– alpine landscapes, a laconic river & lush farmland –
Search for directions for the drive from Sydney to Melbourne, and Google Maps will instantly suggest the direct but unimaginative route via the Hume Highway. If you want to experience some beautiful Australian countryside, rather than hundreds of kilometres of monotonous motorway, then read on. This itinerary takes you through the Snowy Mountains National Park and the upper reaches of Australia’s longest river. You’ll see some beautiful Australian alpine landscapes. Grand country towns as well as very tiny ones. Some of the most lush farming land in the country. And of course, the iconic Murray River which looms large in Australian lore.
Though our two week trip didn’t take us to Melbourne, the route that you’ll find outlined below, could easily be adapted as a leisurely first half of the trip. It will take you as far as Albury in two days. You could then choose to follow the direct route from Albury to Melbourne (about 3.5 hours) on day 3 or visit some of the other destinations that we cover elsewhere in our blog. All up, the “slow road” to Albury adds only about three and half hours to the overall drive. But it makes it more of a journey than a trudge.
We travelled this route in mid-May 2021, having decided to explore more of Australia while COVID restrictions kept us home. We decided to take a two week driving holiday through northern Victoria, following the path of the Murray River as far as Mildura, via Albury.
Our plan was to go hard with the driving on the first day, as our main destination was Victoria. If you have more time on your hands and want to explore a little more of NSW too, then we have some suggestions for stops below.
route summary from Sydney to Albury
- Sydney – Goulburn
- Goulburn – Cooma, via Collector
- Cooma – Moonbah (overnight)
- Moonbah – Khancoban
- Khancoban – Tintaldra
- Tintaldra – Albury, with stops at Neils Reserve – Mount Alfred Gap Lookout – The Kurrajongs Camp & Picnic Ground – Hume Dam.
Of course, this is only one of many possibilities. If you’re looking for more ideas check out this route which we took from Victoria back to Sydney.
first stop, goulburn
We like to take our time and enjoy the good things in life so our first stop was at Goulburn for morning tea. Niran and I hadn’t visited Goulburn for decades. In fact, we hadn’t been since they had built the diversion around the town. So we’d forgotten how grand a country town it is. We made a mental note that this might be a good weekend getaway from Sydney (it’s only two hours away). Or it could make for an extra stop en-route to Melbourne if there’s the time. The town has plenty of grand old architecture and history to explore and could easily keep you occupied for a day. The courthouse might give a taste of what we mean.
And of course, for me there was a bit of nostalgia in reacquainting myself with one of the first iconic Australian “Bigs” that I ever visited as a kid – the Big Merino just out of town.
lost dreams in collector
We made a quick stop at Collector. This is a town we had sped past many times on our way through to Canberra. We wanted to visit the village’s controversial sculpture by Tony Phantastes. Known as the Dreamer’s Gate, it caused a great deal of heartache and financial pain to its creator, who was taken to Court by the local Council to have it removed.
There’s something very poignant about the work in its current state of decay, especially when you consider the grand vision behind its creation. It’s very Gaudi-esque. And it’s easy to imagine that it might have been a major attraction for the town but for the short-sightedness of some of the locals. If you want to find out more behind the story then this ABC news article is a good start.
keeping it tiny in moonbah
Unfortunately, the weather was setting in at this point. We made a quick stop at the Pie Shop in Bredbo for lunch and the local supermarket in Cooma for that night’s dinner supplies. Then we headed on to our final stop for the day. It was a tiny house located at Moonbah which is about 10 minutes south of Jindabyne. Currently, the owner runs two tiny off-grid houses on his large property but has plans to expand. Sadly, we arrived just as the rain set in. We only had time to make a quick dash down to the river and back, meeting a kangaroo en-route.
The two tiny houses were set in an idyllic bush location and there would have been plenty to explore had the weather gods been more favourable! This is definitely another place where you could linger with more time on your hands. Especially if you wanted to explore a bit more of the area including Thredbo or Perisher. Or if you wanted to hike up to Mt Kosciuszko – Australia’s tallest peak. It’s incredibly beautiful in the spring and summer!
where the alpine way joins the murray river
The weather on day 2 pushed us on in search of bluer skies, so we began our drive down the Alpine Way. We stopped for a moment or two in Thredbo on our way to Tintaldra.
This is a really pretty drive through Alpine Forest on about 60km of winding road. Niran, being the driving buff that he is, enjoyed every minute of it. We even had to stop for the reindeer on the road – not a common sight in Australia!
On the way through the park, we detoured to Scammell’s Lookout to catch a view back at the route we had taken. I’m sure we could have seen much further but for the rain clouds.
check out the hydro scheme at khancoban
Next stop was Khancoban at the edge of the park, best known as the location of Murray 1 Power Station, which is now closed to visitors, but it’s still possible to stop at the lookout across the road and take photos.
Murray 1 is one of the two hydroelectric power stations that are part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme. It’s fed by natural inflow from the Australian Alps and discharges into the Murray 2 pondage about 5 kilometres southeast of Khancoban. Interestingly, even though the power stations are in NSW, they exclusively supply power to the Victorian grid.
We were lucky enough to encounter a gent at the lookout who had worked there as a young man, and he gave us a personal account of what life was like when he lived in the area in the 1960’s. His overwhelming memory was that it was dead boring for a bunch of guys in their 20’s – with absolutely nothing to do in their spare time but to wander along the river. He also gave us some information on how the power generation process worked – how lucky was that! For less fortunate visitors, there’s a full information board at the lookout which gives a pretty thorough explanation of what you’re looking at.
Travelling on from Khancoban, the Alpine Way becomes Murray River Road, and it’s possible to pretty much drive alongside the course of the river all the way through to Albury and then onwards to Mildura. The Murray River defines the border between the states of NSW and Victoria and is the longest river in Australia. It’s iconic – plain and simple. We explored only a fraction of what’s available and I’d recommend this website if you want to find out a bit more about what’s possible.
beautiful farmland and gorgeous photo opportunities
This section of the drive through south east NSW and north east Victoria was stunning and passes through some absolutely gorgeous countryside comprising of lush green plains surrounded by distant mountains and hills. In fact it was some of the best countryside that Niran and I have so far experienced in Australia. The Murray sparkled in the morning sun and gently snaked its way back and forth alongside the road, leaving a really special impression on both of us. It felt so odd that we had this place almost entirely on our own as we had encountered so few cars on the road! Why is this not better known?
On the stretch of road between Khancoban and Tintaldra we stopped for a nice photo opportunity at Farran’s Lookout.
Apparently, it’s even more gorgeous in winter with the possibility of capturing snow capped snowy mountains in the distance – on a clear day!
the tiny towns of tintaldra and walwa
By this stage, we were feeling a little peckish and decided that the Tintaldra Store might make a nice stop. Tintaldra is a tiny village with only a handful of buildings. The Store has a tearoom and museum, both as authentic as country Australia gets.
The lovely lady who ran it offered us a Devonshire Tea at the picnic table out the back – overlooking the Murray and surrounding farmland. A lovely little spot. Just behind the Store was the old bakery – no longer used.
It dates back to 1928 and is open to visitors – the oven is still faithfully preserved and there’s a collection of vintage objects on display. We grabbed the photocopied notes on display in the bakery and read up about the history of the place as we ploughed through our yummy scones, jam & cream.
Afterwards we wandered a little further down the road to the Tintaldra Bridge which spans the Murray and, of course, connects the border of NSW and Victoria – the Murray River forming for the most part the physical border between the two states along its length.
There’s an interesting sculpture on what looks to be an old bridge pylon in the middle of the river.
And the deserted bridge itself.
Our next stop along the way was at Walwa – not quite as sleepy as Tintaldra – but close. Apparently, its population had declined by about a third over the ten years to the last census in 2016 – the plight of many Australian country towns, though it will be interesting to see if COVID changes this. The largest store was The Walwa General Store – again about as fair dinkum as you can get.
The plain burgers were authentic old-Aussie style and delicious.
hiking in the mount lawson state park
We continued on the Murray River Road after lunch, pausing at the Mt Alfred Gap & Lookout for some more photos of the gorgeous countryside, before stopping at The Kurrajongs Camp & Picnic Grounds.
We had decided that a bit of exercise was in order after the long drive. We got that in spades with the Flaggy Creek Gorge Walking Track. It was mid-afternoon and sunset was in about a couple of hours so we opted for the Valley View 3km return hike.
We’re not experienced hikers and the initial climb was described as “challenging”. In truth, all of it was – at least for me. Niran fared better, being the fitter of the two of us. It was steep but well-marked and even I – not the fittest of specimens – managed to get up high enough to enjoy the spectacular views of the valley and Murray River below.
Really breathtaking with the sun angling low in the sky at that time of day. And so peaceful. Well worth the effort.
a watery cemetery
By this stage we had to get a hurry on, and headed off towards Albury. Along the route around the Granya portion of the Murray River Road we saw some of the most astounding scenery of the day – great stands of dead gums scattered throughout the river for miles. We eventually stopped at a bend in the road at Talmalmo and lingered as the sun set and the colours over the river slowly changed from gold to pink to red.
It was incredibly beautiful. How lucky were we to have struck this at the best time of the day! Whilst tragic that the trees died due to the creation of lake Hume, they’ve left us with an achingly beautiful watery cemetery.
The rest of the drive was mostly in the dark. You could stop at Albury or Wodonga for the night and then continue on to Melbourne the next day. But we were going to take the slow road through to north western reaches of the Murray up to Mildura. So we headed on to Rutherglen and some wine tasting the next day.
our final take
We both agreed that it had been one of the nicest drives we’ve taken through country Australia – not a well-known route and a revelation to us.
