With travel still restricted, we are all being encouraged to travel locally. Australia is vast and highways mean so many of the little towns are a detour off the highway.

In this post I pick two that are definitely worth taking the turn off for. We have!

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Mundulla is a delightful Australian country town going through a serious rejuvenation. It’s a few kilometres off the Dukes Highway on the Adelaide side of Bordertown. A detour of just a few minutes.

The town has been a multiple winner of the best small town and sustainability awards, all very much due to the efforts of an active local community.

The town’s centrepiece is the Old Mundulla Hotel. It is everything a country pub should be: a friendly publican, a few locals, and some travellers like ourselves. The hotel has accommodation that includes a B&B, a newly built self-accommodation home, and three small modern cabins. At the time of our visit, the B&B was under renovation and the home in the final stages of completion. We booked one of the small cabins. Check-in is at the pub. Our cabin was modern, small and adequate – just the spot for an overnight stop-over.

My suggestion is to drop your bags and head to the pub. If it’s a warm day the beer garden out the back with its big grassed area with a verandah is just the place for a beer or glass of wine or two. If the weather is less inviting stay inside and perhaps settle in by the fire with a glass of red from the nearby Coonawarra.

We visited in late summer and sat outside before heading inside for dinner. We had a table in the window that looked across the main street. The bar behind us had a few people settling in for dinner. The food is simple and excellent – the atmosphere delightful.

It’s definitely worth going for a walk around the town. The old council chambers weren’t open on our visit but the building has been restored – the chambers were only used for a couple of years. It was quiet and the dusk light made the walk a delight. There is a nature walk through the scrub on the town’s perimeter.

The pub is not open every night although the accommodation is.

The general store does a great breakfast from around 6.30 am every morning. Good coffee and a pretty traditional Aussie breakfast menu. They also sell Frances Strawberries Strawberry Jam!

My second detour is a short stop in Dimboola just a few kilometres off the Western Highway near the South Australian – Victrorian border.

We first visited Dimboola after seeing the movie of the same name in the early 80s. The movie was amusing and starred Bruce Spence who was quite a character in Aussie movies of the era.

There is something about these towns on a warm or hot summer’s day. It’s how I think we all imagine Australia. These days the main street shopfronts are more of a display than functioning retail. The ice cream shop, however, is a good spot on a hot day. One place not to miss is the Dimboola Imaginarium in the impressive old National Bank building.

We were welcomed by the owners into their sitting room that doubles as a shop filled with interesting curios. As well as interesting nicknacks there are old photos and the owner was only too willing to share the history. 

We found some gifts and were then shown around the rest of the building. It’s a lovely old banking chamber that includes the manager’s residence. In time it is intended that the upstairs will become a B&B – we will keep an eye out for it as it looks like it will be a wonderful place to stay.

From the Imaginarium, we walked around the town. The pub looked inviting as they all do on a summer’s day in country Austalia.

We enjoyed our detour. It brought back memories of past road trips. My advice is to take the turn-off and spend an hour or so here.

COVID has plenty of downsides but one plus has been that with all of the restrictions on travel we are staying close to home and exploring what’s around us. There is plenty on our doorstep – here are just two that we have visited in our travels.