Outer Towns and Suburbs, Canberra

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If you are visiting Canberra you must go to Batemans Bay in the South Coast, it is only two hours drive. The South Coast is the beach destination for Canberra people. You can spend the day or stay overnight. There are lots of Hotel/Motel and Caravan Park at the Bay and surrounding area.

Every time we visit Batemans Bay we always go to our favorite restaurant Sams Ristorante. They serve traditional Italian cooking. Their pasta and pizza are great, I recommended. They make spaghetti like my mama use to make. I just love their cooking. Only problem is they don't open on Sunday for lunch, I guess I don't blame them, who wants to work seven days a week in Batemans Bay, on Sunday arvo I rather go fishing.

Recently we found a new restaurant Blank Canvas which serves new Australian cuisines, so much variety, the range is from sandwiches & baguettes, burgers, salads, wedges, pastas and risottos. They also have Kangaroo fillet in their menu. When you sit outside enjoying your meal the view of the bay is just so relaxing that you don’t want to go.

Oh yeah at the Bay don't forget to try the Bay famous Clyde River oyster which is locally produced.

On high season around December to February Batemans Bay is invaded by tourist from all over, especially from ACT and Victoria.

It will take me many pages to explain Batesman Bay, so if you want to find out more go to //www.corriganscove.com.au/south-coast-tourist.html or just Google Batemans Bay NSW Australia

I am sure you will love Batemans Bay especially if you are from overseas, because you will get to see the beautiful beaches of the South Coast.

Believe me man South Coast has the best beaches, coastline in the world. If you got time go to Meringo Bergaila or Bingi :-) Not far from Bateman Bay.

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As a Canberrans, if we want to get out of Canberra for a short drive, we usually headed towards South Coast.

The drive from Canberra is quite pleasant. On the way to the South Coast you will pass a small town call Bungendore and Braidwood. On the weekend these two towns are usually invaded by tourist. Before you reached Batemans Bay you will drive through spectacular and breathtaking view of Clyde mountain.

This time our destination is Mogo. Mogo is about two and half hour drive from Canberra. It is located on the Princes Highway, fifteen minutes drive south of Batemans Bay. Mogo is run by the Eurobodalla Shire council. Large number of Aboriginal population still lives in Mogo.

In the old days Mogo was a gold rush town. The gold was found in 1851. During the gold rush Mogo was a thriving town, it had post office, shops, hotels, church and schools. Last gold mine of Bimbimbie was closed only 23 years ago in 1984.

Now Mogo is a thriving tourist town. Tourist can browse for couple of hours in Mogo looking at the many of the art and craft shops and gift shops. Shops selling jewellery, leather craft, woodwork and others. Art gallery exhibits some of the local and Australian artist. They are also shop selling furniture and specialty stores. You will not go hungry in Mogo as they are many great cafés catered for lunch or even try the ice cream parlour as a starter.

Mogo is proud of their private zoo, which specializing in breeding programs for endangered species, which is unique in itself.

The tourist can visit Old Mogo Town which is a reconstruction of the town during the Gold Rush. It will tell you of the history during that time. They are guided tours provided for the tourist. There are accommodation of 3.5 stars and the Digger Tavern Restaurant available at the Old Mogo Town.

OLD MOGO TOWN:- Open 7 days – 10.00am – 4.00pm. Cost - $14.00 adult and $6.00 child. Phone 02 4474 2123

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.

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.

Pialligo is a Canberra suburb beside the airport. Contains an approx km long strip of nice garden centres most of which have gift shops and quite good quality cafes. Cafes very popular especially at weekends when bookings are recommended. I especially recommend the cafe at Rodney's garden centre. Cafes generally open for breakfast and lunch as per the garden centre hours.

Easy to spend a pleasant half day here.

Getting there :drive, taxi or short walk from airport.

Eden is south of Canberra down the Sapphire Coast in Twofold Bay, NSW. It has the 3rd deepest natural harbour in World and started its life as a whaling town.

There is a whale museum, shell shop, wood turning, art gallery, cruises out to watch dolphins and whales as well as fishing (surf/rock/deep sea/reef/lake/river). A favourite spot with the Abalone divers as well. I travelled several times to Eden to stay with my dearest friend who owned a motel there at the time. What we didn’t get up to, wasn’t worth doing. They were fun times. It is a wonderful leisurely spot with Pambula and Merimbula (coast resort town) very near.

We left Eden in the morning and drove to Canberra.

Each year there is a yacht race from Sydney to Hobart which starts on Boxing Day I think. One particular year I was at Eden, the weather was shocking. Many yachts pulled into Eden with broken masts and severe damage to their boats.

The town was really abuzz with crew, news reporters all scrambling for accommodation.

Bywong Town Gold Mining Village, 28 kilometres north of Canberra, recreates something of those early days.
Here you can see an active gold mine with working machinery, and even try your hand at panning for gold in a bushland setting.

Jervis Bay is situated between Sydney and
Canberra but belongs to the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The clear waters of Jervis Bay provide ideal conditions for growth of extensive sea grass beds. See for more info and pics in the Jervis Bay travelogue please.

The Ettomogah Pub just out of Albury (15 kms north). Albury is only a few hours drive south of Canberra. It is worth a quick stop for a look...there is some fun stuff out the back also like dodgem cars, shops etc...