Yeoval Aug 2020

 If travelling along the Banjo Patterson Way, checking out the Animals on Bikes, a cute place to stop is Yeoval.

Their claim to fame is that Banjo Patterson, a great Australian Poet, spent the first seven years of his childhood here.

 Banjo Patterson Bush Park and the Banjo Patterson Museum where it's main attractions for us today...

Animals on Bikes - Molong to Dubbo

 Animals on Bikes is a "Paddock Art" sculpture tourist trail between Molong and Dubbo Zoo. 

http://www.animalsonbikes.com.au/

After passing through Molong (we were travelling from Orange), you first see the first of metallic sculptures in a no more appropriate place than the front of the Cladwells's Scrap Metal Yard.  If you can't take the full 120km run this stop alone has many photo opportunities.  Just past the scrapyard on your left is the turn-off..... If it is not called Banjo 

On our return home I have found on their website there is a detailed map that you can download and follow using your odometer to find them..... A better option than slamming the brakes and chucking a U-turn like we did every time we spotted one LOL.. 

If you don't have a map, drive safely, keep your eyes peeled and let anyone that comes up behind you pass so you can drive a bit slower to enjoy!!

Ok.... so these are real!!

Molong August 20

 Ticking off another small town from the Orange360, Towns & Villages, we visiting Molong whilst on our drive from Orange to Dubbo...  

Another cute little town with its charming streets and grand colonial buildings.   Now we were here on a Sunday, which might explain it's lack of activity, be we are never quite sure with some of these country towns that we have visited.   No Sunday trading here, just a quaint little coffee shop that doubles and a gift shop, so yes we did make a small contribution to their economy.

Another little claim to fame for Molong is that it marks the start of the Animals on Bikes "Paddock Art" sculpture tourist trail that runs 120km from Molong to Dubbo Zoo.

Click here to find out about the Animals on Bikes Trail

Millthorpe August 2020

 Never worry about visiting Orange and not having enough to do. Once the wine tasting is done there are lots of little villages and towns that can be explored.

Millthorpe is one of those villages, like stepping back into the 1900s this is a little picturesque town whose buildings seem to have frozen in time.  Although they have been repurposed into cute and trendy restaurants, cafes and boutiques.

Orange Wineries Oct 2020

 Orange being a cooler climate I believe we have a greater variety of white wines, which for me I am in favour of.  Like the Hunter the wineries are dotted all over the region, so you cover a lot of territory if you want to visit a lot of them...   We only tend to visit one or two wineries per day as that is enough for us.  On this trip we were in the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic, which meant you had to make a booking for most wine tastings due to number limits and another thing we notice is that wineries are now starting to charge.

Angullong Winery- Millthorpe

You cant visit Orange and not take a trip to the picturesque historic town of Millthorpe, and while there you can't not visit a winery. There are two in town Slow Wines and the one we visited Angullong.   They have their cellar door in an old bluestone cottage that was once the stables for the adjoining hotel.  This winery you definitely needed a booking as there is only room for 4 people inside.  Due to the inclement weather and tastings outside were out of the question.  We would say this one is a must-do as we really enjoyed the wines and the experience. We bought wine .... of course! and we didn't pay any tasting fee.

Philip Shaw Winery

This would be the prettiest winery we have visited here in Orange and another must-do if visiting this region.  As this is a popular winery I would recommend that you book. We chose the Koomooloo Taste & Plate experience, where for $20 you tasted not only the wines but other products from the region.  The wines were delicious but I also love the artwork they use on their labels.  Here you couldn't pick and choose the wines you wanted to taste, but if you ask and it is available they may give you a taste of another style that you prefer.  Your visit is not complete without a little wander around their beautiful grounds, obviously geared for weddings and other functions

    

De Salis Winery

There is always one winery that you think "oh we could have skipped that one" That was NOT De Salis, but leads to the story of how we got there.

 We had booked to go Mountain View Winery, But there was just something missing with the whole experience.  Was it the rain, the uninviting shed they put us in or the wine just wasn't as nice as the others that we had tasted.

 

Driving along feeling a little dejected, remember we don't do a lot of wineries in a day. Then we spotted a sign for De Salis and on impulse, we hung a left and drove the long driveway up the hill.  Greeted by the resident chickens we traipsed through the mud and hoped that they would let us gate crash without a booking. Maybe it was because it was the end of the day, someone didn't turn up or did they just say what the hell! and they showed up to our wine barrel. With a beautiful Italian fresco as a backdrop we tasted their delicious wines, do they charge, I don't know, but we did walk away with a couple of reds that we paid an obscene amount of money for.