Cobar Travel Guide

 balhannah Says:  The lookout, over the new Cobar Open Cut Gold mine, gives a spectacular sight of the working gold mine.To reach the lookout, turn left off the Barrier Highway before entering Cobar. It is signposted with a brown and white tourist sign, and the road is by the Cobar town sign.... 

 balhannah Says:  Time to move outside, still plenty to see. This area is where we find all the old farming and mining equipment, some old motor vehicles and the "mystery" - we have to guess what it is and see if we are correct before we leave. The mystery is a Bimble BoxTree, in which a door... 

 balhannah Says:  The best way to see the historic buildings!One that really stuck out, was the Butcher's shop, built in 1910 and still being used as a Butcher's shop in 2012.Then I came across a group of buildings dating from 1897, a couple had beaut lacework verandahs, and one was still as... 

 balhannah Says:  OK, so we cheated a bit. We walked and we toured by car!I picked up the map at the tourist information centre, which is where the walk begins. It is 6km, and can be completed in 2 hours if you walk the whole way.I came across this Catholic Church, which happened to have its... 

 balhannah Says:  This park is located across the road from the Heritage centre, so we left the car parked where it was, and walked across.It's a very nice park built to commemorate the Miners who have lost their lives in the Cobar Mines.There is quite a large lawned area with covered picnic... 

 balhannah Says:  We are now entering the section on Mining and Pastoral history.The Pastoral history area has a very interesting display about Sheep, the wool, and how it ends up as a Jumper on our back.We saw a wool press, a showcase full of the different grades of wool, and read about the... 

 balhannah Says:  Time to move upstairs and read and see items on the early years of Mining in Cobar, on how Copper was found in the area by some men spending the night camped at a waterhole, and little did they know, the coloured rocks they had collected to take back to Cobar were Copper!A... 

 balhannah Says:  Continuing on from the previous tip, we head into the old school room, recreation, building materials of old, and the bedroom exhibit. There were lots of old photos on the walls, how sad and mournful people looked back them, I guess they really didn't have anything to smile... 

 balhannah Says:  Located at the Information centre, is the heritage museum. We decided to go for a look this time in town, so paid our admission fee, were given a map and pointed in the right direction.We found the centre had an amazing collection of items dating from 1869 to the present... 

 balhannah Says:  Having been to Cobar many times before, but never been to the Museum located there, this is where we headed to first.You can't miss it, as its in a beautiful old "Great Cobar Heritage centre" located on the Barrier Highway, Nyngan side of the town, you have to drive past.The... 

 iandsmith Says:  Just the place for the latter and, if your purpose is simply to visit Cobar then one is probably better off flying out there.This church is the architectural highlight of the back streets with the oh-so-loveable name of Laurence O'Toole's Catholic Church. You'd have to be... 

 iandsmith Says:  Just a few kilometres out of Cobar, that's using country speak, there's a sign pointing to an emu farm (pic 1). It's an 84 km round trip which is probably a bit of a deterrent for most tourists (as it was for us) but there are also other things not that far away such as some... 

 iandsmith Says:  Couldn't help it really. I mean, the sign was so irresistible and Bob laid down with a somewhat motionless posture.Fortunately, he was revived rather speedily when I bent over him and merely mentioned the possibility of mouth-to-mouth resusitation. 

 iandsmith Says:  Once you see a wrought iron verandah you are generally looking at a building in Australia that is from the 19th century though there are certainly many later examples as well.Here the dates on the structures clearly indicate the late 19th century heritage of these shops in... 

 iandsmith Says:  Anyway you look at meat today, it aint cheap!Still, isn't it wonderful to see this building still being used for its original purpose for over 100 years.To find you way around the town and, in particular, its historical buildings, maps are freely available from the tourist... 

 iandsmith Says:  Buildings of major architectural interest include the Great Western Hotel (1898) in the main street which has the longest pub balcony in New South Wales. The pub's timber verandah with cast-iron balustrades and lacework balcony is100 metres long. Try doing that in an Olympic... 

 iandsmith Says:  Displays in the grounds around the main Museum include the Far West Health Carriage which was moved around the Far West by railway, a Robey portable steam engine and some interesting displays of early mining equipment. You can see the Great Cobar Open Cut via a walkway from...