Kettle and Seed/Snowy Mountains Coffee, Cooma

Banana bread fresh-baked at Kettle and Seed, Cooma

The Style:Kettle and Seed manages a unique combination of edgy and quaint. There are really cool touches like a string of coffee cups hovering gamely above the front window as well as some great art on the walls and charts explaining different coffee flavours. The sweetness of the place comes from touches like the type of coffee ordered being handwritten in flowing script on your saucer and sugar bowls and spoons just like something straight from nanna's kitchen replacing the less appealing glass stuffed with sugar sachets. There is a real focus on eco-friendliness refelcted not only in the sugar bowl idea but also the re-usable cups on sale and the 'green' takeaway cups. The back of the cafe is dominated by a huge roaster which serves as a reminder that the coffee at Kettle and Seed is brewed and roasted on-site. It is sold as SNowy Mountains Coffee so if you love it (which you most certainly will!) you can take a bag home with you.

The Taste:The local flavour continues not only with the coffee roasted on-site but also the muffins cakes and other sweet treats baked in the kitchen daily, the bread brought in from the nearby Berridale Bakery and the house-made lemonade and iced tea. Nothing here is short on freshness or flavour.

Oh-so-chocolatey muffin baked on-site, Kettle and Seed, Cooma

Snowy Mountains Coffee roasted right here, Kettle and Seed, Cooma

Sugar bowl and coffee beans, Kettle and Seed, Cooma

The Service: The staff here know and love their products and they take the time to chat without being overbearing and pushy. The service is slick and comes with a smile.

The Price: Considering the quality and care that goes into what you get at Kettle and Seed, the prices are great. It is right on par with other cafes in the area for pricing.

The Location: Kettle and Seed and Snowy Mountains Coffee is located on Vale Street in Cooma (just off the Highway).

Home made lemonade, Kettle and Seed, Cooma

To see more reviews of Kettle and Seed and other restaurants in the area, use the urbanspoon spoonback link.

Cooma Show

Cooma Show champion ribbon

I'm a real sucker for shows. I think it stems back to my childhood when my mum and my aunty took me to the Sydney Royal Easter Show every year. I can remember spending hours trawling my way through mountains of sugary, fatty once a year treats (I still think deep fried cheese on a stick has to be one of the all time best bad foods!), looking at the animals all sleek, shiny and ready to be judged then, right at the end of the day, wandering around the gargantuan show bag hall. Through the eyes of a child, the bright plastic trinkets and lollies pinned to the display boards became immediate must-have items and luckily, mum usually gave in and obliged.

While the country shows I have stumbled across since moving west are on a much smaller scale, they still offer the chance to be a kid again even if it is just for a few hours.

Each country shows also offer a little window into the community which is hosting  it - you get to see the beady eyed stalwarts guarding the exhibitions and casting a critical eye over the entries as well as some of the talented and creative local people proudly hovering around their animals, crafts or cakes in the hope that they might get a ribbon or two.

So in the spirit of the shows, here are a few pictures from the recent Cooma Show - it fell right in the middle of some absolutely terrible weather so a lot of the exhibits were cancelled but there was still plenty to see and do. Enjoy.

Prize winning ram, Cooma Show

Floral display, Cooma Show

Champion eggs, Cooma Show

Australian Federation Guard, Cooma Show

Her Excellency, Governor General Quentin Bryce, Cooma Show

Fruit and vegetable display, Cooma Show

Champion Fleece, Cooma Show

Showbags galore! Cooma Show

Sideshow alley, Cooma Show

Tasty treats?? Cooma Show

Cooma Show

Best seat in the house, chicken snuggling on a sheep, Cooma Show

Ram, Cooma Show

The Lott, Cooma

The Lott, Cooma

The Style: The Lott in Cooma has that clever knack of being both trendy and rustic, cutting edge and cosy. It is a mish-mash of rough, warm wood and wicker baskets full of fruit clashing with bright,garish splashes of colour and the most amazing light fixture made of collanders and bare bulbs. The Lott has a wine barrel topped with free tasters of the gourmet oils, sauces and breads which are sold there as well as cupboards and shelves heaving with fresh fruit and veges, homewares, gardening gear, plants and of course, plenty to fill your tummy with over a Snowy Mountains Coffee.

Warm interiors and open kitchen, The Lott, Cooma

The rustic touch, The Lott, Cooma

The Taste: The Lott serves up a pretty high class menu - lots of nice ingredients teamed up in simple but delicious combinations. On a good day, the food at the Lott is faultless - just the other day I had some of THE best pancakes I have ever tasted. Unfortunately, it isn't always this way - I have also been dished up a pile of dry crumbs posing as a muffin (although I suspect this was the fault of the disinterested teenage waiter who microwaved it for way too long, forgot to bring it out and then, after a gentle prompt served it cold.) I do think that you are more likely than not to get good food here but I wish it hit the mark every time because then it would be a seriously great place to eat rather than a good one which has the occasional slip into mediocrity. And one last thing, the mushrooms at The Lott are cooked in olive oil - not a scrap of butter to be seen. Biting into a mushroom to have a big squirt of oil coat your mouth is not too pleasant and so hopefully they might switch to butter soon!

'Breakfast with the Lott', The Lott, Cooma

Scrambled eggs and mushrooms, The Lott, Cooma

Smoked trout eggs, The Lott, Cooma

Strawberry and ricotta pancakes, The Lott, Cooma

The Service: Like the food, the service at The Lott can be amazing one day and horrendous the next. The more experienced staff do a great job and really keep the place ticking over. The problem is, there are a lot of bored, disinterested looking kids floating around the floor some days which makes you feel like the service at McDonalds is something to cheer about. The Lott expanded a while back and it is great that such a place exists but beware for the service to see-saw depending on who comes to your table.

Free tasting - The Lott, Cooma

The Price: The food at the Lott is a little more expensive than an average Cooma cafe and on a good day when a perfect combination of really good ingredients comes your way, it is worth every cent. There have been a couple of times where I have thought that the pricing hasn't matched the service or the food but the good meals and experiences are starting to outweigh the bad so hopefully this is a sign that the management are ironing out some of the teething problems which the expansion may have created. Lets just hope The Lott didn't get too big for its super-trendy boots!


The Location: The Lott is located at 178 Sharp Street (Snowy Mountains Highway), Cooma.

Homewares for sale, the Lott, Cooma

The Greengrocer on Clifford, Goulburn

The Greengrocer on Clifford, Goulburn

The style: The Greengrocer on Clifford, Goulburn is a strange mix - part greengrocer, part cafe and pizza kitchen and the element of surprise - part bike(as in bicycle, not motor) shop. As you step into the Greengrocer, there are shelves brimming with bright and beautiful fresh fruit, veges and flowers, cabinets full of salads and scrumptious desserts, a woodfire oven and bikes. Lots of bikes, bike outfits, bike memorabilia and people who have ridden their bikes there to snack guilt free on the cakes.

Fruit, veg...and bikes - the Greengrocer on Clifford, Goulburn

The taste: The salads at the Greengrocer are tasty, fresh and some are a little off-beat. There are also really good sandwiches, fresh squeezed juices and of course, desserts. I must confess I have never tried a pizza there but my guess is that they would be pretty good if they are anything like the other food on offer. I do qualify this with the fact that I think the quality has gone downhill and become a little mediocre over time - hopefully the last time I was there was a one-off bad day because when I used to visit a few years ago, it was great.

Pasta, sandwiches and salads, the Greengrocer on Clifford, Goulburn

The service: Sorry to say it but the service leaves (quite) a bit to be desired. Yes the cafe is almost always busy but it doesn't hurt to crack a smile every now and again. I'm surprised that a place with such bad service has generated such a loyal following - its always packed so that must say something about how good the food is??


The price: By Goulburn standards, the pricing at the Greengrocer is pretty middle of the road. It is comparable to other good quality sandwich places and definitely no more expensive than a dodgy, greasy takeaway would be.

Sticky date pudding and coffee, The Greengrocer, Goulburn

Takeaway salads, the Greengrocer, Goulburn

The location: Greengrocer on Clifford is located at 37 Clifford Street in Goulburn. It is just a hop, skip and a jump from the highway which doubles as the main street through town. 


Useful links:


For info and menus - visit the Greengrocer on Clifford website

 Greengrocer on Clifford, Goulburn

Cooma Rotary Market, Cooma

Local produce, Cooma Rotary Market

The Cooma Rotary market is, not surprisingly, run by the local Rotary Club and is held on the third Sunday of each month. The market has a nice mix of food (locally grown fruit and veg, organic meat and little treats ready to eat) as well as plants, craft, clothes, jewellery and bric-a-brac. It is unexpectedly big for a country market and I have spotted a lot of the stall holders from the Canberra Rotary Farmers Market making the trip to Cooma. I have included information on some of the stallholders at the bottom of this post.

Clothes for sale, Cooma Rotary Market 

Local produce, Cooma Rotary Market

Trees for sale, Cooma Market

Centennial Park where the Cooma Rotary Market is held has some beautiful big old trees which make it quite pleasant to wander around as well as a park to keep the kids happy while you shop. One thing which made the November market distinctly 'country NSW' was the sheep being led around on a lead - in his defence, he was part of a 'guess the weight of the fleece' competition but still, not something you would expect to see at Paddy's Market in Sydney!


Cooma Rotary Market is held in Centennial Park (just off Sharp Street(Snowy Mountains Highway) in Cooma). The market runs on the third Sunday of each month.

Baked goodies, Cooma Rotary Market

Plants, Cooma Rotary Market

Candles and melts, Cooma Rotary Market

Honey, Cooma Rotary Market

Useful links:

Palarang Organic Meats


Cascades Nursery


Anthoula's Delights


Cooma Rotary Markets

Dog on the Tuckerbox and Bullocky Bills, Gundagai, NSW

Dog on the Tuckerbox, Gundagai

Bullocky Bill's, Gundagai

The Dog on the Tuckerbox is right up there with the Big Trout on the road trip must-sees in southern New South Wales. Made famous through a bush ballad, the Dog on the Tuckerbox sits proudly overlooking the back end of the Hume Highway just north of Gundagai township. Its a little bit hard to know why he looks so pleased with himself because his surrounds have become less than idyllic but still, in that way dogs do, he seems happy none the less. There have been suggestions that the dog be moved to try and maximise his visits but this has met with resistance so for now, he is still firmly in place. 

Bullock dray, Dog on the Tuckerbox, Gundagai

If you decide to stop off and pay him a visit, PLEASE don't expect him to be a 'big thing' along the lines of the Big Banana at Coffs Harbour - in actual fact, he is tiny. I was a bit surprised that there wasn't more to him but when I looked a bit harder, I noticed that he is quite a handsome little fellow and slightly less tacky than some of Australia's other road trip stop offs. Just near the Dog, there are some old bullock drays and other bits and pieces to look at as well as a small shop selling souvenirs.


To find the dog, look for the BP Service Station which seems to dominate the area - rather than race in there, follow the signs from the service station a little further north. 

Bullocky Bills, Gundagai

Local produce, Bullocky Bill's, Gundagai

Local produce, Bullocky Bill's, Gundagai

Local Produce, Bullocky Bill's, Gundagai

Right near the dog, there is what may be his saviour from obliteration - Bullocky Bills. This place is a treasure trove of locally produced food from Gundagai, Tumut, Cootamundra, Wagga Wagga and Young including sauces, chutneys, olives, licorice, lollies, soap, cleansers, dried fruits and also craft. If you are the type of person who likes to sample what the area you are visiting has to offer, you will seriously not be disappointed if you stop here. 

Bacon and egg roll, Bullocky Bill's breakfast

Alongside the preserved foods, there is also a Dean's Fruit Shop which sources locally grown fruit and vegetables at really reasonable prices. Last but not least, there is the Bullocky Bill's Restaurant which dishes up decent food(burgers, sandwiches, salads, pies, cakes) to power your next stretch of driving. Bullocky Bill's has been Good Food Guide reviewed and recommended and whilst it isn't five star dining, it is fresh, generously portioned and a lot tastier than anything the big fast food chains have to offer up. 

Bullock dray, Gundagai

So next time you are on the Hume Highway in Gundagai, resist the urge to stop under the Golden Arches. Pay an Aussie icon a visit, support local growers and get a decent meal before you continue on your way. I'm pretty sure the old dog would be pleased with the attention.

Dog on the Tuckerbox, Gundagai