Cowra

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It has been nearly 4 weeks since we took a short road trip to Cowra, New South Wales. We drove about 2 hours from Canberra and stayed overnight in this pleasantly surprising, lovely town.

We left on a Saturday morning and arrived around lunch time. Our first stop was Cowra Hot Bake for lunch. There was not much that was appetising to the kids, but we bought a couple of meat pies, donuts, cheese and bacon roll and a caramel slice. We also bought some yogurt at Coles and then found a random bench and ate our lunch there.

We drove to the Cowra Japanese Garden and Cultural Centre afterwards and found that we could have had our lunch at the park just outside the gardens. We explored the largest Japanese Garden in the southern hemisphere most of the afternoon. It was a tranquil and beautiful place. Nicholas (and Phil and I) took many photos and Catherine liked feeding the fish and ducks. We bought fish and duck food for $2 at the entrance. I was hoping for some autumn colour but it was still too early in the season. However, there were plenty of flowering camellias to enjoy.

We had afternoon tea at the nice garden café (another place we realised would have been good for lunch) before we checked out the Cowra Nature Based Adventure Playground not far from the garden. We took in the scenic view of Cowra from Bellevue Hill.

Our accommodation for the night was at Townhouse Motel which was great value for money. It was in a convenient location. After check-in, the kids braved the very cold outdoor pool for about 20 minutes. Our room was small, but it did the job for just one night. It was walking distance to pick up ok Chinese takeaway from Kenny Tucker and ice cream for dessert from Coles. Netflix was free so we had our family movie night and watched Weathering with You. We had cooked breakfast at the motel the next morning.

We headed out to the Cowra POW Campsite after we checked out of the motel. It was a beautiful sunny day but windy and cold out in the open. Visiting the POW Campsite was educational for all of us. We learned about the campsite and the infamous breakout during World War II. We also visited the Cowra Visitor Information Centre and watched an interesting hologram show about the breakout. The rail museum was another place on our must-see list which also did not disappoint. We were able to go on an old train and walk the length of several carriages. It was also neat to see another train turntable. We left Cowra learning more about Australia’s history.