Bathurst road trip – A weekend in NSW – Part 1

Home of the Bathurst race track this country town in NSW has so much to offer. A few months ago I spent a weekend there with a few friends on a relaxing getaway. This was shortly after NSW experienced some pretty big flooding so there wasn’t much bushwalking that we could do. If you haven’t already I highly recommend booking a Bathurst road trip.

Onward to a Bathurst road trip adventure

Before heading off we visited The Stage Door Espresso Bar cafe in Bella Vista for some quick brunch. This was such a friendly cafe that seemed really popular with local workers.

I ordered something with avo and egg (haha this is what happens when I don’t take notes and wait months to write up a trip!) All I remember is that I had a pretty heavy workout and was craving protein and energy. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the dish that my partner wanted so he had to change really quickly. Luckily he had a backup!!

Fed and caffeinated we headed off to Black Heath. We walked around town a little and discovered a cool pie shop. So of course we had to get one, despite being pretty full from breaky!! We sat in a local park to eat the pies, however, it didn’t take long before I was greeted by a local spider. We peeped a look under the table and discovered it was covered in spiders, most likely trying to escape the floors so we decided to play it safe a standup eating out pies.

Before continuing on our Bathurst road trip we headed to a nearby lookout which was still open!! The walk was fairly short but still a really nice break from driving.

We then continued our journey toward Bathurst.

For dinner, we visited the Terrace Thai Bathurst. If you’ve had good Thai food in Sydney, I would give this a miss. The food was ok but compared to other Thai food I’ve had it doesn’t really compare. However, it did have a really beautiful carriage. I was borderline able to sit on it but it looked pretty fragile and I didn’t want to risk it.

Mt Panorama and Breakfast

Our first afternoon focussed on getting set up before heading for a lap at the famous Mt Panorama. It’s important to keep to the speed limit of 60KM/H as there are speed camera’s everywhere.

Despite not being able to go super fast, the drive is still really nice and there are a few spots where you can stop to check out the view. Stopping along the track, you will see why it’s called Mt Panorama.

Day 2, we took off at a slow pace, starting out with pre-breakfast coffee before heading out to breakfast. We saw some good reviews for Harvest Cafe Store so we decided to give it a go. I was feeling a bit naughty and decided to get the waffles. My partner and I also got a giant coffee to share!! Yes, this thing was so big it needed to be shared. Another couple travelling with us also grabbed the GIANT coffee. The general consensus was that the food was pretty average, at least the coffee was good.

On our way to breakfast, we spotted a local market and decided to make a detour here before checking out the museums. I ended up buying some eggs, creamed honey, two biscuits and some really nice bread. My partner also grabbed another pie which was much better than the one he had at breakfast. The produce was so fresh and tasty!! I love country markets for the really good food!

Bathurst Museums

The museums (yes plural) was next on the list. We checked out the fossil, train and car museum. The car museum was my favourite despite being there before. The train museum is pretty disappointing. It consists of one large wall with pictures and information. Plus a giant model train track. There were no old carriages like I’ve seen in other museums and other than the model it really wasn’t that interesting. I would give the train museum a miss and instead visit one of the many others around NSW.

The afternoon was spent just chilling back at the accommodation and working out what to have for dinner.

We settled on a local pub where the food looked pretty good. I grabbed a burger and some alcoholic Ginger Beer seeing as I wasn’t driving. The service was pretty good, although there was some confusion on whether it was table service or if we ordered at the bar. Eventually, we just decided to order at the bar.

Bathurst road trip, to be continued…

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In the meantime take a look at my other travel adventures.