NRMA Bathurst Panorama

Friday — arriving in the dark

Friday was a working day, so we left Sydney late and drove the whole way in heavy rain. We reached Kelso somewhere between eight and nine at night. This is the first trip in our record where that did not matter: there was nothing to put up. We opened the doors, carried everything in, ate, and that was the evening. Arriving after dark in the rain is the argument for a cabin, in one sentence.

There are no photographs from the Friday, and that is the honest reason why.

Saturday — the road to O’Connell

It was grey and showery. I woke early and walked while everyone else slept; my sister’s family were already up, so we had tea in their cabin. By ten the rest of the house was still asleep, so we took the car out with no destination at all and simply followed the brown tourist drive signs east out of Kelso.

It turns into a genuinely good road. We worked out some way along that it was the scenic run through to Jenolan Caves, which we had no intention of driving, and stopped after about twenty kilometres at O’Connell — a small village on the Bathurst–Oberon road that turns out to be a conservation area in its own right, for its earth buildings. There are interpretive panels at the roadside; the cottages are rammed earth and cob, low and verandahed, with the roofline sagging the way old corrugated iron does. There is a church with a steep black spire, an avenue of memorial trees, and the sort of quiet that makes you stand in the middle of the road to take the photograph.

We had coffee at Get Roasted, a brick cottage on the O’Connell Road through the village — blue picket fence, a hanging coffee sign, and a walled courtyard of brick and gravel behind it. These were the first pictures of the whole weekend. The sign on its front fence belongs to somewhere else: it points to The Old Rectory Store, a separate shop a kilometre further on, next left down Beaconsfield Road. Easy to mistake for the cafe’s own, and we did.

We were back for lunch. A thunderstorm went over Bathurst in the afternoon — the serious warnings were for the districts around rather than the town — so the afternoon became cards, a Sequence board, and not going anywhere. It was the best part of the trip, which is not what you expect to write about a wet afternoon.

Sunday — the park, end to end

Daylight saving had started at two that morning, so everyone lost an hour and nobody noticed. It came up clear, bright and warm, and I walked the whole park before nine.

At the gate there is a gold panner — a figure in a yellow shirt and green trousers, crouched over a pan, a good head and shoulders above anyone standing next to him. He is the first thing you see turning in, and the mini golf behind him is called Gold Rush, so the theme is not accidental: Bathurst is where Australia’s gold rush started.

Inside the cabin: a living room with a sofa and a television, a kitchen with a full oven and cooktop, a round table for four, a main bedroom with a queen, a second room with bunks and a single, and a bathroom with a shower over a hob. Reverse-cycle air conditioning, and linen provided. Each cabin has its own verandah with a table and chairs, and a car space in front of it. We photographed every room on the Monday morning, and those pictures are further down.

Mini golf is a proper course, not a token one — rock-edged greens winding round tree stumps. You collect the balls and clubs from reception and bring them back; we were not charged for them. The children were on it before breakfast.

The pool is kidney-shaped, fenced, with a water-tower slide standing over it. Posted hours are 8 am to 8 pm. There is a playground on sand, a games and entertainment room with a pool table and arcade machines, an amenities block with solar panels on the roof, laundry lines, and a covered barbecue shelter with picnic tables.

There is no boom gate. You drive in and out freely, which is not true of every park we have stayed at. The car park was all but full. A few sites were still open on the Sunday of a long weekend in the school holidays, but only a few — which is the thing to know if you are thinking of turning up without a booking.

There is no cafe inside the park, and you do not need one. Walk out of the gate and the Kelso shopping strip is across the road — Harvey Norman, Officeworks, Total Tools, KFC. Everything is within walking distance, which is unusual for a holiday park and quietly very useful.

Saturday — Mount Panorama, as close as we got

For most of the year the circuit is an ordinary public road, and driving a lap is the thing everyone tells you to do in Bathurst. We drove up late on the Saturday afternoon to do exactly that, and never got on it. It had closed to the public at six that morning for the Bathurst 1000 build-up — the race itself was still five days off, 8 to 11 October.

Security let us in far enough to turn around, and sent us back out. These three are from that U-turn, and they are the whole visit: the empty pit straight with the barriers already up its full length, MOUNT PANORAMA mown into the hill above the track, and the pit building under the bridge.

So do not count on a lap if your trip is anywhere near a race. The circuit does not shut only for the days of the event; it shuts well before. Check the council’s track-closure information before you drive up.

Sunday afternoon — the fossil museum

Seven or eight minutes from the park, at 224 Howick Street in town, in the old brick school building — all arched windows and a bell tower, and worth looking at from the footpath before you go in.

Inside is the Somerville Collection: minerals and gems by the cabinet-full, fossils spanning millions of years, insects set in amber, microscopes to use, and dinosaur skeletons including one very large one whose skull hangs over you as you come through. It held a six-year-old’s attention for the best part of two hours, which is the only review that matters.

Entry, as the museum publishes it: $15 adult, $7.50 child, $11 concession, $39 a family, free under school age. It is normally closed on Wednesdays, but the board outside says it opens seven days a week through the NSW school holidays — which is why a long weekend inside the holiday period is a good time to go.

Back at the cabin it was cards again.

Monday — out by ten

Labour Day. We put the cabin back the way we found it, photographed every room on the way out, and locked the door at ten; we were on the road by about quarter past. Three hours over the mountains and we were home in Carlingford before two.

What we have learned here

• A cabin earns its money on a Friday night in October. We arrived at nine in the rain, in the dark, after a working day. There was nothing to set up and nothing to dry out in the morning.
• The circuit shuts to the public well before the race, not during it. It had closed at six on the Saturday morning; the Bathurst 1000 runs 8 to 11 October, five days later. We got as far as the gate and were turned round. If you want a lap, go well clear of race week.
• There is no boom gate at this park. You come and go freely.
• The mini golf gear comes from reception and goes back to reception. Nobody charged us. Return it, or the next family cannot play.
• Daylight saving starts on the first Sunday of October, so an early-October long weekend quietly loses an hour on the Saturday night. Allow for it if you have booked anything for Sunday morning.
• No cafe in the park; a full shopping strip across the road. Kelso has what you need within walking distance of the gate.
• Take the tourist-drive signs east. O’Connell is twenty minutes away, costs nothing, and is a better morning than most things you would plan.
• The fossil museum is ten minutes away and open every day in the school holidays. Allow two hours.
• October weather here does both things in one weekend. A wet, thundery Saturday and a warm, cloudless Sunday, and the nights are cold enough to want the heating on.

• Mount Panorama / WahluuThe circuit is a public road outside major events, with a 60 kilometre-an-hour limit and NSW road rules, and the council notes that many drivers have been fined for going faster.We drove up late on the Saturday afternoon of 3 October 2026 to do a lap, and never got on it. Security let us in far enough to turn around and sent us back out: it had closed to the public at 6am that morning for the Bathurst 1000 build-up, five days before the race itself. It shuts well before a race event, not only during it, so do not count on a lap if your trip is anywhere near one.It is fully closed during race events, and the Bathurst 1000 runs 8 to 11 October 2026 — the week after this weekend.So check the council’s track-closure information before you go up.Free
• National Motor Racing Museum400 Panorama Avenue, at the foot of the circuit.9 to 4:30; normally closed Tuesdays, open seven days in the NSW school holidays.The museum warns that access may be restricted during race events. (02) 6332 1872.Paid entry — see above
• Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum224 Howick Street, in the town centre.9 to 4:30; normally closed Wednesdays, open seven days in the school holidays. (02) 6338 2860.Paid entry — see above
• Bathurst Rail Museum126 Havannah Street, beside the station.9 to 4:30; normally closed Thursdays, open seven days in the school holidays. (02) 6338 2850.Paid entry — see above
• Chifley Home10–12 Busby Street, South Bathurst — the house of Ben Chifley, Prime Minister 1945 to 1949.Shorter hours than the others: 11 to 3, Friday to Monday only, so the Saturday, Sunday and Monday of this weekend all work. (02) 6333 6152.Paid entry — see above
• Bathurst Regional Art Gallery70–78 Keppel Street.Weekends 10 to 2 only, and closed on Mondays — including, on this weekend, the public holiday.Free
• Hill End Historic Site, by way of SofalaA gold-rush village kept by National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), which says to allow an hour and a half from Bathurst.NPWS gives the route from Gilmour Street at Kelso — minutes from the park — along Sofala Road and then Hill End Road, 2WD all weather.The site itself is always open, but the heritage office is weekdays only, so on this weekend it is shut.Old mine shafts are uncovered in places, and NPWS warns it gets very cold.No entry fee listed
• Abercrombie Caves — not this tripThe obvious cave day out from Bathurst, and closed.NPWS says the Abercrombie Karst Conservation Reserve stays shut to the public until late 2026 for flood repairs, caves, tracks and campground included.Listed so nobody plans a day around it.Closed

Back to all the trips