Road less travelled = most rewarding

“Are you sure you’re in appropriate footwear?” organic farmer Paul Nolte asks as we enter his free range chicken coup? He has a fair point – expensive suede ballet flats and dewy farmlands aren’t a match made in heaven. The city slickers have arrived and it’s clear they’re unprepared.

It’s an early Spring morning in Riverina, NSW. A bright blue sky stretches over golden canola fields and pretty cherry blossom paddocks. The air is crisp and clean, and the busy streets of Sydney feel like a million miles away. We’re on a weekend getaway to Riverina to get the lowdown on the region’s reputation as emerging foodie haven and relaxing country retreat. Riverina isn’t high on the tourist destination hit-list; we’re taking the road less travelled.

From paddock to plate
Farmer Paul walks us around his land pointing out new seedlings, vegetable patches and explaining the processes involved in organic farming. We stop to munch on purple carrots, snowpeas, asparagus and Tasmania pepper leaves. It all tastes so delicious and a far cry from the produce at Coles and Woolies. The farm’s paddock-to-plate philosophy is realised at their own eatery (and B&B), Mates Gully, in the nearby city of Wagga Wagga, serving up hearty meals and delicious just-picked fruit cakes.

The next stop on our Riverina foodie adventure is Wollundry Olive Grove; another family owned farm that run tours for individuals and small groups. The very lovely Joo-Yee walks us through the sun-dappled plantations and explains the farming and fermenting techniques to get the perfect olive / olive oil. We sample some varieties and make a group decision that the chilli and mandarin flavoured table olives are our faves.

Whilst a relatively small producer, Wollundry’s delicious product can be found in several hotels and hatted restaurants across Oz. Armed with a few jars of the salty fruits, and a whole new appreciation and understanding for farming, we hit the road to Junee in search of lunch.

OMG chocolate factory
Our lunch destination, Graze Restaurant, is part of the award-winning Junee Licorice and Chocolate Factory (woohoo). The striking factory building is a reclaimed flour mill, part brick and steel, dominating the little heritage town.

I opt for a light lunch of corn-fritters with pancetta and seasonal salad in anticipation of sampling the factory’s sugary treats that I can smell wafting tantalisingly into the restaurant. I have to stop myself from saying in a whiny voice “can we get down yet?”.

Thankfully all my Willy Wonka fantasies are brought to life as we’re taken behind the scenes into the factory to make our very own giant freckle. Unsurprisingly I am a natural chocolate maker (sampling your produce being a very important component of the job). On completing my beautiful freckle, I decide that once the OH&S hairnets have been made more attractive, I will move into my next career as a chocolatier. Oh yes!

Whilst a reasonably sized and busy attraction (equipped with a selection of shops, outdoor seating area and a café), the factory doesn’t feel commercial, and most importantly, the Belgian-style, organic chocolate is heavenly. Here are just a few of the chocolate-coated treats I sampled: licorice, cranberries, almonds, muscats, macadamias, sun-dried cherries and strawberries. All, might I add, are unbelievably yummy and available at selected retailers throughout the country.

Wagga what?
It was time to journey back to Wagga Wagga and discover a little more about the city. A lot of visitors to Wagga simply use it as a rest or food stop on the long journey between Melbourne and Sydney. What people might not know is that the township has an emerging food and culture scene, notably the National Art Glass Gallery. Following the morning’s indulgences we get our culture on and admire the impressive glass collection, which includes pieces you can purchase. The neighbouring art gallery is also well worth a look.

Before dinner we pop into the city’s micro-brewery, the Thirsty Crow, to meet the brewmaster and sample a paddle of his site-made beers. The beers range from light golden ale styles to deeper milk stouts. And as with our other Riverina food experiences, the micro-brewery has a very intimate feel with the exposed tanks in the main body of the bar. It’s a cool joint that I could easily spend the evening in.

Our dinner venue is Oakroom (part of the Townhouse hotel) in the centre of Wagga. The menu is mod-oz with a focus on seasonal, local produce. I choose the ballotine of chicken stuffed with chermoula roasted pumpkin, white bean puree, chargrilled capsicum pesto and cucumber yogurt (partly because I was intrigued what a ballotine was and partly because the ingredients sounded yum).

Angela gets the slow cooked Riverina lamb rump with potato and hazelnut puree, asparagus and garden peas. Despite the large portions we lick our plates clean and deliver big thumbs up to our friendly waitress. However, the winner of the evening goes to the shared dessert – a white chocolate pancotta with strawberry jelly and a pistachio cream. Oh my gosh, we may never eat again; we are fit to burst.

Luckily our accommodation at Mates Gully is nearby. The apartment style rooms are large with high ceilings, beautiful sash windows and are decked out with cool furnishings and unusual artwork. Each room has a feature bathtub that I choose to wallow in following a very heavy day of delicious eating and drinking.

Kayaking the Murrumbidgee River
Bright eyed and bushy tailed we wake early to journey to Narrandera to get on the Murrumbidgee River. The indulgences of the previous day are about to be wiped clean as we embark on a 12 kilometre kayaking adventure down the Murrumbidgee River. Thankfully we are being guided downstream by Ian Hardie, owner of Riverina Experience Tours.

The kayaking is surprisingly easy to pick-up (note: I am not a natural athlete, chocolate tasting being more my type of extracurricular activity) and the gentle current helps us glide through the water. It’s a rejuvenating few hours kayaking, spotting koalas and relishing the peace of the river. Only when we reach our destination do we realise that we haven’t heard a car or other human whilst being on the water. *Sigh* getting away from the city feels good.

One for the road
Home time beckons and we make our way north to Griffith where we’ll be flying back to Sydney.

Griffith is a buzzing little township with a pretty main street lined with Italian restaurants and bakeries, cute homeware and fashion stores plus a relatively large number of beauty salons (the city’s residents clearly like to look after themselves!). I could happily loose a day wandering around.
The Griffith region is famous for wine, notably spicy reds and sweet dessert wines so it would be rude not to try before we leave. We sadly only have time to visit one winery – Westend Estates – but fear not, we make up for it by trying a significant number of wines and buying a few extremely well priced bottles. Indeed there are a large number of notable wineries in Riverina namely – McWilliam’s, De Bortoli’s, Lillypilly, Toorak and Nugan, so we take pleasure in knowing that we have an excuse to return to the region.

The verdict
Country hospitality is well known but you might not put it high on your holiday ‘must-have’ list. And that would be a mistake. Everyone we met in Riverina, from the local producers to shop assistants to our kayaking tour guide, were so welcoming and friendly. And the experiences we had were authentic and memorable.

We leave Riverina well stuffed and frankly a little smug to have ‘discovered’ such a hidden gem. So next time you’re planning a weekend getaway forget the usual getaway hit-list of Byron/ Port Douglas/ Melbourne discover the road less travelled and journey to Riverina, NSW’s secret foodie haven. City slickers – just remember to bring suitable footwear.