The Best Things to Do in the Southern Tablelands

Two trails reveal why this region of culinary and natural riches should be your next getaway.

Bungendore

Make The Gathering café your first stop in Bungendore, just over 30 minutes drive from Canberra on the new Wine, Water, Wonder trail, and try the fluffy French Toast and spicy eggs Benedict on a bagel. After breakfast, head for Bungendore Wood Works Gallery, for pieces by more than 200 Australian artists and makers, and Bungendore Leather & Trading, which is packed to its exposed timber rafters with leather goods. Then enjoy a cooking class with French-born chef Christophe Gregoire at his restaurant, Le Très Bon. Be charmed by stories from his travels as you whip up crème brûlée, lemon sorbet or coq au vin.

Lake George and Collector

Edgar, one of the tiny houses at Lake George Winery

“Blackberries on steak? Yep, some people thought I was crazy,” says Joe McCulloch, the new chef at Westering Restaurant at Lake George Winery. For a relaxing lunch (book a window seat in the dining room), there’s more of his inventive fare, including mushroom and manchego flan with “tortured” pumpkin and a micro-salad and hulled tomato stuffed with feta, pistachio, walnuts and dried fruit. Each course is paired with the winery’s viognier, chardonnay, riesling or rosé.

You can stay on site in one of two tiny homes perched on the hill above the vines. Sip wine by a firepit before falling asleep to the sounds of nature and waking to views over Lake George. While you’re here, take the 10-minute drive to the small town of Collector for more top drops at the cellar door of Collector Wines (the chardonnay is a standout) or a bite to eat at Some Cafe, where comfort food is a speciality – the toastie is stacked with local Pialligo free-range ham.

Goulburn and Bungonia National Park

A 30-minute drive from Collector will land you in Goulburn, one of the stops on the Wild Hume trail. Settle in at restored mansion Clonsilla – built in 1907, it’s now a four-bedroom home with manicured gardens and its own glasshouse. Nab the vast first bedroom on the left to feel like lord of the manor.

It’s an easy walk to The Park Cafe for its strudels, tarts, slices and meringues. Fuel up for a climb to the top of the tower at the Rocky Hill War Memorial and Museum on Memorial Road, the best place to get the lay of the land. Also put Argyle Emporium on your to-do list; this second-hand bookstore on Sloane Street fills the original Goulburn Police Station – cells and all. “We’ve got roughly 400,000 books, all organised into genres,” says owner Tony Dunn.

If losing yourself in wilderness is more your thing, drive half an hour east to Bungonia National Park. Here, The Lookdown lookout – with panoramic views of dramatic gorges and canyons – jutts from a clifftop just 50 metres from the carpark. The adjoining pathway leads to a narrower lookout, suitable for one or two at a time to walk the plank over a sheer drop. The five-hour Red Track will lead you into narrow Bungonia Slot Canyon, where you might need to wade through creeks. Your reward? Gorgeous views down valleys forged by the Shoalhaven River and close encounters with wallabies, wallaroos and lyrebirds.