SouthernCrossAI/Reddit-posts · Datasets at Hugging Face

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Just want to know some good country towns too explore/roadtrip too. It doesn’t have to be fancy or anything in the towns just nice places too drive by, artworks etc
Hillend end and Sofala near Goulburn are both quaint little villages. Cemetery and visitors centre at Cowra are interesting historically. The Japanese garden there sounds great but yet to see it.
Lightning Ridge, Coonabarabran, Glen Innes, Dubbo, Bathurst
Tilba
Rylstone.
Do a lap around Mount Panorama in Bathurst, pretty spectacular even if you're not into all of that like I am. A lot of people think the racetrack is closed but it's a public road. Open most of the time unless there are events on of course.
If you're with a race fan, or even a racing video game fan they'll love it even more.
Caught the train to Dubbo recently, went to the zoo, it was pretty nice, you could always go there. Zoo in Dubbo is loads better than Taronga.
Uralla. Armidale.
Where are you based? if Sydney, out past the mountains is beautiful - Hartley, Oberon, etc. Even on the Nth side of the mountains, ie, Mt Tomah. Re Hartley, The lolly bug (a shop) was there, is being rebuilt. Talisman gallery with beautiful handmade wrought iron pieces and jewellery.
Tingha, Green Valley Farm. Thank me later.
No way you’d miss barellan, ardlethon and ariah park. Awesome towns, 10/10 would recommend
Gulgong is nice. Has original cobblestone streets in some parts and nice parks. Cobar is also worth a visit if out that far with the slag dump and open cut mine lookout.
Tenterfield and the area around it is beautiful.
You could go straight up the Northern Rivers: Yamba, Maclean, Evans Head, Ballina, Lennox Head, Brunswick Heads, Pottsville, Kingscliff.
Gives you options to duck inland and see places like Grafton, Lismore, Nimbin, Murwillumbah and Wollumbin (Mount Warning)
Jeez moneybags, did you win Powerball? Brave of you to drive, petrol prices being what they are.
It kinda depends which part of NSW you're in and how far you can/want to go.
Will agree with others who have already called out Mudgee and Orange. Otherwise, Bowral and Berrima to the south, and Parkes if you want to venture further.
Does Canberra count as a country town? You can do the Highlands, Canberra, and Cooma on the one trip.
What part of NSW?
Appreciate all the comments everyone has wrote. I live in Wollongong I just wanted to get ideas for any places near or far. Thank you again for all the comments!
All of these plus Mudgee and Orange
Near "Goulburn river" I think you mean. Hill end is certainly nowhere near Goulburn.
Also I have been going to Hill End since I was a kid and know the town well....
DO NOT BUY A SINGLE THING FROM THERE. Make sure you buy what ever you need from Bathurst or Mudgee or somewhere else. Hill End pub and the shop/petrol station there are the biggest rorters I have ever come across.
I came here to say Sofala too. What a gem of a find that town was.
Can confirm you will do glen innes in two hours, I grew up there, unless you plan around the show or Celtic festival
I back this
Also, take your dinner up there (the park at the top of the race track) on a clear night and enjoy the view.
+1
Stay in the cabins at the zoo, they're lovely, and pretty reasonably priced if you go with a couple of people
There’s more in Dubbo than the zoo tho
I wish I won powerball! Just wanting ideas haha. I’m in Wollongong.
Only other thing I saw was the old gaol which was ok
So I'm in Sydney visiting family/friends for a few weeks, and it's my first time in Australia. We've got a few trips planned and I'd like to do one into the outback from Sydney, to see some small towns out there and get a real sense of the scale of NSW/Australia. Ideally, we'd be away for 3 nights (so 4 days driving) and we'll have 2 drivers. Does anybody have any suggestions for where we could go? Current thoughts are either heading west to Cobar, or northwest to Lightning Ridge.
Definitely lightning Ridge, it's an odd little town and I love it
I'd look for higher ground considering it's flooding in parts of NSW, somewhere away from the rivers too, cause flash flooding.
My 2c would be Golbburn, Yass, Crookwell, Wombat, Young Cowra, and swing westish to Orange then NE to whatever towns lead you back to Muswellbrook/Singleton. That should cover a lot of minor country towns ands give you a feel for NSw west of the great dividing range.
Pick up one of the servo maps and just cruise the map. At one stage, the NRMA had/sold good accommodation or caravan camping guides.
I suggest something like that as it is easy to flex and change compared to a head long dash each day to some distant point.
I just want to point out that people have given you great suggestions for heading into country NSW.
But this may not be your idea of “the outback”.
Don’t expect to hit red dust territory on this road trip. That will require a much bigger drive than you have time for.
Highly recommend swinging by Orange, beautiful town and people, and the wine isn’t bad either!
Cowra 2794, has a beautiful Japanese Gardens. Spread out over about 5 acres with traditional Japanese houses, large Japanese trees and other Japanese plants. Large koi pond and a beautiful restaurant.
We also have a old Priosoner Of War camp within walking distance, one of Australia's Peace Bells and a great live projection of escape of the POW camp at the information centre.
I'm very proud of the Japanese Gardens, my family is the reason we have it here.
Cowra also has a great park within 3 minutes walking distance of the Japanese gardens. With beautiful views of the bellview area.
We also have some good pubs with good food. I'd highly recommend going to the Imperial for lunch if you decide to come through. The meals are big and well done.
You could also check out Sofala, it's a very small town within an hours drive of Cowra where they found alot of gold. Great pub there and a good river you could have a picknick at.
There are two large towns within an hour of Cowra, Bathurst and Orange. They are south west.
Hill End isn't far away, there's a huge tunnel mine there. They sometimes do tours. One of the largest nuggets of gold was found in Hill End (man sized, about 290kg).
If you want to go to the beach, come to Port Macquarie, plenty of beaches here and some great coastal venues
You might need a boat not a car at this point
Blue Mountains are gorgeous and a must see. Definitely head out west from there.
I lived there for 2 years for work. Definitely recommend it for a nice get away.
My only suggestion is to make sure you’re not driving past Dubbo in the dark. There are lots of kangaroos along the road and they will fight you and your car without batting an eye. So make sure you do the drive during the day.
Good trip for the amount of time they have to actually experience some places and maximise what they see, but that is a tiny section of the state.
Their planned trips to either Cobar or Lightning Ridge won't let them see much and will largely mean retracing their steps to get back and seeing a whole lot of nothing.
If you did say Sydney to Lightning Ridge via Bathurst/Orange/Dubbo/Coonamble/Walgett, then back via Narabri/Coonabarabran/Dunedoo/Gulgong/Mudgee/Lithgow. You're looking at around 20 hours of driving, which really cuts into your time actually enjoying being there. This track has a lot more to see than the next. I'd go with this if I wanted to maximise things to see and different sorts of terrain.
Cobar via either Mudgee/Dubbo or Bathurst/Orange/Dubbo. Then south to Griffith and back to Sydney via Wagga, Canberra is again around 20 hours of driving.
I'm using larger towns/cities as landmarks but if you look on the maps around those you choose many smaller places near those loops.
Yep, a nice drive, I'm in Grenfell so swing by for a cuppa!
Second this. Avoid dusk/dawn/night driving if you can.
Because you're going outback, buy excess reduction on the rental.
If you get caught out, try to drive behind a semi. Close enough to use them as protection, while far enough away to avoid any road kill.
You should not need money to exist in this world. It is a scam to enslave you. It's not hard enough to get through life without a good ole dehumanisation of everyone in a bad situation.
> "DCJ and St Vincent de Paul staff have on multiple occasions engaged with rough sleepers in Wilks Park, offering temporary accommodation," the statement said. "All offers have been declined."
I bet they offered to collect all their belongs and store them too,- in a garbage truck and at the nearest landfill site. That would remove the homeless problem, from the view of the general public. Then when they are tossed back out on the street with nothing, no one will be any wiser.
Sounds like Councillor Hayes knows the state govt won't be offering anything resembling a solution, let's hope media awareness of the situation and some community pressure forces a better outcome.
Squatski whynotski?
Absolutely, this!
No home? better dehumanise them too cause it's clearly not hard enough to exist.
How is Loftus a small town?
SMALL TOWNS OF AUSTRALIA (I mean Sydney)
I was about to say the same thing: it's a Sydney suburb, hardly small town vibes.
I’m looking at rental properties near airports since I’m a full time flying student. But since my gf is coming with me, safety is of great concern to me.
She’s a nurse and often will be working night shifts and I’m more than aware that there are some cities, suburbs and towns are straight up unsafe to walk through alone.
I was also wondering what people think of the general culture as well as the services (food places, gyms, entertainment etc…).
State run statistics show a mixed bag for Shellharbour and its surrounding area, and Wollongong seems to be a bit of a nearby problem child but I thought I’d reach out to you guys. Any opinions welcome.
Shellharbour is white bread suburbia. Lots of new investment around a new marina for aspiring wealth. Not bad if you like that sort of thing. I personally prefer the old part of Shellharbour. Nearby Warilla has sections of lower income and social housing. Not scary but would have some crime.
Wollongong isnt really a problem child. Its a city with what you expect from a city - a wide range of people.
Its all relative to your perspective.
I don't live in Shellharbour but I've visited the hospital and spent some time in the region and it seemed very safe to me at night. I'm happy to be corrected by someone who lives there.
Also you might get more traction on r/australia or r/sydney
Try r/Wollongong
I was born and raised in Shellharbour, and moved back there until recently. It's more than safe enough. Just don't live in the obvious social housing areas and you'll be fine.
It’s mostly safe . As stated above there are pockets of areas around barrack heights, warilla and Albion park rail that are a bit unsafe and have some drug issues and disadvantage but on the whole it’s good. I’ve lived here most of my life and never been broken into or had any issues . General culture is ok if you are an outdoors person . Good beaches and walks etc. Barely any decent night life or bands if you are into that . A few good eateries and cafe culture . Lots of suburbia and pretty white bread with limited diversity . It’s slightly dull and pretty quiet . Loads of gyms .
You should be right
[The Fair work decision release PDF](https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:4f20c171-08c4-30db-ab0b-3f3c4a9ba8f2)
EDIT: I read through the whole thing. Cliff notes are:
Judge found the the numbers seemed made-up, undefended and completely unconvincing, and that safety was never in doubt, with the Unions showing they were willing to pick up tools when emergencies and safety needs arose.
Best part:
[139] I find that no part of the protected action of the Unions (either individually or together), or the totality of the protected action of the Unions (either individually or together), that is challenged in the Applications has threatened, is threatening, or would threaten to endanger the life, the personal safety or health, or the welfare, of the population or of part of it, or cause significant damage to the Australian economy or an important part of it.
[140] The Applications are dismissed.
What I see is 12yrs of liberal leadership pushing down blue collar wages and living standards for white collar profits. I do however think that in NSW their infrastructure building has been a step forward albeit giving away huge contracts to overseas companies who completely botched ferry and rail builds which should have been built here.
Guaranteed Albo will get things back on track and start looking after the real Australian workers but at a cost to white collar profits which will be pushed down people's throats come election time when by then the majority of people will have forgotten how bad scomo and that god awful South African treasurer where to our once great country.
NSW Coalition government's legal arguments thoroughly demolished.
White / Blue collar it's another day of battling to get to work tomorrow. Great.

Just want to know some good country towns too explore/roadtrip too. It doesn’t have to be fancy or anything in the towns just nice places too drive by, artworks etc

Hillend end and Sofala near Goulburn are both quaint little villages. Cemetery and visitors centre at Cowra are interesting historically. The Japanese garden there sounds great but yet to see it.

Lightning Ridge, Coonabarabran, Glen Innes, Dubbo, Bathurst

Tilba

Rylstone.

Do a lap around Mount Panorama in Bathurst, pretty spectacular even if you're not into all of that like I am. A lot of people think the racetrack is closed but it's a public road. Open most of the time unless there are events on of course.

If you're with a race fan, or even a racing video game fan they'll love it even more.

Caught the train to Dubbo recently, went to the zoo, it was pretty nice, you could always go there. Zoo in Dubbo is loads better than Taronga.

Uralla. Armidale.

Where are you based? if Sydney, out past the mountains is beautiful - Hartley, Oberon, etc. Even on the Nth side of the mountains, ie, Mt Tomah. Re Hartley, The lolly bug (a shop) was there, is being rebuilt. Talisman gallery with beautiful handmade wrought iron pieces and jewellery.

Tingha, Green Valley Farm. Thank me later.

No way you’d miss barellan, ardlethon and ariah park. Awesome towns, 10/10 would recommend

Gulgong is nice. Has original cobblestone streets in some parts and nice parks. Cobar is also worth a visit if out that far with the slag dump and open cut mine lookout.

Tenterfield and the area around it is beautiful.

You could go straight up the Northern Rivers: Yamba, Maclean, Evans Head, Ballina, Lennox Head, Brunswick Heads, Pottsville, Kingscliff.

Gives you options to duck inland and see places like Grafton, Lismore, Nimbin, Murwillumbah and Wollumbin (Mount Warning)

Jeez moneybags, did you win Powerball? Brave of you to drive, petrol prices being what they are.

It kinda depends which part of NSW you're in and how far you can/want to go.

Will agree with others who have already called out Mudgee and Orange. Otherwise, Bowral and Berrima to the south, and Parkes if you want to venture further.

Does Canberra count as a country town? You can do the Highlands, Canberra, and Cooma on the one trip.

What part of NSW?

Appreciate all the comments everyone has wrote. I live in Wollongong I just wanted to get ideas for any places near or far. Thank you again for all the comments!

All of these plus Mudgee and Orange

Near "Goulburn river" I think you mean. Hill end is certainly nowhere near Goulburn.

Also I have been going to Hill End since I was a kid and know the town well....

DO NOT BUY A SINGLE THING FROM THERE. Make sure you buy what ever you need from Bathurst or Mudgee or somewhere else. Hill End pub and the shop/petrol station there are the biggest rorters I have ever come across.

I came here to say Sofala too. What a gem of a find that town was.

Can confirm you will do glen innes in two hours, I grew up there, unless you plan around the show or Celtic festival

I back this

Also, take your dinner up there (the park at the top of the race track) on a clear night and enjoy the view.

+1

Stay in the cabins at the zoo, they're lovely, and pretty reasonably priced if you go with a couple of people

There’s more in Dubbo than the zoo tho

I wish I won powerball! Just wanting ideas haha. I’m in Wollongong.

Only other thing I saw was the old gaol which was ok

So I'm in Sydney visiting family/friends for a few weeks, and it's my first time in Australia. We've got a few trips planned and I'd like to do one into the outback from Sydney, to see some small towns out there and get a real sense of the scale of NSW/Australia. Ideally, we'd be away for 3 nights (so 4 days driving) and we'll have 2 drivers. Does anybody have any suggestions for where we could go? Current thoughts are either heading west to Cobar, or northwest to Lightning Ridge.

Definitely lightning Ridge, it's an odd little town and I love it

I'd look for higher ground considering it's flooding in parts of NSW, somewhere away from the rivers too, cause flash flooding.

My 2c would be Golbburn, Yass, Crookwell, Wombat, Young Cowra, and swing westish to Orange then NE to whatever towns lead you back to Muswellbrook/Singleton. That should cover a lot of minor country towns ands give you a feel for NSw west of the great dividing range.

Pick up one of the servo maps and just cruise the map. At one stage, the NRMA had/sold good accommodation or caravan camping guides.

I suggest something like that as it is easy to flex and change compared to a head long dash each day to some distant point.

I just want to point out that people have given you great suggestions for heading into country NSW.

But this may not be your idea of “the outback”.

Don’t expect to hit red dust territory on this road trip. That will require a much bigger drive than you have time for.

Highly recommend swinging by Orange, beautiful town and people, and the wine isn’t bad either!

Cowra 2794, has a beautiful Japanese Gardens. Spread out over about 5 acres with traditional Japanese houses, large Japanese trees and other Japanese plants. Large koi pond and a beautiful restaurant.

We also have a old Priosoner Of War camp within walking distance, one of Australia's Peace Bells and a great live projection of escape of the POW camp at the information centre.

I'm very proud of the Japanese Gardens, my family is the reason we have it here.

Cowra also has a great park within 3 minutes walking distance of the Japanese gardens. With beautiful views of the bellview area.

We also have some good pubs with good food. I'd highly recommend going to the Imperial for lunch if you decide to come through. The meals are big and well done.

You could also check out Sofala, it's a very small town within an hours drive of Cowra where they found alot of gold. Great pub there and a good river you could have a picknick at.

There are two large towns within an hour of Cowra, Bathurst and Orange. They are south west.

Hill End isn't far away, there's a huge tunnel mine there. They sometimes do tours. One of the largest nuggets of gold was found in Hill End (man sized, about 290kg).

If you want to go to the beach, come to Port Macquarie, plenty of beaches here and some great coastal venues

You might need a boat not a car at this point

Blue Mountains are gorgeous and a must see. Definitely head out west from there.

I lived there for 2 years for work. Definitely recommend it for a nice get away.

My only suggestion is to make sure you’re not driving past Dubbo in the dark. There are lots of kangaroos along the road and they will fight you and your car without batting an eye. So make sure you do the drive during the day.

Good trip for the amount of time they have to actually experience some places and maximise what they see, but that is a tiny section of the state.

Their planned trips to either Cobar or Lightning Ridge won't let them see much and will largely mean retracing their steps to get back and seeing a whole lot of nothing.

If you did say Sydney to Lightning Ridge via Bathurst/Orange/Dubbo/Coonamble/Walgett, then back via Narabri/Coonabarabran/Dunedoo/Gulgong/Mudgee/Lithgow. You're looking at around 20 hours of driving, which really cuts into your time actually enjoying being there. This track has a lot more to see than the next. I'd go with this if I wanted to maximise things to see and different sorts of terrain.

Cobar via either Mudgee/Dubbo or Bathurst/Orange/Dubbo. Then south to Griffith and back to Sydney via Wagga, Canberra is again around 20 hours of driving.

I'm using larger towns/cities as landmarks but if you look on the maps around those you choose many smaller places near those loops.

Yep, a nice drive, I'm in Grenfell so swing by for a cuppa!

Second this. Avoid dusk/dawn/night driving if you can.

Because you're going outback, buy excess reduction on the rental.

If you get caught out, try to drive behind a semi. Close enough to use them as protection, while far enough away to avoid any road kill.

You should not need money to exist in this world. It is a scam to enslave you. It's not hard enough to get through life without a good ole dehumanisation of everyone in a bad situation.

> "DCJ and St Vincent de Paul staff have on multiple occasions engaged with rough sleepers in Wilks Park, offering temporary accommodation," the statement said. "All offers have been declined."

I bet they offered to collect all their belongs and store them too,- in a garbage truck and at the nearest landfill site. That would remove the homeless problem, from the view of the general public. Then when they are tossed back out on the street with nothing, no one will be any wiser.

Sounds like Councillor Hayes knows the state govt won't be offering anything resembling a solution, let's hope media awareness of the situation and some community pressure forces a better outcome.

Squatski whynotski?

Absolutely, this!

No home? better dehumanise them too cause it's clearly not hard enough to exist.

How is Loftus a small town?

SMALL TOWNS OF AUSTRALIA (I mean Sydney)

I was about to say the same thing: it's a Sydney suburb, hardly small town vibes.

I’m looking at rental properties near airports since I’m a full time flying student. But since my gf is coming with me, safety is of great concern to me.

She’s a nurse and often will be working night shifts and I’m more than aware that there are some cities, suburbs and towns are straight up unsafe to walk through alone.

I was also wondering what people think of the general culture as well as the services (food places, gyms, entertainment etc…).

State run statistics show a mixed bag for Shellharbour and its surrounding area, and Wollongong seems to be a bit of a nearby problem child but I thought I’d reach out to you guys. Any opinions welcome.

Shellharbour is white bread suburbia. Lots of new investment around a new marina for aspiring wealth. Not bad if you like that sort of thing. I personally prefer the old part of Shellharbour. Nearby Warilla has sections of lower income and social housing. Not scary but would have some crime.

Wollongong isnt really a problem child. Its a city with what you expect from a city - a wide range of people.

Its all relative to your perspective.

I don't live in Shellharbour but I've visited the hospital and spent some time in the region and it seemed very safe to me at night. I'm happy to be corrected by someone who lives there.

Also you might get more traction on r/australia or r/sydney

Try r/Wollongong

I was born and raised in Shellharbour, and moved back there until recently. It's more than safe enough. Just don't live in the obvious social housing areas and you'll be fine.

It’s mostly safe . As stated above there are pockets of areas around barrack heights, warilla and Albion park rail that are a bit unsafe and have some drug issues and disadvantage but on the whole it’s good. I’ve lived here most of my life and never been broken into or had any issues . General culture is ok if you are an outdoors person . Good beaches and walks etc. Barely any decent night life or bands if you are into that . A few good eateries and cafe culture . Lots of suburbia and pretty white bread with limited diversity . It’s slightly dull and pretty quiet . Loads of gyms .

You should be right

[The Fair work decision release PDF](https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:4f20c171-08c4-30db-ab0b-3f3c4a9ba8f2)

EDIT: I read through the whole thing. Cliff notes are:

Judge found the the numbers seemed made-up, undefended and completely unconvincing, and that safety was never in doubt, with the Unions showing they were willing to pick up tools when emergencies and safety needs arose.

Best part:

[139] I find that no part of the protected action of the Unions (either individually or together), or the totality of the protected action of the Unions (either individually or together), that is challenged in the Applications has threatened, is threatening, or would threaten to endanger the life, the personal safety or health, or the welfare, of the population or of part of it, or cause significant damage to the Australian economy or an important part of it.

[140] The Applications are dismissed.

What I see is 12yrs of liberal leadership pushing down blue collar wages and living standards for white collar profits. I do however think that in NSW their infrastructure building has been a step forward albeit giving away huge contracts to overseas companies who completely botched ferry and rail builds which should have been built here.

Guaranteed Albo will get things back on track and start looking after the real Australian workers but at a cost to white collar profits which will be pushed down people's throats come election time when by then the majority of people will have forgotten how bad scomo and that god awful South African treasurer where to our once great country.

NSW Coalition government's legal arguments thoroughly demolished.

White / Blue collar it's another day of battling to get to work tomorrow. Great.