Wineries

Orange is well known for its many established wineries, and a wine-tasting session should be on top of everyone’s list of things to do when visiting the Central Tablelands.

If you’ve never done a wine-tasting experience before, it’s a pretty casual affair. You sit down at a table in a cozy cellar door where a staff member will serve you five or so of their wines while also telling you more about their vineyard. Wine tasting typically costs around $10-$20 per person, which sometimes gets refunded if you end up purchasing one or more bottles.

Orange Regional Museum

The Orange Regional Museum interprets the stories, cultures, and places of the region through temporary and permanent exhibitions and a range of artifacts. It’s an award-winning museum that covers Aboriginal culture and history, local people, gold mining, sports, wartime, local industries such as wine and wool, and much more.

Also worth mentioning is the interesting architecture of the building where the Orange Regional Museum is housed. It’s a modern building with a grass-roof you can walk onto from one side. The museum is free of charge, with the Orange Visitor Information Centre also housed in the same building.

Orange Botanic Gardens

Measuring 17 hectares in size, the Orange Botanic Gardens offer a collection of native and exotic plants that you can explore through various walking paths. Opened in 1988 and located north of the town centre, the Orange Botanic Gardens are managed by the Orange City Council with help from various volunteer groups.



While the Orange Botanic Gardens may not be as impressive as, for example, the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney or the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, it’s still worth visiting for a relaxing couple of hours.

Ophir Goldfields

The Ophir Goldfields is located in the rural locality of Ophir, northeast of the city of Orange. It was in Ophir where gold was first discovered in New South Wales back in 1851, which in return led to the Australian gold rushes. To learn more about the fascinating history of Ophir and the gold mining that took place there, make your way to the Ophir Reserve Campground on Lower Lewis Ponds Road.

Various information boards at the camping ground explain more about the area and how to find some of the shafts and tunnels from the past. It’s recommended to do the first section of Ophir Goldfields Walking Track 1 along the creek, which includes a few of these tunnels. If you do have the time, this walking track loops back to the car park, with more tunnels and shafts to discover.

Lake Canobolas Reserve

Lake Canobolas is located at the foot of Mount Canobolas, a large and peaceful water reservoir created by a dam and fed by Molong Creek.

The Lake Canobolas Reserve is popular with local residents and offers plenty of activities, such as swimming, cycling, sailing, canoeing, and walking. It’s open daily to visitors with a reasonably sized car park that can be accessed from Lake Canobolas Road in Nashdale.

Federal Falls

A visit to Orange is not complete without conquering the scenic walk to Federal Falls, located in the Mount Canobolas State Conservation Area.

Completing a 4 km loop walking track, plus an additional 700 metres to the waterfall, is what it takes to get up close and personal with this impressive water spectacle. The walking track starts and finishes at the Federal Falls Campground and is reasonably easy to do; however, the last bit to the actual waterfall is a very steep descent to the base.

The Walls Lookout Mount Canobolas

Only a short drive from the Federal Falls Campground is the Walls Lookout, which offers panoramic district views from a newly built viewing platform.



From the parking area, find the short walking path heading east that leads to this impressive lookout point.

If you feel like hiking, this is also the starting point of the popular Nature Track Loop, which takes in a couple more vantage points on Mount Canobolas.