Wednesday 3 February 2016

Road-tripping from Sydney to Melbourne - where to stop, eat and stay


The drive from Sydney to Melbourne, if done in 1 day without any breaks, will take 8 hours and 45 minutes. Not only would that be extremely unsafe, but it would also prohibit you from visiting some beautiful country towns and enjoying a range of (mostly) delicious meals. Last week, Dave and I undertook this road trip on our way to Tasmania, spanning it over 2 days. So, I thought I would share with you my tips on where to stop, eat and stay.


Stop #1 - Berrima

Having left Sydney around 10am, we arrived in Berrima shortly after 12pm and decided to get some coffee and snacks at The Gumnut Patisserie. The Gumnut is a small but excellent patisserie that originated in Bowral and has now branched out to the surrounding towns of Berrima and Mittagong. We each ordered a coffee and a flourless chocolate mousse cake with a soft caramel centre, before hitting the road again.



Stop #2 - Yass

It was another couple of hours before we hit Yass, where we stopped for a quick McDonalds lunch (not the most exciting of meals, so unfortunately no photos here of my cheeseburger and fries).



Stop #3 - Gundagai

As I had never visited The Dog on the Tuckerbox, we decided that Gundagai should be our next port of call. We had read an article that recommended the Niagara Cafe's milkshakes as a "must have" when in Gundagai, though to be honest, we were a little disappointed with the $6.50 shakes. I'd suggest getting a couple of snaps in front of the Dog on the Tuckerbox and stretching your legs, before heading off again.




Stop #4 - Albury

Our final stop for Day 1 was Albury, where we decided to stay the night to get a good rest. We booked a room at the Atura Hotel - a modern, reasonably priced hotel in the centre of town.



After chilling out for an hour or two, we went on the search for some dinner. We wandered along the main road for a while, looking at a few different menus, before ending up at Soho, which offered a range of tapas-style dishes. We chose the crumbed button mushrooms with aioli, the charred corn on the cob and the pulled pork sliders to share, before heading back to get a good night's sleep.




The next morning, we grabbed some breakfast at The Proprietor, which I would highly recommend. After ordering some coffee, we both went with the grilled haloumi and dukkah eggs which came with hummus and local sourdough (and a side of avocado - I can't get enough of the stuff at the moment).  



Final destination - Melbourne 

The drive from Albury to Melbourne is a bit under 3 hours, and as we had a good night's sleep the night before, we ended up forgoing our planned stop at Seymour and pressed on to Melbourne. Once we arrived, we headed to one of our favourite Mexican restaurants - Mamasita.

Starting off with a couple of cocktails, we then ordered the street-style corn, a few soft tacos and a "Nopales" (cactus) salad.

 



We debated going to Gelato Messina in Fitzroy for dessert, but ended up staying at Mamasita for their sweetcorn ice cream with salted caramel and popcorn - the perfect end to our 2 day journey from Sydney to Melbourne.











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