Great Australian Drive

Reader Reccomends Drive From Mudgee to Bellingen

My favourite . . .

. . . Great Australian Drive

From Mudgee, Central West NSW, to Bellingen, North Coast NSW

AT reader Stacey Fuller from Mudgee has some big travel plans mapped out . . . and now she’s won the chance to fulfil them in a Winnebago.



You leave a typical Australian country town, complete with miles of plump grapevines, sensational produce like honey, olives and venison, and the best wine festival in the world. (Yep, I live here, so I’m biased.) Then you drive vaguely north through blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Leadville and sleepy little towns like Coolah, where a car giving way to another at an intersection indicates peak hour. You’re travelling through ever-changing scenery, with farms, forests, national parks and occasionally desolate drought-affected areas. Then you’re in Gunnedah, another thriving country town with all the mod cons (fast food and great parks for kids to run around in while on a break from driving).

About an hour after Gunnedah, you’re in Tamworth, a busy city with massive shopping centres, traffic jams and, of course, Australia’s home of country music. (How many motels can be named after those Nashville-bound?) Then, soon after, you’re in Armidale. The gardens are simply stunning, and the region is dotted with amazing historic buildings.

Another hour or so later, you’re driving through Dorrigo and on to Waterfall Way, with the most spectacular scenery within arm’s reach of the car.



Rainforest, wildlife, mountains and valleys, cliffs and rolling hills – and let’s not forget the waterfalls. Just driving along, you happen to look out the window to the right and see incredible, natural waterfalls within metres of the road. “Breathtaking” is an understatement!

And then you’re in Bellingen, with historic buildings and hippies galore. A magical seven-hour drive, from old stone houses to massive factories, from dry colourless plains to lush green rainforests, from precisely planted fields to rambling national parks, from Akubra-clad farmers to dreadlock-clad market sellers – such stunning contrasts in a day’s journey.

If I ever host an international visitor who wants to see the “real” Australia, this is the journey we’ll take. And if I ever win a Winnebago for a weekend, well, I guess you’ll know what route I’ll be taking.