Melbourne to Sydney - 2023

If you have not just landed here after reading the post about my Sydney to Melbourne Road Trip, I highly recommend starting there.

The most obvious way to end a road trip from Sydney to Melbourne is to do another one from Melbourne to Sydney. It's not boring if it's entirely different! Having taken the coastal route on my way to Melbourne, I decided to take the inland route decorated with historic towns on my way back.

In only the last 14 days, I’d driven 2500kms and spent 30 hrs planning activities for each day. The holiday fatigue was getting to me. For the next week, I prioritised relaxation for myself and my family. That said, I still planned on making it a memorable and interesting/exciting/eventful trip.

Road Trip - Melbourne to Sydney

Total Distance ~ 964 Kms

Ballarat

Ballarat is famous for its history as one of the first gold mining towns of Australia. With that in mind, when we first got there, we thought we’d spend a couple of hours at some museum and then order some takeaway at the accommodation. But when we rocked up at Sovereign Hill, we were taken by surprise! We did not expect to walk into a life size, fully functional, replica of a heritage town.

We learnt about the history of blacksmiths, the role they played in the gold rush, watched a bar of iron become a handy tool and even got a horseshoe with a custom engraving on it! We immersed ourselves in a plethora of activities - cursive lessons at the primary school, soldier parades (long live the queen), interactive theatre, printing newspapers, gold panning and so much more. We even got our hands ditry with a 1kg, 24karat, gold bar (with a value of more than AUD300,000) that had just been purified using traditional methods. We witnessed an enactment of the villagers' disbelief in doctors, a living nursery, carriageworks, candyshops, bowling alleys, horses and firetrucks!

It is fair to say that we had a GOLDEN "couple of hours".

Bendigo

In Bendigo again, we saw some trails of the gold rush and a smaller version of the Sovereign Hill while waiting for our tram. Which brings me to, Bendigo Tramways! Yet another piece of history we were pleasantly surprised to experience and glad we did.

We randomly rocked up to the tramstation expecting to take some photos before heading into the town for some drinks. However, we were excited to find out that the trams are still in use and we used this opportunity to hop onto a tour of the town.

After the tour, we went for a walk in the town's main street and tried "The Social" for some really good cocktails and beers and ended the night with some thai food 🤤

Albury and Beechworth

On our way, we tried cheese at the Milawa Cheese Company. I loved their cheeses made with goat's milk!

In Beechworth, we spent a few hours tasting honey at Beechworth Honey and bought natural honey spreads and infusions. We then went to the Beechworth Bakery - the original one - and tried some of their signature pies. From there on, it was all about beers and whiskies for me! I tried a few different breweries and bars in both - Albury and Beechworth. My favourites are Bridge Road and Bilson's.

Murrumbateman

Murrumbateman is a small, condensed, wine region, only 30 minutes away from Canberra. Packed with 20 wineries, all within less than 10kms of each other, this region has some of the best cold climate wines in NSW.

We tried Murrumbateman winery and Clonakilla and I liked both enough that I bought a bottle from each. We were out of time and I was not convinced I did justice to this region so I decided to do another trip to Murrumbateman with my friends. And yes, that is the perfect segway to my next blog - Murrumbateman 2023.