Land of Kangaroo - New South Wales (Part 4)

Day 8 : Collector - Goulburn - Berrima - Mittagong

It was time to leave Canberra and time to explore the small towns along Hume Highway. The weather was not the best with more clouds than sunshine and scattered drizzles. Actually, on our way to Canberra, we have marked the places that we would visit when we return to Sydney. The places of attractions were written on the signboard with brown background but 1or 2 places were visited ad hoc.

The first place we stopped-by was Collector.  This place was more like a village than a town. We couldn't see the 'real' town of Collector so logically it must be a village. And the most interesting part was the population in collector was 150 only. There were no development in Collector but I guess farming was the main activity here. We took several pictures here and as I approach a house, I saw a sheep grazing within the house compound. It looked at me and ran towards the gate, hoping that I would get it out from there. Awwww..it was so cute with pink nose and ears. "Sorry darling, I couldn't let you out. Otherwise your master would chase me". This reminded me of my visit to Caversham Wildlife Park where the sheeps surrounded me and followed me whenever I moved. Seriously, I adore sheeps so much, especially Australian sheeps because they are cute, cuddly and does not smell. Hehe...

The cute sheep at Collector

Next, we headed to Goulburn, which was the first inland city of Australia. The icon of Goulburn was the Big Merino sheep and that meant the wool industry was the major industry here. There were many interesting old buildings and the town itself was interesting to see. We walked from Goulburn TIC and I was glad to see something interesting in terms of architecture. There was also a park which was really charming. And by the way, it was another clear sky with less clouds and the sun was shining brightly, perfect for our outing. There were many things to see such as the Goulburn Court House, Town Hall, shop lots with European architecture and the religious sites. I thought there was a palace or mansion but it turned out that it was a big church in the middle of the town. 

Goulburn Court House

I'm not pregnant ok.

A park in Goulburn town. I couldn't remember its name.

Shop lots preserving colonial architecture

Goulburn Town Hall with nice trees

At the back alley

Another church, or a convent, maybe.

A cathedral,or church, in Golbourn. (What's the difference between a
cathedral and a church anyway?Please help)

There was another attraction in Goulburn which was The Rocky Hill War Memorial Tower. It was located approximately 1.3 kilometers from the TIC. There was also a museum but closed every Monday. The views of the Goulburn city from the hill were stunning. It was breezy and good enough to sit and relax. But of course we didn't stay that long because we were hunting for other attractions as well.

The Rocky Hill War Memorial Tower

And the next most important attraction of Goulburn was the Big Merino statue/sculpture or whatever you call it, which was outside of the town. It was not far from the town though. There was a souvenir shop at the base of the structure so we spent more time in the shop than photographing the Big Merino.

That's the Big Merino I'm talking about

 From Goulburn, we headed to Berrima, another small town with a population of 400. There was no TIC here and we depended on the GPS for the attractions. Well, since it was almost dark, we guessed that the attractions were already closed. Though we couldn't get to go to the attractions such as Berrima ghoul, Berrima court house and the cottages, we could see that Berrima has its own colour and environment compared to other towns and cities. It was a charming little town with many preserved old buildings but transformed to small business outlets. There were post offices and several other government offices. We parked our car and just walked by the town. It was like walking in a countryside far from any cities and development. Even a carved wooden ducks and penguins displayed outside a shop made the atmosphere so traditional and serene. There was also a shop selling various foodstuff such as olives, freshly made jams, chocolates, candies and many more,known as Mrs Oldbucks Pantry. I love the design and arrangement of the items sold here. My elder sister would love this kind of setting very much. It was simple, neat and very English. As we really love fresh jams, we bought a few bottles of jams for ourselves. We couldn't find any shops selling souvenirs of Berrima and that was a little frustrating.

Carved wooden ducks and penguins

The inner of Mrs Oldbucks Pantry

A few kilometers from Berrima exit, we entered Mittagong because it was almost dark and we need to get a place for our motorhome before the caraavn park office hour ended. We headed straight to Mittagong caravan park which was run by a family. It was a lot cheaper than any other caravan park we used to check-in. It was only AUD26 per night for powered site. There were many local tourists putting up several nights here while making their way up Sydney or Queensland to escape the cold winter in Victoria. We went to the city centre once we have secured the booking for a powered site. Unlike Berrima, there were many big outlets such as the Woolworth, furniture outlet, pet shop and others. So before we really settled at the caravan park for the day, we went to the supermarket to buy some food as we were running out of food stock. On our way back, we saw a TIC of Mittagong but there was no point of dropping by as it was already close. We would have gained some information on the attractions within Mittagong and would have made our way there the next day. I totally feel that we didn't spare enough time to thoroughly explore NSW. But this was a good reason to return back with bundles of green Australian notes in the future. Cross my fingers.

Good night world..

(Continued to Final Part)