The last week of our amazing seven months doing a lap around Oz were bittersweet. We treasured the peace in Ilford, ‘raced’ The Duke around the Bathurst Mount Panorama super car circuit, reunited with our daughter in Canberra and some good friends in Mansfield as we made our way home. Watch the highlights in our Week 30 video
Sleepy Ilford and Speedy Bathurst
Jaron Park camp in Ilford 
Mount Panorama, Bathurst 
Bathurst race track
Driving south from Crescent Head we turned inland at Newcastle and wound our way through the hills past the Goulburn River National Park and in to the sleepy little hamlet of Ilford. There’s no shops or services here (except a fire brigade) but they have a lovely grassy free-camp area with firepits, flushing loos and mountain views. We gathered some firewood and had a roaring fire as the sky turned pink and the mountains purple. Next morning, we descended down the valley to Bathurst where we couldn’t resist taking The Duke around the Mount Panorama race track which was hosting the famous Bathurst 1000 super car race in November. It was a bad time to discover our driver’s side brake had worn thin although the track has a speed limit of 60 for tourists, we took it pretty easy (unlike the super cars who hit 300km an hour in some stretches!).
Culture & cuisine in Canberra
We love Canberra, This compact, country-style capital punches way above its weight dishing up delicious food, funky bars, great hikes, bike rides and even boutique wineries! We stayed with our daughter in Lyneham and rode our bikes down to and around Lake Burley Griffin, stopping off at the National Art Gallery to catch the Know my name exhibition of Australian Women Artists from 1900 to Now. We ate at Inka the fabulous Japanese-Peru fusion restaurant and hiked around the Lake marvelling, as always, at the clever ode to all the Australians of the year on plaques arranged as notes to our National Anthem.
So Three things to tick on a trip to Canberra would be 1. Inka restaurant for incredible cuisine, 2 Ride or walk around Lake Burley Griffin and 3. A visit to the National Art Gallery.
Magnificent Mansfield
Our very last stop was at Mansfield, to stop in at our friends property about 10 km out of town. We were welcomed back to Victoria with a magnificent sunset – a good sign that we were meant to be heading home.
