Canberra Off The Beaten Path Tips by tiabunna Top 5 Page for this destination

Make Canberra your base - 1 hour trips Outer Towns and Suburbs Review

Canberra is well situated to use as a base for trips to quite a diverse range of places and scenery. Anywhere within the ACT (see separate tips) can be reached within an hour's driving. Within one hours' road travel from Canberra, you can visit the following towns:
Braidwood
Bungendore
Cooma
Goulburn
Gunning
Queanbeyan
Yass

If you're not interested in towns, how about visiting a winery (see following tip) - they are out there, under an hour away.

Canberra District wineries

Tired of looking at monumental national buildings? Feel the need to get out for a relaxed trip into the countryside? How about combining that with some of the very best cool climate wines in Australia? You need to visit some of the Canberra District wineries.

There are no ‘large’ wineries in the Canberra District, so it’s unlikely your local bottle shop will carry any of their produce, even if it has Australian wines. From overseas experience the Australian wines you’re likely to find in your local bottle shop are those produced by large companies – not bad wines at all, but fairly ‘standardised’. So let me encourage you to undertake a wine-tasting adventure tour.

Within a short drive from Canberra, you will find something like 33 wineries, of which 29 offer cellar door sales, so head on out and try tasting a few wines. There is good news and bad news on that score: the good news is that tastings are free, the bad news is that Australia has a 0.05 alcohol limit for drivers, so although it hurts to do so you might be well-advised to spit the wines if you are driving (it’s fully acceptable, BTW and you can expect to find a bucket for the purpose). Of course, you could take a tour and let someone else drive!

The photos with this tip were taken at Helm’s Winery near the village of Murrumbateman. The tasting room (photos 2,3,4) is a former school house dating from 1888. Ken Helm, the host here, is a former research scientist who provides an excellent and enthusiastic explanation of the wines, many of which have won awards over the years. His Reisling wine has been ranked in the top ten of the style in Australia: his Cabernet Sauvignon isn’t too bad either!.

The phone number I’ve given below is for Helms Winery, but if you go to the website I've listed there are enough details on Canberra District wines and wineries to keep any wine enthusiast busy for quite a while! Helms Winery is in Butts Rd at Murrumbateman, to the north of Canberra.

Phone: 02 6227 5953

Website: http://www.canberrawines.com.au/index.html

Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex Science And Technology Review

This is more generally known as Tidbinbilla Tracking Station. It is one of three main NASA tracking stations around the world (the Deep Space Network) set up for tracking deep space probes. It also provides back-up communication with manned space activities from the former Apollo missions to the Space Shuttle and Space Station. The main dish (seen in the main photo) is enormous and several other smaller (but still large) dishes are spread around the complex.

Tidbinbilla tracking station has a small but very good display area with models of space probes (the full-size replica Mars rover is very impressive - see second photo), the latest space photographs, and real 'used' space hardware. You also can watch a space movie. The display is open to the public every day - entry is free. There also is a small souvenir shop and cafe with windows overlooking the big dishes (see "restaurants" tip).

The address is Discovery Drive, Tidbinbilla. Follow Tourist Drive 5 from Canberra - from the north via Cotter and Paddy's River Roads; from the south via Point Hutt Crossing Rd and Tidbinbilla Rd. It is about 45 minutes' travelling from the city.

Open daily (except Christmas Day) from 0900 - 1700. The cafe is open 1000-1700.

Website: http://www.cdscc.nasa.gov/Pages/pg01_overview.html

Drive the Cotter Loop Tourist Attractions Review

You won’t find The Cotter Loop mentioned in the tourist brochures, that is the name used by vehicle enthusiasts, who love this excellent driver's road. It refers to the road trip out from Canberra past Mount Stromlo, The Cotter, Canberra Deep Space Centre, Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve (see following tips) and back via the old village of Tharwa. All those places merit stopovers and if you have time, maybe also take in the former Lanyon Station and Nolan Gallery just before you enter the southern end of the Canberra suburbs. Heading back to the city, you pass the satellite city centre of Tuggeranong where there is a shopping mall.

The overall trip is about 60km of winding and undulating road, through some lovely scenic country in the lower hills south of Canberra, and there are some interesting places to visit. Follow the Tourist Drive 5 signs, beginning by heading down Adelaide Avenue past the Prime Minister’s Lodge, then diverting onto Cotter Road. From there, it is little more than a matter of following your nose! Put aside a full day for this trip if you include the side visits.

Addition 9 March 2008: I have now replaced the sketch map with this poster map, to which I have added annotations. NB also that the old bridge at Tharwa is now closed for ongoing repairs, so the route is shortened as I have marked it.

Maybe visit an Embassy

If you are visiting Australia from overseas, I guess there may be a chance that you will be able to visit your own country's Embassy. In any event, most Embassies have the occasional "public open day", but you would need to be lucky to time your visit to coincide with it (or to know about it)! Sadly, because the details would change yearly, it isn't possible to cover them in a VT tip.

But most Embassies have some reference to the national building styles or arts of their respective countries. None more so than that of the Peoples Republic of China, one of Canberra's newest and largest. We were fortunate to be able to visit with our historic vehicle club, as part of the celebrations of the Chinese Spring Festival (New Year). Our group was made most welcome, we were served Oolong tea in accordance with the Chinese tea ceremony (and very tasty too, for something which looked almost like water in colour), then we were given a very enjoyable morning tea. Later we took the Embassy staff for an Australian barbecue lunch in the country (at Cotter, separate tip).

I have included some photos of the Embassy here, and will include more in a travelogue.

Cotter reserve and reservoir Parks /Gardens / Lakes Review

The Cotter Reserve is one of the most popular Canberra picnic areas, located near one of the main reservoirs for the city (now viewed from a lookout, once you could walk along the dam wall). There is ample parking, barbecues, toilets, and grassed areas for recreation. You reach Cotter shortly after Casuarina Sands and only about 20km from the city. It is sheltered among the hills and is pleasantly cool in summer. With its huge deciduous trees making a picture of colours during the autumn, you could be anywhere in the world rather than in the Australian countryside. Even during winter, with the sun coming through, we have had many enjoyable barbecues there.

Campers might care to note that there is a low cost camping area in delightful surroundings alongside the Murrumbidgee River, located between Casuarina Sands and Cotter Reserve. The camping fees are low and are paid into an 'honesty box'.

See what’s left of Mt Stromlo … Science And Technology Review

Mount Stromlo, just outside Canberra’s south western suburbs, began in 1924 as the site for the Commonwealth Solar Observatory. In 1946 it became a stellar astronomy observatory and since 1957 has been part of the Australian National University School of Astronomy and Astrophysics. Canberra people have always held it in great affection as a popular tourist drive and the gleaming white telescope domes were a part of the horizon.

The firestorms of January 2003 destroyed all but one of the telescopes at Mt Stromlo, as well as the workshops, design and administration offices, library and archives; even the elegant old Director’s residence, built in the late 1920s. Some of the saddest losses were the 74inch reflector, built in 1954 and until 1974 the largest telescope in the southern hemisphere; and the 26inch Yale-Columbia refractor telescope, used to measure the distances and motions of stars.

Ever so slowly, Mt Stromlo is being rebuilt (see travelogue). The visitor information centre and café are now open and, if nothing else, you can see the ruins of what used to be. Entry is free. Visiting hours are Wednesday - Sunday 1000 - 1700 (except Christmas Day). Weather permitting, there are night programmes for visitors on Saturday (but you must book through the phone number below).

Phone: 02 6125 0232

Website: http://www.mso.anu.edu.au

Make Canberra your base - 2 hour trips Outer Towns and Suburbs Review

Still using Canberra as a base, two hour trips in each direction fit comfortably into a day's outing. Two hours driving from Canberra will take you to either the beach on the NSW south coast, or to the Snowy Mountains (summer bushwalking, winter skiing). The accompanying photo was taken at Moruya.

The Nature Reserve is recovering... National Parks / Reserves Review

Eleven kilometres beyond Cotter, you will find yourself at the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve – shortly after you pass the turnoff to the Tracking Station. The TNR encompasses a large valley, set between 1500metre peaks, it is a truly impressive setting. There is a ‘Nature Discovery Playground’ for children, roads where you can drive or bicycle to a lookout for panoramic views, and walking trails of varying distances from a few hundred metres to several kilometres (and requiring different degrees of fitness). Most importantly, you can expect to see a diversity of Australian wildlife, including koalas.

The entire area was devastated in the 2003 fires, leaving none of the previous facilities and only one badly burned koala. Gradually the bush is coming alive again: the gums are re-shooting, the wildlife is returning. A new visitor and ranger centre has been constructed at the entry, containing a small but very good museum which includes dramatic examples of the effects of the fires.

Entry is free to the TNR, which is open daily except Christmas Day, from 0900 – 1800 and, during daylight saving, from 0900-2000. The Visitor Centre opens from 0900-1630 on weekdays and 0900-170 on weekends.

Phone: (02) 6205 1233

Website: http://www.environment.act.gov.au

Enjoy the Murrumbidgee River Corridor Parks /Gardens / Lakes Review

What’s the Murrumbidgee River Corridor I hear you say…. Well, the Murrumbidgee travels 1600km from the Snowy Mountains to the Murray River. For about 66km of that distance, it is in the ACT and much of that distance is available for recreation. At most public recreation areas there are toilets, mown grassed areas, picnic facilities with free barbecues, shelters and walking tracks. Depending on what takes your fancy, you also can go swimming, take your dog for a walk, go fishing (no licence required, but some restrictions apply), go canoeing, or even rip off everything and legally go skinnydipping (at Kambah Pool). Just be sure that what you do is permitted where you are doing it!

This photo is at Casuarina Sands, a popular swimming area in the warmer months (the photo was taken in late Autumn). You also can go swimming at many other spots, from Uriarra to Tharwa. The Casuarina Sands reserve is off the side of Cotter Road, after you have passed Mount Stromlo – be careful as you leave the main road, the exit is on a hairpin bend.

General enquiries Canberra Connect 13 22 81
Murrumbidgee River Corridor (02) 6207 2425
Fishing enquiries (02) 6207 2425

Phone: See above

Website: http://www.cmd.act.gov.au