The Hume Highway is Central NSW’s best-kept travel secret, a sweeping, pastoral alternative to the busier mountain routes, rolling north from Sydney’s South-West and Canberra through some of the state’s most quietly beautiful countryside.

Big Merino Goulburn

Stop in Goulburn for the Big Merino and a flat white before heading north along the Tablelands Way, where layer upon layer of blue-tinged hills and steep river valleys unfold through the charming stone town of Taralga.

Taralga

Journey’s end is the adventure playground of Oberon, where pine forests thick with mushrooms, and the breathtaking Mayfield Garden, the largest cool-climate private garden in Australia, reward every kilometre of the drive.

Mayfield Garden