Grenfell and Chryslers

Back in August I had another trip back out through Cowra and Grenfell. I’d quickly visited Grenfell back in April to see the painted silos, however I’d failed to notice that there was an interesting car museum I’d missed, the Grenfell Chrysler museum. It looked interesting and I was annoyed that I missed it, so I decided to head back that way for a road trip and check it out.

Initially I’d thought I’d just stay in Cowra again, however looking around I found Grenfell Hall, I very nice looking period house that had been turned into a B&B. So I booked in there. The house was wonderful with so many ornate features, very comfortable and included a great breakfast. The only slight disappointment was that they didn’t have a fire going, I’d been hoping to sit in the lounge in front of that and read a book at night. I was lodged in the Chapel room. If you love country houses, this is well worth a visit.

The car museum was fantastic. When I returned home, I mentioned to a friend of mine who is a car magazine editor where I’d been, and he suggested that I write a guest article, which I did. You can read my full report (in my first professionally published article here below).

https://www.musclecarmag.com.au/feature/chryslers-at-grenfell-610928

Dinner in Grenfell was a hearty pub steak (Its a small town, so you don’t have a heap of options : really two pubs, the bowling club or a Chinese restaurant. I chose the Criterion hotel. The steak was fantastic.

The coffee scene in Grenfell isn’t massive, in the morning on the Sunday, there was only one place open that did coffee which was the Kim Chi Bakery and Cafe.

I left Grenfell mid morning on the Sunday and headed to Parkes. I wanted to visit the Henry Parkes centre and have lunch at the “Dish Cafe”, the same dish made famous in the movie “The Dish“. Along the way I stopped for some pictures of the car near some Canola fields which were in full bloom. I also discovered that central NSW promote the “Canola Trail“, something I’ll be doing on a future road trip.

I was disappointed to discover that the Cafe at the dish had been closed for renovations, so I drove back to Parkes for lunch there, before driving onto Orange where I was staying a night before heading home. Did a drive to the top of Mount Canobolas which is well worth a visit. The road up the mountain is in poor condition though.

Orange is an utter fabulous foodie destination in NSW, which I’ll cover more in a future post, however the Cafe recommended to me was Factory Espresso and the coffee was fabulous.

Trecking home, I stopped in Bathurst and spend some time in the National Racing Museum in Bathurst (right next to Mount Panorama). I real mecca for fans of Australian Motor racing. As an added bonus they had free EV charging on site so I was able to charge the car for the drive home later that day.

Grand Clifftop Walk

So what does one do after spending a nice week warming up on the Gold Coast in Queensland ? You head straight up to the Blue Mountains to do a two day walk in the freezing depth of winter of course !

Met a group of friends up at Wentworth falls where we embarked on the Grand Clifftop Walk. This walk takes you from Wentworth Falls to Scenic World just near Leura. Looking at the GPS maps I’ve included, it starts from the right on the second picture (day 1) then continuing to the left (day 2). It’s a beautiful walk, however we encountered a few sections that were closed and had to detour / back track around those sections, partly heading down into the Jamison valley. This made the walk much harder than the “Grade 3” its classified as.

On the second day, we had to descend into the valley and walk up the Giant Stairway that’s right near the Three Sisters. This is classified as “Grade 4” and is basically 1,000 steps straight up the cliff face. I’m reasonably fit for my age (53) and I found it punishingly hard.

Lunch on the Friday was at the Leura Gourmet Cafe and Deli. This place is super popular and we had to wait approximately 30 minutes for a table. Its worth the wait though as the food is great and has some great views from the dining room over the valley.

We stayed at the Leura Garden Resort on the Friday night, It was great value for $170, included breakfast, the rooms were quite large and had been recently renovated. Would stay there again on a future trip.

Dinner was at The Old City Bank Bar and Brasserie and then after dinner drinks by the fire in the lounge room of the Carrington Hotel. This has the qunitessential large comfortable leather lounges by the fireplace and is an excellent way to relax after a hard days walk.

Leura Teapot Museum

Before driving home on Saturday afternoon, we were looking for somewhere to have lunch, and if it was busy on Friday, it’s insane up here on a weekend. The traffic and parking is the worst part of a weekend in the mountains. If you can, go up mid week.

One little gem that’s not all that well known is the teapot museum (Bygone Beautys) . A lot of people will bypass it, however it has a great little restaurant/cafe attached and we managed to get a table for 8 people as a walk in.

Surfers Paradise

In July 2024 we did another trip back up to the Gold Coast in Queensland. This had become a little bit of an annual pilgrimage round that time of year, either when my daughter was competing in the National Gymnastics comps held out at the sports centre or we were running in the Gold Coast Marathon/Running festival. Going again in 2025 however it will just be a nice quiet week away to escape the winter in Sydney. It’s a few degrees warmer, but noticeable.

The standout coffee location at Surfers Paradise would have to be Stairwell Coffee in a dingy arcade just near Cavill Avenue. This couldn’t feel less “GC’ even if they tried, it’s far removed from the glitzy/beachy instagram worthy surf scene less than 200 metres away. This would be far more at home somewhere in an alley in Melbourne.

Given all the above, for this place to survive, the coffee has to be above excellent, and that they are. Please try it next time you are living your best “GC” life.

Stairwell Coffee

Obligatory Beach Picture

If you do wish to escape the beach for a few hours when you are on the GC, a trip out to Hinze Dam is well worth it. It’s not that far and has some lovely windy roads to take your car on.

Met up with a friend of mine who now lives on the GC and we had lunch at the dam in the cafe there. Great views over the surrounding hinterland and over the dam itself. Coffee was good (although no where near as good as Stairwell coffee)

Canberra & Cowra

Back in April I did a trip to Canberra with the run group I’m in to take part in the Canberra Times Marathon Festival (I did the 10k event) and combine that with a small detour on the way home via Cowra to visit the Japanese gardens there.

On the way to Canberra I stopped in Goulburn, however deviated from my normal go to cafe (the Paragon) and chose Cafe 5911. I’d seen this on a previous strip and it caught my eye as a potential worthy stop. Quite an interesting little place started by an Indian immigrant a few years ago, the cafe gets its name from a vintage tractor.

Inside Cafe5911

First stop in Canberra was the National Museum where the was an exhibit on Egypt from the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities.

Item on loan from the Dutch Museum

Post run, we visited two wineries, both of which I’d highly recommend, Clonakilla and Four Winds Vineyard. Four Winds is setup with a pizza restaurant.

Enjoying the local wine at Four Winds Vineyard

Staying in the suburb of Barton in Canberra, my go to cafe there is “Little Bird” where they do a superb breakfast and lunch.

Little Bird doesn’t disappoint.

Leaving Canberra, I had an overnight in Cowra where I visited the Japanese Gardens and Japanese POW camp site from WW2. Was here on a weekday and it was way busier than I expected. For those that are unaware, in WW2 captured Japanese prisoners were held here and on August 5th 1944, 300 escaped during a breakout.

The gardens are beautiful however I think the most impressive items were the bonsai on display.

Japanese Gardens
POW camp site

Not far from Cowra is Grenfell, that has some wonderful painted grain silos and an historic railway station. It’s only approx, 60km from Cowra and is well worth the detour.

My Car and the painted Silos.
Historic Rail Station

Leaving Cowra the next morning I grabbed breakfast and a wonderful coffee from the Kendal Street Cafe. Situated in a lovely older brick building with lots of space. Wasn’t too busy whislt I was there.

Kendall Street Cafe

Coming home through Bathurst, I couldn’t help but do a lap around the Mount Panorama race circuit. This is unusual in that it’s a two way public roadway (with a 60km/h speed limit), but setup as a race track, which is closed to the public on race days. Can’t think of anywhere else in the world such a setup exists, it’s not like the Nurburgring in Germany which is a tolled public raceway. Here in Bathurst the speed limit is very much enforced with regular police presence.

Getting ready for a lap
Lovely vista from the top of the track.

Blog Update Heading into 2025

The blog has been very quiet since we returned from Europe/Japan in January 2004, and since we are about to head off overseas again in a week, I thought I should dust off the blog and give it an update.

This past year has really been busy with Australian road trips and a cruise. Lazy me just hasn’t added entries for them. Over the next few days I’ll update with those particular trips :-

April 2024 : Canberra / Cowra

July 2024 : Gold Coast

August 2024 : Grenfell / Orange

October 2024 : Orange / Blue Mountains

November 2024 : Melbourne Cup Cruise