Gunno go to Goonoo Goonoo

I’ll admit I went to Goonoo Goonoo because of the name. Even by Australian standards it’s a strange one. Goonoo Goonoo (pronounced gunna g’noo), which means plenty of water in local Kamilaroi/Gomeroi language, is near the town of Tamworth, around four hours north-west of Sydney. Once a wealthy working merino property, rich in colonial history,...

Byabarra Cafe Bakehouse Bar

Straight out of a coming-of-age story, the Byabarra Café Bakehouse Bar is set in rolling green hills at the foot of the Comboyne Plateau, around a forty minute drive west of Port Macquarie. Byabarra itself is a dot on the map, nothing more than a clutch of houses, an historic church and acres of prime...

Canoelands – choose your own fruity adventure

As far as placenames go, Canoelands sounds like an idyllic summer on a river somewhere. When I arrive via a long and winding road from Dural, strangely there's no river or canoe in sight. Instead there's a little house on the prairie style wooden shed jam-packed with condiments and fruit trees stretching to the horizon. Canoelands is a...

Pick your own strawberries on the Pacific Highway!

I guess it's a sad indictment on modern life that picking your own strawberries is now a tourist attraction. And it's going gangbusters, if my visit to Ricardoes Tomatoes & Strawberries at Port Macquarie on an ordinary Monday morning is anything to go by. Ricardoes is a ten minute drive out of town and is...

Healthy eating on the road

Eating new foods is one of the best things about travel. But after a few weeks of the good life, sometimes it's difficult to fit into your travel pants. So how do you balance trying new foods and experiencing all that a new destination has to offer and not turning into too much of a chubster? Maybe...

Calling all foodies: Milawa

If you are an Aussie foodie who hasn't been to Milawa http://www.milawagourmet.com, then get out the bucket list and put it on the top. Then pack the car, because anytime from now onwards is an excellent time to visit Australia's Very First Gourmet Region. At 31km by car from Beechworth, Milawa's cooler climate flatlands ringed by hinterland lends itself to in...

A new pasta to combat depression

Yes, it's true! Paste nuove per combattere la depressione (allungano la vita!). According to this pasticceria in Bologna these new types of cakes will relieve depression and lengthen lifespan. I like this shopowner's sense of humour!

Why do some eateries go off?

I've always wondered what it is about some eateries that make them so popular, while others languish. Take, for instance, The Butcher's Block, in Wahroonga. This eatery has been open for around six months and the hype doesn't seem to be dying down any time soon. Every day from 6am it's full. It's more popular than...

Korean food fad puts Gangnam style in the shade

  Korean food, so long the poor cousin of Japanese, has finally stepped onto the foodie stage and taken a bow. Sydney is now full of fresh, fiery, authentic Korean eateries and a strong Korean culture. The SMH recently ran a feature on the explosion of Korean food in Sydney and some of the hot...

Have you eaten an alpaca?

I know I know, they are cute and furry and have these big doe eyes. But what do they taste like? To find out, I went down to The Berry Hotel, funnily enough at Berry, and tried their Alpaca Burger. This little number was in the 2014 SMH's Good Pub Guide's Top Six Burgers, in fact it...