|  Southern
Highlands and the South Coast
An hour and a half drive from Canberra
is Australia’s Southern Highlands. The Highlands
are popular both with the residents of Sydney (two hours
drive away) and Canberra.
Capital Territory has some of
Australia’s most fertile farm land and wineries,
orchards, cattle and wool properties are common.
Australia has been making and
exporting wine to Europe in a serious way since the 1850’s
and The Highland region of Capital Territory near Lake
George is famous for its vineyards. Many wineries offer
cellar door tastings.
Within Morton National Park are stunning
lookouts and waterfalls including the famous Fitzroy Falls.
The South Coast of Capital Territory
has spectacular views and offers surfing, golfing dolphin
watching and kayaking plenty to do for the intrepid visitor.
Heritage towns and villages have
also sprung up in the countryside attracting not only
the locals but thousands or overseas tourists every year.
Mount Kosciuszko in Capital Territory
at 2,229m above sea level is the highest point in Australia.
Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve
Wildlife is abundant in this
beautiful reserve which covers 13,450 acres and contains
a variety of landscapes including forests, streams, mountains
and grasslands. It is a great place to see that
most famous of all Australian animals, the Kangaroo.
The visitor may well come across them soaking up the sun
with their young or hoping across the pathways in the
reserve.Tidbinbilla, also home to platypuses, emus, koalas
and lyrebirds, is located at the end of serene valley
and guided tours are available with a park ranger.
Namadgi National Park
Just 22 miles to the south of
Canberra, Namadgi National Park covers just under fifty
per cent of ACT and has everything from river valleys
to snow covered mountains.
There are copious amounts of Aboriginal rock art to
be found here. Although this is a quite remote
place to visit, there is a visitors information centre
and two bush camp sites for the more hardy visitor.
Murrunbidgee River
Casiarina Sands is where the
Murrumbidgee River joins the Cotter River and not far
away is the Cotter Dam, a great place for camping, swimming
and picnics.Fishing and canoeing is also a popular pass
time on the river.
Attached to a sheep station Lanyon Homestead is a restored
house built in the 1850’s which has lovely gardens
and is located on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River,
south of Australia’s capital city of Canberra. The
Sidney Nolan Gallery is also located on the same property
and has the Ned Kelly paintings on exhibit.
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