely places to stay there as well. So don't ditch our our country. Don't ditch our country towns. Don't just go for coastal trips. Really enjoy uh the experience of what we have in our you know, in the it's not really outback, it's it's country towns, they're very, very different. You know, you've got lots of space, beautiful people. There was, you know, even in the country towns, all of the little restaurants that I went to, or even just the the little uh you know, I went one night where was that? In Coroa. Yeah, in Coroa I went to a really lovely restaurant that the hotel, so the hotel said, listen, don't don't drink. Let me call you local driver, taxi or whatever it was, and have a drink at this, uh have a rest go to the restaurant, have a drink. And I did, and it was beautiful. The restaurant was amazing. Then there was another night where I went to just the local pub and had a pub meal, you know, a a a schnitzel like I always do. And that was also amazing. The food was great, the people all want to talk to you. Give it a go. Give give Australian country towns a go. Because, you know, if you go on my I've got I've written heaps of places, you know, in country country, country Australia. So I think that if you uh, you know, I I've written lots of articles about country Australia, especially in New South Wales. We've got lots of places, you know, Mudgey or you know, Blue Mountains, there's a load, loads of places. So yeah, give Australia and country towns a go. Anyway, that's a month from me. That's it, you know. If there is anyway, that's it from me. Until next week, safe travels, and I'll speak to you then. Bye.